Podcast Episodes

Edward Tenner, "Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences" (APS Press, 2025)

How did the addition of lifeboats after the Titanic shipwreck contribute to another tragedy in Chicago harbor three years later? How efficient are wi…

11 months, 2 weeks ago

Pooja Agarwal, Cynthia Nebel, Veronica Yan, "Smart Teaching Stronger Learning: Practical Tips From 10 Cognitive Scientists" (Unleash Learning Press, 2025)

How can I help my students not only learn my course material but also retain and transfer that information? This is a question that has plagued and i…

11 months, 3 weeks ago

Margaret Cook Andersen, "Fertile Expectations: The Politics of Involuntary Childlessness in Twentieth-Century France" (Manchester UP, 2025)

An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, Fertile expectations: The politics of involuntary childle…

11 months, 3 weeks ago

Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper, "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins" (University of Chicago Press, 2025)

A thrilling exploration of competing cosmological origin stories, comparing new scientific ideas that upend our very notions of space, time, and real…

11 months, 4 weeks ago

Liam Graham, "Molecular Storms: The Physics of Stars, Cells and the Origin of Life" (Springer Nature, 2023)

Why is the universe the way it is? Wherever we look, we find ordered structures: from stars to planets to living cells. Molecular Storms: The Physics…

1 year ago

Elliot Lichtman, "The Computer Always Wins: A Playful Introduction to Algorithms through Puzzles and Strategy Games" (MIT Press, 2025)

In The Computer Always Wins: A Playful Introduction to Algorithms through Puzzles and Strategy Games (MIT Press, 2025), Elliot Lichtman will teach yo…

1 year ago

Mary A. Armstrong and Susan L. Averett, "Disparate Measures: The Intersectional Economics of Women in STEM Work" (MIT Press, 2024)

An exploration of workplace participation and earnings patterns for diverse women in US STEM professions that upends the myth that STEM work benefits…

1 year ago

Maggie M. Fink and Shahir S. Rizk, "The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life" (Belknap Press, 2025)

An awe-inspiring journey into the world of proteins--how they shape life, and their remarkable potential to heal our bodies and our planet.

Each fall…

1 year ago

Alfonso Martinez Arias, "The Master Builder: How the New Science of the Cell Is Rewriting the Story of Life" (Basic Books, 2023)

What defines who we are? For decades, the answer has seemed obvious: our genes, the “blueprint of life.” In The Master Builder: How the New Science…

1 year ago

Jack Ashby, "Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums" (Penguin, 2025)

In Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums (Penguin, 2025), zoologist Jack Ashby shares hidden stories behind the w…

1 year ago