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Science
Science February 25, 2021

Gory Details

Adventures from the Dark Side of Science

Erika Engelhaupt

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Would your dog eat you if you died? What are face mites? Why do clowns creep us out? In this illuminating collection of grisly true science stories, journalist Erika Engelhaupt …

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Neuroscience February 24, 2021

The Puzzle Solver

A Scientist's Desperate Hunt to Cure the Illness That Stole His Son

Tracie White and Ronald W. Davis

Hosted by Victoria Reedman
Based on a viral article, the gripping medical mystery story of Ron Davis, a world-class Stanford geneticist who has put his career on the line to find the cure for …
Science February 22, 2021

Viral BS

Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them

Seema Yasmin

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Can your zip code predict when you will die? Should you space out childhood vaccines? Does talcum powder cause cancer? Why do some doctors recommend e-cigarettes while other doctors recommend …
Mathematics February 22, 2021

Math Without Numbers

Milo Beckman

Hosted by Jim Stein
One of the questions I am often asked is exactly what do mathematicians do. The short answer is that they look at different mathematical structures, try to deduce their properties …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight February 18, 2021

Probable Impossibilities

Musings on Beginnings and Endings

Alan Lightman

Hosted by Dan Hill
Imagination with a Straight Jacket Alan Lightman is a writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and …
Neuroscience February 17, 2021

On Task

How Our Brain Gets Things Done

David Badre

Hosted by Joseph Fridman
On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (Princeton UP, 2020) is a look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives.  …
Animal Studies February 17, 2021

Phallacy

Life Lessons from the Animal Penis

Emily Willingham

Hosted by Emily Anthes
The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the …
Biography February 16, 2021

Vera Rubin

A Life

Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Few astronomers in the 20th century did as much to expand our understanding of the universe as Vera Rubin. To tell her remarkable story in their biography Vera Rubin: A …
Philosophy February 10, 2021

Philosophy of Immunology

Thomas Pradeu

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
Vaccines make us wholly or partly immune to disease, such as Covid-19. But what is it to be immune? What is an immune system, and what does it do? In …
Science February 8, 2021

The Experimental Fire

Inventing English Alchemy, 1300-1700

Jennifer M. Rampling

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
A four-hundred-year history of the development of alchemy in England that brings to light the evolution of the practice. Tracing the development of alchemy in England from the beginning of …
Science, Technology, and Society February 5, 2021

The Republic of Color

Science, Perception, and the Making of Modern America

Michael Rossi

Hosted by Michael McGovern
The appreciation of color is considered universal among human societies, yet varies vastly according to cultural norms and material circumstances. In the nineteenth century, synthetic chemistry produced new hues like …
Science January 26, 2021

The Pattern Seekers

A New Theory of Human Invention

Simon Baron-Cohen

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Why are humans alone capable of invention? This question is relevant to every human invention, from music to mathematics, sculpture and science, dating back to the beginnings of civilization. In …
Mathematics January 25, 2021

Games for Your Mind

The History and Future of Logic Puzzles

Jason Rosenhouse

Hosted by Jim Stein
Jason Rosenhouse's Games for Your Mind: The History and Future of Logic Puzzles (Princeton UP, 2020) is about a panoply of logic puzzles. You’ll find Mastermind and sudoku discussed early on, and …
Science January 25, 2021

The Doctor Who Fooled the World

Andrew Wakefield's War on Vaccines

Brian Deer

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
A reporter uncovers the secrets behind the scientific scam of the century. The news breaks first as a tale of fear and pity. Doctors at a London hospital claim a link …
Science, Technology, and Society January 22, 2021

Catastrophic Thinking

Extinction and the Value of Diversity from Darwin to the Anthropocene

David Sepkoski

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. We’re told that human activity is …
Neuroscience January 19, 2021

Electric Brain

How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better

R. Douglas Fields,

Hosted by John Griffiths
In Electric Brain: How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better (BenBella, 2020), eminent neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields …
Medicine January 19, 2021

Science Under Fire

Challenges to Scientific Authority in Modern America

Andrew Jewett

Hosted by Claire Clark
Americans today are often skeptical of scientific authority. Many conservatives dismiss climate change and Darwinism as liberal fictions, arguing that "tenured radicals" have coopted the sciences and other disciplines. Some …
Science January 15, 2021

CRISPR People

The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans

Henry T. Greely

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
What does the birth of babies whose embryos have gone through genome editing mean—for science and for all of us? In November 2018, the world was shocked to learn that …
Science January 13, 2021

A Natural History of Color

The Science Behind What We See and How We See it

Rob DeSalle

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Is color a phenomenon of science or a thing of art? Over the years, color has dazzled, enhanced, and clarified the world we see, embraced through the experimental palettes of …
Language January 6, 2021

Extraterrestrial Languages

Daniel Oberhaus

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
In Extraterrestrial Languages (MIT Press 2020), Daniel Oberhaus tells the history of human efforts to talk to aliens, but in doing so, the book reflects on the relationship between communication …