The Science of Dune: Technology
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Frank Herbert's "Dune," the game-changing 1965 sci-fi novel full of space-age feudalistic intrigue, rampaging sandworms and prescient mind drugs on a desert wor...
29 Sep 20151h 3min
Poison Arrows, Chinese Medicine and Werewolves
Perhaps you've heard of wolf's bane as curative or even causal agent in the mythology of lycanthropy, yet the appeal of this very real plant reaches far beyond the realm of werewolves. In this episode...
24 Sep 201549min
One-Armed Bandits: The Science of Slot Machines
You may call it a slot machine, a fruit machine or a one-armed bandit, but the reality is the same: an algorithmically precise machine designed to drain the human gambler of all his or her earnings. W...
22 Sep 201559min
The Unlanguaged Mind: A World Built With Words
How can we even imagine a life without language when language itself plays such a crucial role in human cognition? Can you even imagine a world in which nothing has a name? Join Robert and Christian a...
17 Sep 201534min
The Unlanguaged Mind: Feral Children
The feral child occupies two worlds: that of lighthearted myth and depressing reality. We entertain ourselves with fantasies about wolf-reared infants, but most studies of feral children stem from cas...
15 Sep 201544min
Palimpsests: Reading History's Blank Pages
Historians learn a great deal from historical texts -- and not only that which was written, but that which was unwritten. Join Robert and Christian as they explore the world of palimpsests, the erased...
10 Sep 201549min
Wes Craven Tribute: Serpents, Rainbows & Zombies
With the recent passing of horror director Wes Craven, it seems appropriate to cover the science behind his 1988 film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." Join Robert and Christian for a discussion of Haiti...
8 Sep 201548min
Tail as Old as Time: Part 2
Where is the human tail? Our embryos lose them in the womb and our great ape kin lost them in the shadows of evolutionary history. Join Robert and Joe as they continue to explore the worlds of human t...
3 Sep 201548min
