Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
334 | Daniel Whiteson on the Physics of and by Aliens
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The universe as revealed by physics is objective: it's out there, existing and behaving in ways that...
333 | Gordon Pennycook on Unthinkingness, Conspiracies, and What to Do About Them
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are people wrong all the time, anyway? Is it because we human beings are too good at being irrat...
332 | Dmitri Tymoczko on the Mathematics Behind Music
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Music is math that you can dance to. The fact that certain notes sound good when played together, or...
AMA | October 2025
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the October 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funde...
331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Certain features of our universe seem unnatural to us. These include "constants of nature" such as t...
330 | Petter Törnberg on the Dynamics of (Mis)Information
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A characteristic of complex systems is that individual components combine to exhibit large-scale eme...
329 | Steven Pinker on Rationality and Common Knowledge
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Getting along in society requires that we mostly adhere to certainly shared norms and customs. Often...
328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodies
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Like any machine, bodies occasionally break down, and it's natural to go in search of a replacement ...
AMA | September 2025
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the September 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fun...
327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"Liberalism," divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, re...
326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanets
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a relatively short period of time, exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) have gone...
325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergence
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world is becoming pixelated. As computers and other digital devices become ubiquitous, human kno...
324 | Elizabeth Mynatt on Universities and the Importance of Basic Research
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It is not manifestly obvious that universities should be where most scholarly research is performed....
AMA | August 2025
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the August 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded...
323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The search for a foundational theory of quantum mechanics that all physicists can agree on remains a...
322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to int...
321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, ...
AMA | July 2025
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded b...
320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to ou...
319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, ...
318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One ...
317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revea...
AMA | June 2025
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the June 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded b...
316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and wha...
315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore c...
314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to d...
313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Medical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol ab...
AMA | May 2025
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the May 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by...
312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, conti...
311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Questions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have ...
AMA | April 2025
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the April 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded ...
310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Cosmologists were, let us be honest, pretty stunned in 1998 when observations revealed that the...
309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Consciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and...
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
We often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are differe...
AMA | March 2025
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded ...
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providin...
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understan...
305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychology
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Political outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-inf...
Bonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matter
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed...
304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Science
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It is a feature of many human activities - sports, cooking, music, interpersonal relations - that be...
303 | AMA | February 2025
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the February 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fund...
303 | James P. Allison on Fighting Cancer with the Immune System
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A typical human lifespan is approximately three billion heartbeats in duration. Lasting that long re...
302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Randomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as my evil twin will tell you...
301 | Tina Eliassi-Rad on Al, Networks, and Epistemic Instability
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Big data is ruling, or at least deeply infiltrating, all of modern existence. Unprecedented capacity...
300 | Solo: Does Time Exist?
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A new year, and a new centennial -- 300 (regularly-numbered) episodes of Mindscape! Our tradition is...
Holiday Message | Hits and Misses
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It's the end of the year, and time for our annual holiday break here at Mindscape. But as usual, we ...
299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Life
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving ce...
298 | Jeff Lichtman on the Wiring Diagram of the Brain
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The number of neurons in the human brain is comparable to the number of stars in the Milky Way galax...
AMA | December 2024
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the December 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fund...
297 | Emily Wilson on Homer, Poetry, and Translation
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Not too long ago, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana starred in a (loose) adaptation of Homer's epic ...
296 | Brandon Ogbunu on Fitness Seascapes and the Course of Evolution
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Biological evolution via natural selection is a simple idea that becomes enormously complicated in i...
295 | Solo: Emergence and Layers of Reality
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Emergence is a centrally important concept in science and philosophy. Indeed, the existence of ...
AMA | November 2024
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the November 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fund...
294 | Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Life
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Erwin Schrödinger said that the important characteristic of life is that it "goes on doing somethin...
293 | Doyne Farmer on Chaos, Crashes, and Economic Complexity
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A large economy is one of the best examples we have of complex dynamics. There are multiple componen...
292 | Jonathan Birch on Animal Sentience
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It's not immoral to kick a rock; it is immoral to kick a baby. At what point do we start saying that...
AMA | October 2024
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the October 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funde...
291 | Venki Ramakrishnan on the Biology of Death and Aging
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Aging and death happen to the best of us, but there are increasing efforts to do something about it....
290 | Hahrie Han on Making Multicultural Democracy Work
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It's a wonder democracy works at all -- a collection of people with potentially different interests ...
289 | Cari Cesarotti on the Next Generation of Particle Experiments
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
As an experimental facility, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva has been extraordinarily su...
288 | Max Richter on the Meaning of Classical Music Today
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It wasn't that long ago, historically speaking, that you might put on your tuxedo or floor-length ev...
