Short Stuff: Phone Books

To call beans and rice a staple is to undersell the importance of beans and rice. Today we break down the ubiquity of this beloved food combo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

No food is more all-American than peanut butter – 80 percent of homes in the country have a jar of it in the pantry right now. And while the rest of the world might find peanut butter peculiar, maybe even gross, the rest of the world is wrong. Enjoy a smooth ride through one of o ... Show More

Operation Doppelganger was a Russian propaganda project discovered in 2022, a minor part of the enormous, ongoing disinformation and chaos-sewing campaign Russia spreads across the world through social media. And some of your views may have come from it.See omnystudio.com/listene ... Show More

How is it that we can talk?  Why are we the only animal that can successfully produce audio podcasts that can be listened to and understood?  And who wants to get to know Washoe the chimpanzee? 

Language not only defines humans as a species, placing us head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators, but it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries. How did different languages come to be? Why isn't there just a single language? How does a languag ... Show More

Jane Goodall hasn't found the missing link, but she's come closer than nearly anyone else. The primatologist says the only real difference between humans and chimps is our sophisticated language. She urges us to start using it to change the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p ... Show More

Are human beings fundamentally different from the rest of the animal world? Can what we essentially are be captured in a biological or evolutionary description? Roger Scruton discusses the nature of human nature with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast ... Show More

If humanity is around long enough, could another species evolve to look like us to deter predators? What did people do when they woke up before the existence of phones? What’s your favorite replacement for a swear word? How do purple baby carrots exist? How do I cope with the end ... Show More

Where did language come from? Is it possible to know without traveling back in time? And how do babies learn to speak? Plus: We’ll hear how the word “silly” has evolved over the last several hundred years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Sapiens - by Yuval Noah Harari'A brief history of humankind' Human beings have come a long way since we were once apes. We evolved in many different directions - survival in the snowy plains of northern Europe required different traits than those needed to stay alive in Indonesia ... Show More

Humans are animals. But at some point throughout the course of evolution, our species got the upperhand. Today, a short history of our co-existence with the animal kingdom… and what happened when we decided that these animals would join us on stage.See omnystudio.com/listener for ... Show More