All Episodes

#1327 Tommy Blanchard: Decorative Neuroscience, and the Neuro-Grifters

Nov 2, 2026

Dr. Tommy Blanchard is a cognitive scientist and writer with a background in neuroscience, philosophy, and computer science. Most of his research has been on animal cognition and the neuroscience of decision-making. He has also worked as an industry data scientist and currently teach data science and do scientific consulting. He writes about curiosity, understanding, and wonder through the lens of cognitive science and philosophy at Cognitive Wonderland. More»
#1326 Christian Tryon: The Evolution of Homo Sapiens, and the Middle to Later Stone Age Transition

Oct 30, 2026

Dr. Christian Tryon is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. He specializes in the archaeology of human evolution, and he is particularly interested in reconstructing those ancient social and natural environmental contexts in which behavioral change occurred. He is a specialist in the analysis of stone tools and volcanic ashes, which in some parts of the world such as the Rift Valley of East Africa, are widespread, bury archaeological sites, and provide a means to date them. More»
#1325 Philip Ball - The Man Who Broke Reality: Niels Bohr and the Making of Modern Physics

Oct 29, 2026

Dr. Philip Ball is a freelance science writer, with a BA in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol. He was an editor at Nature for over 20 years. He is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, color in art, the science of social and political philosophy, and the cognition of music. His latest book is The Man Who Broke Reality: Niels Bohr and the Making of Modern Physics. More»
#1324 Marlene Zuk - Outsider Animals: Learning from the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives

Oct 26, 2026

Dr. Marlene Zuk is Regents Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota. She focuses on emerging questions in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology. She uses invertebrate systems to study the evolution of mating behavior and secondary sexual characters in natural populations. She seeks to understand how natural and sexual selection pressures shape the behavior, life history, and morphology of animals. She is the author of Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us. More»
#1323 Paula Lavigne: Mulheres Trans em Desportos Femininos

Oct 23, 2026

THIS INTERVIEW IS IN PORTUGUESE. More»
#1322 Katie Rose Hejtmanek - The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon

Oct 22, 2026

Dr. Katie Rose Hejtmanek is Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Children and Youth Studies Program at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Her current research examines sports practices and social change. Her teaching includes courses on the anthropology of sport, and gender and sexuality at New York University and Brooklyn College, CUNY, USA. She is a three-time competitor at IPF World Masters Powerlifting Championships and is a Trauma-Informed Weightlifting-certified strength coach. Her latest book is The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon. More»
#1321 Emily Towner: Social Isolation and Social Media Use in Adolescents

Oct 19, 2026

Dr. Emily Towner is a postdoc in cognitive neuroscience at Caltech. Her research focuses on adolescence and the brain. Her interests include loneliness, anxiety, mental health, and social media. More»
#1320 Vibeke Ottesen: How the Media Deal with Criminal Cases

Oct 16, 2026

Dr. Vibeke Ottesen is a Norwegian criminologist with an interest in how nature and nurture combined create human behavior. She has a popular science blog – Biosocial - where she comments on news, scientific findings and literature relevant to her subject – more often than not with an evolutionary informed approach to understanding the subject matter. She has held numerous lectures on the benefits of an evolutionary informed approach to understanding the cross-cultural sex and age differences in anti-social and criminal behavior. More»
#1319 Ricardo Paes Mamede - Política Industrial: Como os Estados Transformam as Economias

Oct 15, 2026

THIS INTERVIEW IS IN PORTUGUESE. More»
#1318 César Marín: Multilevel Selection in Evolutionary Biology

Oct 12, 2026

Dr. César Marín is Full Professor in the School of Sciences at Santo Tomas University, Chile. Since 2022, he is a Guest researcher at the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment, section Ecology & Evolution, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. His primary research interest is (i) Soil Ecology, studying: Fungal Biodiversity; Fungal Biodiversity in Chile; Mycorrhizal Applications; Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning; Soil Fire Ecology; Soil Chemistry; Root Ecology; South American Mycorrhizas. His second research interest is (ii) Multilevel selection in all sorts of systems, albeit he focuses in plant holobiont-symbiont systems. More»