AMA | September 2024
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the September 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fun...
287 | Jean-Paul Faguet on Institutions and the Legacy of History
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
One common feature of complex systems is sensitive dependence on initial conditions: a small change ...
286 | Blaise Agüera y Arcas on the Emergence of Replication and Computation
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Understanding how life began on Earth involves questions of chemistry, geology, planetary science, p...
285 | Nate Silver on Prediction, Risk, and Rationality
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Being rational necessarily involves engagement with probability. Given two possible courses of actio...
AMA | August 2024
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the August 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded...
284 | Doris Tsao on How the Brain Turns Vision Into the World
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The human brain does a pretty amazing job of taking in a huge amount of data from multiple sensory m...
283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Change is scary. But sometimes it can all work out for the best. There's no guarantee of that, howev...
282 | Joel David Hamkins on Puzzles of Reality and Infinity
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The philosophy of mathematics would be so much easier if it weren't for infinity. The concept seems ...
Ask Me Anything | July 2024
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the July 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded b...
281 | Samir Okasha on the Philosophy of Agency and Evolution
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Just like with physics, in biology it is perfectly possible to do most respectable work without thin...
280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Which is more intelligent, ChatGPT or a 3-year old? Of course this depends on what we mean by "...
279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
For those of us who are not dualists, the mind arises from our physical bodies -- mostly the brain, ...
278 | Kieran Healy on the Technology of Ranking People
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
We claim to love all of our children, friends, and students equally. But perhaps deep down you assig...
AMA | June 2024
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the June 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded b...
277 | Cumrun Vafa on the Universe According to String Theory
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
String theory, the current leading candidate for a theory of quantum gravity as well as other partic...
276 | Gavin Schmidt on Measuring, Predicting, and Protecting Our Climate
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The Earth's climate keeps changing, largely due to the effects of human activity, and we haven't bee...
275 | Solo: Quantum Fields, Particles, Forces, and Symmetries
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Publication week! Say hello to Quanta and Fields, the second volume of the planned three-volume...
AMA | May 2024
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the May 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by...
274 | Gizem Gumuskaya on Building Robots from Human Cells
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Modern biology is advancing by leaps and bounds, not only in understanding how organisms work, but i...
273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Humanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only d...
272 | Leslie Valiant on Learning and Educability in Computers and People
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Science is enabled by the fact that the natural world exhibits predictability and regularity, at lea...
AMA | April 2024
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the April 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded ...
271 | Claudia de Rham on Modifying General Relativity
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Einstein's theory of general relativity has been our best understanding of gravity for over a centur...
270 | Solo: The Coming Transition in How Humanity Lives
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Technology is changing the world, in good and bad ways. Artificial intelligence, internet connectivi...
269 | Sahar Heydari Fard on Complexity, Justice, and Social Dynamics
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
When it comes to social change, two questions immediately present themselves: What kind of change do...
AMA | March 2024
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the March 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded ...
268 | Matt Strassler on Relativity, Fields, and the Language of Reality
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell argued that light was a wave of electric and magnetic fields. But ...
267 | Benjamin Breen on Margaret Mead, Psychedelics, and Utopia
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The twentieth century was something, wasn't it? Margaret Mead, as well as her onetime-husband&n...
266 | Christoph Adami on How Information Makes Sense of Biology
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Evolution is sometimes described -- not precisely, but with some justification -- as being about the...
AMA | February 2024
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the February 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fund...
265 | John Skrentny on How the Economy Mistreats STEM Workers
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Universities and their students are constantly being encouraged to produce more graduates majoring i...
264 | Sabine Stanley on What's Inside Planets
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The radius of the Earth is over 6,000 kilometers, but the deepest we've ever dug below the...
263 | Chris Quigg on Symmetry and the Birth of the Standard Model
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Einstein's theory of general relativity is distinguished by its singular simplicity and beauty. The ...
262 | Eric Schwitzgebel on the Weirdness of the World
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Scientists and philosophers sometimes advocate pretty outrageous-sounding ideas about the fundamenta...
261 | Sanjana Curtis on the Origins of the Elements
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In mid-20th-century cosmology, there was a debate over the origin of the chemical elements. Some tho...
260 | Ricard Solé on the Space of Cognitions
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Octopuses, artificial intelligence, and advanced alien civilizations: for many reasons, it's interes...
Holiday Message: Reflections on Immortality
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The final Mindscape podcast of each year is devoted to a short, reflective Holiday Message. This yea...
259 | Adam Frank on What Aliens Might Be Like
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It wasn't that long ago that topics like the nature of consciousness, or the foundations of quantum ...
AMA | December 2023
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Welcome to the December 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are fund...