Latest Universityofchicago Podcast Episodes
Storm Warning: Why Hurricanes Are Growing Beyond Measure, with Michael Wehner
Big Brains - May 16, 2024 11:55 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsWe all know that extreme weather events like hurricanes are getting worse due to climate change, but what scientists would really like to know is: By how much worse exactly? This year a team of researchers argued that hurricanes have become so much more extreme due to climate change that we need...
How To Manifest Your Future Using Neuroscience, with James Doty
Big Brains - May 02, 2024 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsWe've all heard the phrase "Manifest Your Destiny" when it comes to wanting that new promotion, figuring out a new career path or just trying to achieve that long-term goal. It turns out that the act of manifestation is not merely pseudoscience—it actually has a body of research in neuroscience ...
Why We Die—And How We Can Live Longer, with Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan
Big Brains - April 18, 2024 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsThey’re perhaps the oldest questions in the science: Why do we die? And could we find a way to live forever? But for decades, anti-aging research was a “backwater” of the scientific community, consider too fanciful and unrealistic. That is until the last few years. Modern advances in biology hav...
What Dogs Are Teaching Us About Aging, with Daniel Promislow
Big Brains - April 04, 2024 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsEvery dog owner has faced the hard realization that their dog won’t live as long as they do, but we’ve all probably wondered: Why do some dogs live longer than others? It turns out that several factors are at play, according to the largest research study of dogs, known as The Dog Aging Project. ...
Where Has Alzheimer’s Research Gone Wrong? with Karl Herrup
Big Brains - March 21, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsFor more than a century, scientists have been studying Alzheimer’s disease and developing theories about its underlying cause. The leading theory for decades has been that abnormal amyloid plaques in the brains of those who suffer from the disease are the central cause. But, according one renown...
Why Breeding Millions of Mosquitoes Could Help Save Lives
Big Brains - March 07, 2024 13:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsMosquito-borne diseases are one of the greatest global health threats, infecting around 700 million people every year with Zika virus, dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever — which can all be deadly if left untreated. Unfortunately, the mosquito population is not slowing down, and factors like ...
Why Shaming Other Countries Often Backfires, with Rochelle Terman
Big Brains - February 22, 2024 13:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsHow do you stop a government from continuing to commit human rights abuses? You could take them to an international court of justice, or file a complaint at the UN. But none of those bodies have any enforcement power. Short of going to war, the only option on the table in most international situ...
Can Trump Legally Be President?, with William Baude
Big Brains - February 06, 2024 13:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsThe Supreme Court’s decision on whether Colorado can take former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 election may be one of the most consequential in its history. The case will turn on the court’s interpretation of Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution, which bars any previou...
What Our Hand Gestures Reveal About Our Thoughts, with Susan Goldin-Meadow
Big Brains - January 25, 2024 13:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsLanguage shapes our world. But when we speak, there is actually a secret conversation happening beyond our words. It’s happening not with our mouths—but with our hands. Prof. Susan Goldin-Meadow is a distinguished scholar of psychology at the University of Chicago. Her research into deaf childr...
Psychedelics Without Hallucinations: A New Mental Health Treatment? with David E. Olson
Big Brains - January 11, 2024 13:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsThe United States is facing a real mental health crisis. In the last few years, one possible treatment has gotten a lot of press: psychedelic drugs. But what is actually happening in a person’s brain when they take a psychedelic? Could understanding the biology and the chemistry allow us to make...
The Science Of Happiness
Big Brains - December 28, 2023 13:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsThe Big Brains team is taking some time off during the holidays but for all those travelers out there heading home, we wanted to make sure you still had your favorite podcast in your feed. So, we’re resharing one of our most popular episodes ever. It’s about the science of happiness. What is th...
Do We Really Have Free Will? With Robert Sapolsky
Big Brains - December 14, 2023 13:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsHere’s the question you’re going to be asking for the next 30 minutes: Did I freely choose to listen to this podcast, or did I actually have no choice at all? Most of us probably believe we have free will. We feel like we make decisions, and that each of us is responsible for the consequences of...
A Radical Solution To Address Climate Change, with David Keith
Big Brains - November 30, 2023 13:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsClimate change can feel like an impossible crisis these days. Every week there is some new report about the irreversible damage we’re doing to our planet and the havoc it will bring to people’s lives. We all know cutting emissions is the solution, yet governments and companies seem no closer to ...
How PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Are Harming Our Health, with Linda Birnbaum
Big Brains - November 16, 2023 13:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsBy now, you've probably heard about the dangers of PFAS “forever chemicals.” These chemicals are all around us—they're in waterproof hiking boots, electronics, nonstick pans and even our drinking water—but there's no way for them to break down in our environment. Epidemiological studies have lin...
Are We Worse People Than We Used To Be? With Adam Mastroianni
Big Brains - November 02, 2023 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsHow many times have you heard this phrase: “Back in the day, people were nicer” or “People aren’t as kind as they used to be?” Most of us have experienced the feeling that people are becoming meaner over time, year after year. But is it true? Are people really less kind than they used to be? Th...
