Vitamin C and the common cold
A two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist changed chemistry, biology, and the politics of science. But when he pushed vitamin C as a cure-all, did he go too far? Guest: Daniel M. Davis, head of the...
17 Dec 202532min
Your moments of silence (The Sound Barrier #5)
This episode is a follow-up to The Sound Barrier series, which explores our brain's relationship to sound. In our third episode of the series, we asked listeners to try to experience silence and recor...
15 Dec 202531min
Diary of a teenage brain, part 2
As our brains develop throughout our childhood and teens, they form connections and then prune back the ones that aren't used. What can we learn from them? Guests: Alison Barth, professor in the life...
10 Dec 202527min
Diary of a teenage brain
What's going on in teens' heads? Scientists working on a country-wide study following thousands of young people have spent the last decade trying to answer that question. Guests: Raul Gonzalez Jr....
8 Dec 202528min
The trees of death
Way back when forests first evolved on Earth... they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet. (Originally aired in 2024) Guests: Charles Ver Straeten, ...
3 Dec 202526min
That's no moon...
It's a quasi-moon. Or, a quasi-satellite. Whatever you want to call it, it's hanging out near Earth. And it could be the source of some fascinating new science. Guests: Nick Moskovitz, astronomer a...
1 Dec 202521min
Lost on the road to enlightenment
So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark side. What’s going on? Guests: Willoughby Britton,...
19 Nov 202535min
Is animal grief real?
A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies. These behaviors in animals may look like human mourning, but should scientists call ...
17 Nov 202526min
