Episode Details

Learn about why you want things just because others do too; a way to reduce wrongful convictions; and Fermilab’s ferret.

"Mimetic desires" are things you want because others want them — here's how to spot them by Steffie Drucker

• Reese, H. (2021, November 8). Mimetic desire: How to avoid chasing things you don’t truly want. Big Think; Big Think. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/mimetic-desire-luke-burgis/
• Caprino, K. (2021, June 4). How To Identify Your True Desires And Stop Imitating Everyone Else’s. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2021/06/04/how-to-identify-your-true-desires-and-stop-imitating-everyone-elses/?sh=15125424699e
• ‌Girard, Rene | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2015). Utm.edu. https://iep.utm.edu/girard/
• ‌Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire by Luke Burgis - Summary & Quotes. (2021). Matthewvere.com. https://www.matthewvere.com/notes/wanting-the-power-of-mimetic-desire#toc-thick-desires
• Mimetic Theory | What It Is. (2019). Mimetic Theory. https://mimetictheory.com/what-it-is-2/  

To reduce wrongful convictions, test a witness's memory only once by Grant Currin

• One and done: Researchers urge testing eyewitness memory only once. (2021, November 3). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/933794
• Wixted, J. T., Wells, G. L., Loftus, E. F., & Garrett, B. L. (2021). Test a Witness’s Memory of a Suspect Only Once. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 22(1_suppl), 1S18S. https://doi.org/10.1177/15291006211026259
• Kimball, S. (2021, January 28). US Supreme Court turns down Texas death row case concerning police hypnosis. Jurist.org; - JURIST - News - Legal News & Commentary. https://www.jurist.org/news/2021/01/us-supreme-court-turns-down-texas-death-row-case-concerning-police-hypnosis/

In the 1970s, one of Fermilab’s particle accelerator techs was a ferret named Felicia by Cameron Duke

• Felicia helps out. (2016, October 5). News. https://news.fnal.gov/2016/10/felicia-helps-out/
• Pinkowski, J. (2019, April 2). Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator. Atlas Obscura; Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/felicia-ferret-particle-accelerator-fermilab
• Searcy, M. (Fall 2014). A fuzzy concept. The University of Chicago Magazine. https://mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/fuzzy-concept
• Spichak, S. (2021, July 13). The Ferret Who Ran Inside the Fermi Particle Accelerator. Medium; History of Yesterday. https://historyofyesterday.com/the-ferret-who-ran-inside-the-fermi-particle-accelerator-fec5b3136b0b

Follow host Cody Gough on Giveo and at https://academicpodcasts.com. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.