Humanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are objects in space that are so large and heavy that not even light can escape them? Almost 250 years later, in April 2019, scientists presented the first picture of a black hole. Profoundly inspired by tha ... Show More
Nov 19
Carl Benedikt Frey, "How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations" (Princeton UP, 2025)
In How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations (Princeton University Press, 2025), Carl Benedikt Frey challenges the conventional belief that economic and technological progress is inevitable. For most of human history, stagnation was the norm, and even tod ... Show More
54m 29s
Nov 13
Craig Hogan, "The Unlikely Primeval Sky" (American Scientist, November-December)
Of all the patterns that could possibly be preserved in the post–Big Bang radiation, the one we see is surprisingly smooth on large angular scales. Sitting by a campfire on a dark night, looking up at the Milky Way, a curious child asks, “What does the sky tell us? Where does it ... Show More
30m 27s
Nov 11
Eduardo Mercado III, "Why Whales Sing" (JHU Press, 2025)
With breathtaking complexity and haunting beauty, the songs of whales have long fascinated scientists. Whales are the only mammals that can sing continuously for ten hours or more, changing the unique songs they sing every year. In Why Whales Sing (JHU Press, 2025), bioacoustic ... Show More
1h 5m
Oct 2023
Dan Dennett Looks Back on His Career
<p>Get tickets for our event: <a href= "https://www.skeptic.com/event" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">skeptic.com/event</a></p> <p>Daniel Dennett, preeminent philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering the thorniest, most fundamental mysteries of the mi ... Show More
1h 28m
Dec 2024
Charles Foster, "Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness" (Metropolitan Books, 2021)
How did humans come to be who we are? In his marvelous, eccentric, and widely lauded book Being a Beast, legal scholar, veterinary surgeon, and naturalist extraordinaire Charles Foster set out to understand the consciousness of animal species by living as a badger, otter, fox, de ... Show More
59m 18s
Dec 2024
Charles Foster, "Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness" (Metropolitan Books, 2021)
How did humans come to be who we are? In his marvelous, eccentric, and widely lauded book Being a Beast, legal scholar, veterinary surgeon, and naturalist extraordinaire Charles Foster set out to understand the consciousness of animal species by living as a badger, otter, fox, de ... Show More
59m 18s
Jun 2023
John L. Rudolph, "Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should)" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Today I talked to John L. Rudolph about his book Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should) (Oxford UP, 2023).
Few people question the importance of science education in American schooling. The public readily accepts that it is the key to economic growth through innovation, develop ... Show More
36m 54s
Oct 31
Jane G. Goldberg, "Wired for Why: How We Think, Feel, and Make Meaning" (2025)
WIRED FOR WHY: How We Think, Feel and Make Meaning. (Self-Published 2025) spans eighteen chapters exploring everything from how we manage to stay alive against all odds, to why language separates us from other species, to whether death might be a metaphor. It's a journey through ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 20
Neuroscience of reality; Quest for dark matter; Folklore of geoscience (New Scientist Live Special)
Episode 327 A special episode recorded on October 18 at New Scientist Live in London, featuring experts in geoscience, dark matter and neuroscience. Anjana Khatwa is an Earth scientist and TV presenter. In her new book, The Whispers of Rock, she brings together Western scientific ... Show More
28m 29s
Oct 2024
489. Light of the Mind, Light of the World: Illuminating Science Through Faith | Spencer Klavan
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with author, lecturer, and podcaster Spencer Klavan. They discuss the fruits and follies of the postmodern worldview, how our conscious and subconscious rank order data and form perceptions, where disparate creation myths and biblical depictions o ... Show More
1h 46m
Mar 2025
#404 — What If Consciousness Is Fundamental?
<p dir="ltr">Sam Harris speaks with his wife, Annaka Harris, about <a href="https://annakaharris.com/lights-on/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener"><em>LIGHTS ON</em></a>, her ten-part audio documentary exploring the perplexities of consciousness and the cosmos. They discuss the har ... Show More
2h 20m
Jul 2023
Stephen Davies, "Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us About Who We Are" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Elaborating the history, variety, pervasiveness, and function of the adornments and ornaments with which we beautify ourselves, Stephen Davies's Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us About Who We Are (Bloomsbury, 2020) takes in human prehistory, ancient civilizations, hunter-f ... Show More
31m 19s