Inquiring Minds

We talk to cancer physician and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee about his latest book The Gene: An Intimate History. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to theoretical physicist Sean Carroll about his latest book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Does it take 10,000 hours to become an expert at something? Probably not, says our guest this week—who happens to be the author of the paper which was the basis for Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule in the first place. We talk to psychologist Anders Ericsson about his new book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simp...

We talk to Ben Beard, associate director for climate change and chief of the bacterial diseases branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week we talk to geobiologist Hope Jahren about her recent book Lab Girl. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Evidence is mounting that Greenland is melting at a faster and faster rate. We talked to Josh Willis—senior scientist at NASA JPL’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project—about how changing water temperatures in our oceans are affecting the Greenland ice sheet. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information abo...

We talk to Bill Nye about climate change denial and what we can do to fight it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to Dr. Greg Marcus, the Director of Clinical Research for the UCSF Division of Cardiology about heart disease and how things like smart watches might help us learn more about it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to naturalist and author Sy Montgomery about her latest book The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to science writer and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer about viruses. Viral fragments make up 8% of our entire genome—how much do we actually know about them? Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to Maria Konnikova about her new book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to Anthony James, distinguished professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at UC Irvine about the most deadly animal to human beings: the mosquito. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk to Joanne Ruthsatz and Kimberly Stephens, authors of The Prodigy's Cousin: The Family Link Between Autism and Extraordinary Talent. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week we talk to J. Kenji López-Alt, managing culinary director of Serious Eats and author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science . Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week we talk to social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger about her research that suggests we should start tracking law enforcement involved deaths as public health data. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this special Valentine’s Day episode we talk to marine biologist Marah Hardt about 8-foot long whale penises, shark ejaculation systems, vagina mazes, fish orgies, and all the other crazy sex-stuff happening in our oceans. She’s the author of Sex in the Sea: Our Intimate Connection with Sex-Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters, Kinky Squid, and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep. Support the show: htt...

On the show this week we talk to bestselling author Eric Weiner about his latest book The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week we talk to science reporter Kara Platoni about her new book We Have the Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists Are Transforming Human Perception, One Sense at a Time. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for a...

On the show this week we talk to climate scientist Kim Cobb about the science of El Niño and climate change—and how studying coral can help us understand both. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week we talk to neurobiologist Douglas Fields about his new book Why We Snap: Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week Indre and Kishore share their predictions for what some of the big science stories of 2016 will be. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the show this week we return to the topic of violence in video games. We spoke to psychologist Chris Ferguson who offers a contrasting view on the subject. For more discussion, check out episodes 106 & 107. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collect...

On the show this week we talk to Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor, “a lively and important argument from an award-winning journalist proving that the key to reversing America’s health crisis lies in the overlooked link between nutrition and flavor.” http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds...

Robert Sapolsky is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. We talked to Sapolsky about what it means to be human, what we humans can learn from other species, and why he—despite being a self-described pessimist—feels optimistic about our prospects as a...

Ed Lu is a former astronaut and current CEO of the B612 Foundation. On the show this week we talked to him about the threat of asteroids hitting our planet—and what we can do about it. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data...