Episode List

Episode 127

Psychedelics without the hallucinations: A new mental health treatment? with David E. Olson

Scientist examines how non-hallucinogenic drugs could be used to treat depression, addiction and anxiety

Episode 126

Do we really have free will? with Robert Sapolsky

Renowned scholar argues that biology doesn’t shape our actions; it completely controls them

Episode 125

A radical solution to address climate change, with David Keith

Solar geoengineering technology holds possibilities and pitfalls, renowned scientist argues

Episode 124

How PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are harming our health, with Linda Birnbaum

Big Brains podcast: How PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are harming our health

Episode 123

Are we worse people than we used to be? with Adam Mastroianni

Psychologist examines whether we’re less kind—and if our moral decline may be an illusion

Episode 122

Freakonomics’ Steven Levitt on the secret to making tough choices

From flipping a coin to make decisions to using GPS to solve crime, data scientist sees world differently

Episode 121

Will political violence destroy our democracy? with Robert Pape

Big Brains podcast: Will political violence destroy our democracy?

Episode 120

Defending campus free speech in a polarized age, with Paul Alivisatos and Tom Ginsburg

Big Brains podcast: Defending campus free speech in a polarized age

Episode 119

Why the secret to health lies in the mind-body connection, with Ellen Langer

Big Brains podcast: Why the secret to health lies in the mind-body connection

Episode 118

Phonics vs. whole word: The science of reading, with Adrian Johns

The complicated history of how we read—and ways it sparked the Reading Wars and anti-science rhetoric

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