Inquiring Minds

Adam Rogers is an editor at Wired and the author of Proof: The Science of Booze. On the show this week we talk to Rogers about alcohol and the science behind it—from yeast, to bourbon, to Star Trek’s synthehol. 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 adve...

James Krupa is a professor of biology at the University of Kentucky. On the show this week we talk to Krupa about a recent article he wrote for Orion magazine called Defending Darwin, in which he explains what it’s really like to teach evolution to students in Kentucky. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for inform...

Ivan Oransky is vice president and global editorial director of MedPage Today and co-founder of Retraction Watch. On the show this week we talk to Oransky about retractions and the gospel of the scientific paper. 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 ad...

On the show this week we talk to Traci Mann, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and author of the new book Secrets from the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of Willpower, and Why You Should Never Diet Again. iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943 RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-minds Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/inquiring-minds Tum...

Alex Garland is the writer and director of Ex Machina, a recently released film about what happens when someone is asked to interact with what might be the world's first true artificial intelligence (as well as the writer of Dredd, Sunshine, and 28 Days Later). On the show this week guest host Rebecca Watson talks to Garland about the science behind the film, and what he learned in the process of...

On the show this week we talk to Sanjoy Mahajan, Associate Professor of Applied Science and Engineering at Olin College of Engineering, Visiting Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and author of Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simple...

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet. He is on faculty at the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry, and Research Faculty at Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York. On the show this week we talk to Doidge about neuroplasticity—once you reach adulthood, is your brain in a kind of fixed sta...

On the show this week we talk to Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist working for the Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University. He investigates issues related to climate, carbon, and energy systems. In the interview, we focus on geoengineering—the process of making big changes to the Earth’s climatic system in an attempt to solve issues related to climate...

On the show this week we talk to Bill Gifford, author of the new book Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying). 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 Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Professor of Medicine and Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital. She’s part of a new project called Sugar Science, which focuses on evidence-based information on added sugar to your diet. The team reviewed 8,000 articles and underscored the scientific consensus: there is a causal link betw...

On the show this week we talk to evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen, who studies the evolution and ecology of microbes and genomes. We delve into the tiny world of the microbiome—the thousands of microorganisms that live inside all of us. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an...

On the show this week we talk to Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine and former editor of the incredibly influential Whole Earth Catalog. We talk about the agenda and biases of technology, why the internet really wants to track you, and why he thinks, in the end, technology is a force for good. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an A...

On the show this week we talk to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC runs FactCheck.org, which now includes SciCheck, a program that “focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Si...

On the show this week we talk to David J Morris, former Marine infantry officer, war correspondent, and author of The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We explore the history of PTSD and the science that surrounds it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection a...

On the show this week we talk to author Andy Weir about The Martian, his hit science fiction novel about a man stranded on Mars—which is now being made into a film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. The Martian is not only packed full of science, it's packed full of science that makes sense. iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943 RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/in...

Ed Boyden is the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Synthetic Neurobiology research group and he wants blow up the brain. Sort of. He and his team have discovered a way to examine brain tissue by physically expanding it—a process that lets them look at tissue which would normally be extremely difficult to see even under a microscope. Boyden explains how it all works—and a lot more—on this week’s episode....

Brian Fisher is really into ants. And after listening to him talk about them on this week’s show, I suspect he might convince you to appreciate them more than you probably do right now. Fisher is an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences and we talk to him about all things ants—from how many “words” they can use, to how we can use them to figure out what parts of forests are most impor...

Dark matter: it makes up 80 to 85 percent of the matter in the universe, it’s invisible, you can’t touch it, and according to this week’s guest astrophysicist Katie Mack, it’s probably passing through you right now. Dark matter is weird. On the show this week Indre talks to Mack about dark matter, dark energy, and the big bang. This episode also features guest host Rebecca Watson of Skepchick.org,...

On the show this week we talk to Matt Walker, Principal Investigator at UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab. Walker opens our eyes to exactly how important (and bizarre) sleep is—from the insane effects not sleeping enough can have on you both physically and cognitively, to the fact that, after having fought through ages of natural selection, it’s amazing our brains still need it at all. Once...

On the show this week we talk to Professor of Psychology Gabriele Oettingen about her new book Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. Oettingen has over twenty years of research on the science of motivation under her belt and in this book she outlines her main findings—and turns the conventional wisdom that focusing on fulfilling our goals will help us realize them on...

On the show this week we talk to Mythbusters host and friend of the show Adam Savage. We caught up with Savage shortly after our live show with him (episode 58) at his workshop in San Francisco. Indre talks to Savage about the future of Mythbusters, Hollywood, exploding turkeys, the joy of being a maker, #Gamergate, and what it's like to be a rock-star science communicator. You can also watch this...

On the show this week Indre talks to mathematician and comedian Matt Parker about how math is way more fascinating that you probably think—and how it's connected to everything from credit card numbers to autocorrect. They talk about his new book, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician's Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of I...

On the show this week we talk to nature and science writer Sharman Apt Russell about citizen science—real scientific research done by people who are not professional scientists. We talk about her latest book, Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World. Today’s co-host is microbiological assay development and validation scientist Charles Rzadkowolsk...

On the show this week guest host Cynthia Graber talks to paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, most well known for discovering the fossil of a female hominid australopithecine, or "Lucy.” iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943 RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-minds Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/inquiring-minds Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...

On the show this week we talk to journalist and science writer Christine Kenneally about her latest book, The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures. And we’re joined again by guest host Cynthia Graber, science reporter and co-host of Gastropod. iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943 RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring...