logo
episode-header-image
Feb 27
1h 5m

Black Box

Wnyc Studios
About this episode
In this episode, first aired in 2014, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes—spaces where we know what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but can’t see what happens in-between. From the darkest parts of metamorphosis to a sixty-year-old secret among magicians, and the nature of consciousness itself, we shine some light on three questions. ... Show More
Up next
Feb 20
Gray's Donation
Before he was even born, Sarah and Ross Gray knew that their son Thomas wouldn’t live long. But as they let go of him, they made a decision that reverberated through a world that they never bothered to think about. Years later, after a couple of awkward phone calls, they go on a ... Show More
27m 20s
Feb 13
Time is Honey
In the early 2000s, Sunil Nakrani felt stuck. Back then, websites crashed all the time. When Sunil noticed this, he decided he was going to fix the internet. But after nearly a year of studying the architecture of the web, he was no closer to an answer. In desperation, Sunil sent ... Show More
38m 31s
Feb 6
Kleptotherms
In this episode, we break the thermometer and watch the mercury spill out as we discover that temperature is far stranger than it seems. We first ran this episode in 2021: Five stories that run the gamut from snakes to stars. We start out underwater, with a species of snake that ... Show More
44m 45s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2025
What Jane Goodall’s Life Teaches About Courage, Curiosity, and Care
<p>Jane Goodall transformed how we see the natural world and our place in it. In this tribute episode, Guy Kawasaki revisits their past conversations filled with humor, courage, and wisdom. Jane reflects on her early journey to Africa, the groundbreaking discoveries with chimpanz ... Show More
1h 16m
Jan 2025
What Went Wrong with Liberalism and How We Can Save it, with Samuel Moyn
In this episode Samuel Moyn, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University, explores what he sees as the profound crisis facing liberalism and why many in the West have become disillusioned with it. Drawing from his latest book 'Liberalism against Itself: Cold W ... Show More
47m 37s
Oct 2025
Justice Anthony Kennedy's book is not boring
As a justice on the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy wrote some big opinions.He was appointed by President Reagan, and most often voted with conservatives.But his vote was often pivotal in controversial cases about hot-button issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, and in sever ... Show More
9m 32s
Feb 2025
Exploring the Hidden Life in the Air around Us with Carl Zimmer
Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission. But during the early days of the disease, public health officials suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The subsequent back-and-forth over how COVID spread brought science journalist Carl Zimmer into ... Show More
16m 47s
Oct 2025
What's worth remembering?
We like to think of memory as a record of the past. But that’s not really what it is. Memory doesn’t keep the past — it can also remake it. It stitches fragments into stories, and those stories — true or not — are what we end up calling our life, and sometimes, our collective his ... Show More
58m 54s
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
Feb 2025
The Breaking of the Constitutional Order
<p>There are two pieces to this episode. First, a tour of what Donald Trump has done — and what he has backed down from doing — over the last few days. There’s a lesson there. Perhaps Democrats are starting to learn it.</p><p>Then I wanted to hear the view of Trump’s first weeks ... Show More
1h 19m
Feb 2025
Agnotology (WILLFUL IGNORANCE) Updated Encore with Dr. Robert Proctor
<p>Yes, there is an -ology for that. And yes, we’re airing this episode -– with a ton of 2025 updates -– because it’s never felt more relevant. Dr. Robert Proctor is a Stanford professor of the History of Science and co-edited the book “Agnotology: The Making & Unmaking of Ignora ... Show More
1h 20m
Nov 2025
Truth in an age of doublethink
We use “Orwellian” to describe everything from campus dust-ups to authoritarian crackdowns. But what did George Orwell actually stand for, what did he get wrong, and what can we learn from him about our age of surveillance capitalism and distraction? Sean’s guest is Laura Beers, ... Show More
52m 16s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami