Supernormal Stimuli

Supernormal Stimuli

No longer limited by the constrains of their environment or biology, humans have remade their world. Why walk when you can soar? Why shout when you can whisper in the ear of a listener halfway round the world? And why limit yourself to normal stimuli when you can condense the sensory world into nuggets of superstimuli. Join Robert and Julie in this classic episode as they discuss junk food, gaming, pornography, the Internet and beauty itself all in the framework of natural biology.

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Jaksot(3032)

Tree Man Disease

Tree Man Disease

Imagine a disease that warps and petrifies the flesh, transforming normal skin into bark-like growths that slowly consume the hands and feet. Commonly known as "tree man disease," Epidermodysplasia Ve...

21 Huhti 201644min

When We Think About Cyborgs

When We Think About Cyborgs

What began as a 1960s term for a retrofitted human space explorer has become a focal point for considerations of human and machine interaction, technological culture, biomechanics and feminist identit...

19 Huhti 20161h 10min

Tip of the Tongue

Tip of the Tongue

Your know the feeling. You're trying to recall the name of a time-keeping musical device or the the actor who played Fredo in "The Godfather" and all that comes to mind is a memory-hole in the shape o...

14 Huhti 201652min

Algorithms In The Blood: The P vs. NP Problem

Algorithms In The Blood: The P vs. NP Problem

What does it mean to solve a problem in our universe? That's a trickier question than you might think, with some fairly high-stakes ramifications in the worlds of computing and even philosophy. In thi...

12 Huhti 201653min

Vampire Physics, Mathematics & Evolution

Vampire Physics, Mathematics & Evolution

The human obsession with vampires runs deep, so deep that it survives our consistent attempts to squeeze all the mystery and fun out of the topic. Inject a little science, however, and the patient ret...

7 Huhti 201650min

Cargoism: Science, Desire and the Cargo Cults

Cargoism: Science, Desire and the Cargo Cults

During the Second World War, Melanesian islanders encountered the vast, commercial systems of Allied and Japanese forces. Cargo Cults sprang up in the wake of such contact, typified by deification and...

5 Huhti 201656min

The Unsettling Depths of Bird Intelligence

The Unsettling Depths of Bird Intelligence

Just what are the upper limits of avian cognitive ability? Various studies reveal how certain bird species engage in mental time travel, tool use, self recognition, theory of mind and even meta-cognit...

31 Maalis 20161h 11min

Hyper-Real Religion: Pastafarianism and Beyond

Hyper-Real Religion: Pastafarianism and Beyond

When does a protest religion become an actual faith? What happens when purely fictional modes of belief leak off the page or screen? Join Robert and Joe as they discuss modern religious movements, the...

29 Maalis 20161h 11min

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