Freakonomics’ Steven Levitt On The Secret To Making Tough Choices
Big Brains - October 19, 2023 12:00 - 39 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsOf the academic books that have become household names, “Freakonomics” must be at the top of the list. The 2005 book by University of Chicago scholar Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner created not only a whole new way of thinking about discovering answers to complex problems, but launch...
Will Political Violence Destroy Our Democracy?, With Robert Pape
Big Brains - October 05, 2023 12:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsSince the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, University of Chicago Prof. Robert Pape has been closely observing the threats to our democracy. Now, the renowned terrorism expert says that violent ideas coming from a dedicated minority are moving from fringe to mainstream. In 2021, Pape's t...
Defending Campus Free Speech In A Polarized Age, with Paul Alivisatos and Tom Ginsburg
Big Brains - September 22, 2023 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsFree speech is probably one of the most polarizing public topics of debate. And those arguments only become more intense when it comes to free expression on college and university campuses. Should professors be allowed to say whatever they want? What about speakers being invited to campus? Who g...
Why The Secret To Health Lies In The Mind-body Connection, with Ellen Langer
Big Brains - September 07, 2023 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsCan you heal faster just by tricking your brain? Could you lose weight with only a change of mindset? Could you think yourself into being younger? If you think the answer to all these questions is no, you haven’t read the research from renowned Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer. Lang...
Phonics Vs. Whole Word: The Science Of Reading, With Adrian Johns
Big Brains - August 24, 2023 12:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsReading is one of the most significant practices in the modern age of information, but it has a complicated history. Scientists began studying reading over a century ago; they built eye movement devices to study how fast and efficiently we read, and even proposed methods on the best ways to teac...
How AI Is Transforming Scientific Research, With Rebecca Willett
Big Brains - August 10, 2023 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsOne of the first areas to be affected by AI has been science. Researchers have already started to integrate these new technologies into their work, but what does it mean to let these systems into our labs? Can they be trusted? And, if they so, how radically can they push science forward? Prof. ...
How AI Could Change The Law
Big Brains - July 27, 2023 12:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsAI promises to change every part of our society, but one area that has already started to be affected is law. And AI may do more than just upend the profession of lawyers. One professor here at the University of Chicago believes that, with its ability to handle massive data sets, AI could be use...
How AI Can Predict Future Scientific Discoveries
Big Brains - July 20, 2023 12:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsScience is facing a perplexing problem. Although there are far more scientists today than ever before, publishing research at a faster and faster pace, new and novel advancements have slowed not increased. But one expert at the University of Chicago thinks he may have found a way out of this pro...
The Uncovered History of Space Travel & Its Privatized Future
Big Brains - July 13, 2023 12:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsEveryone is talking about the upcoming summer blockbuster, Oppenheimer. We are always incredibly captivated by behind the curtain looks at some of the most momentous events in our history. Uncovering the secret details and hidden motivations of the people that have shaped our past. And all the b...
The Health Costs of Air Pollution
Big Brains - July 06, 2023 12:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsMany cities in the US have been experiencing smoky and hazy skies lately. Some of you have probably been affected by poor air quality due to the ongoing wildfires in Canada that are causing pollution to travel as far as Chicago and New York. On a former episode of our podcast, we spoke with some...
How Your Brain Benefits From Music, With Larry Sherman
Big Brains - June 29, 2023 12:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsMusic plays an important role in all of our lives. But listening to music or playing an instrument is more than just a creative outlet or hobby — it’s also scientifically good for us. Research shows that music can stimulate new connections in our brains; keeping our cognitive abilities sharp and...
Magic words: Can What You Say Help You Get Your way? with Jonah Berger
Big Brains - June 15, 2023 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsEveryone wishes they had a superpower. Well, it turns out you’ve had a secret power since you were a child, you just don’t know how to use it yet. That’s the power of language. In a fascinating new book, “Magic Words: What To Say To Get Your Way," Prof. Jonah Berger of the Wharton School uses ma...
Providing Basic Health Insurance For Every American, With Katherine Baicker
Big Brains - June 01, 2023 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsIf there is something both sides of the political aisle can agree on, it’s that there is something deeply wrong with health insurance in the United States. What they can’t agree on is how to fix it. The right blames everything on the Affordable Care Act, while those on the left say we need Healt...
Why We Fight, With Christopher Blattman
Big Brains - May 25, 2023 12:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsWhy do we fight? It’s a seemingly simple question, but it turns out the answers are surprising, deep and crucial to understanding our world. Considering how costly any conflict is in lives and money, why do wars happen at all? This is one of those episodes that will change how you view some of o...
The Hidden Truths About Sexuality And Gender In The Medieval World, with Roland Betancourt
Big Brains - May 11, 2023 12:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 358 ratingsWe often think our debates around sexuality and gender are a modern phenomenon. Some people argue that identities like trans and non-binary have only existed recently. But could the evidence for queer and gender-nonconforming lives actually stretch back centuries? In a recent book entitled Byz...
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