Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchBelieving Is Seeing: Inside the Modern Paranormal Movement
Episode 522
In 2010, in a small New Hampshire town, next door to a copy center and framing shop, a ghost lab opened. The Kitt Research Initiative’s mission was to use the scientific method to document the existe…
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Inside the CIA’s Mind Control Experiments
Episode 521
This is the inside story of the CIA’s secret mind control project, MKULTRA, using never-before-seen testimony from the perpetrators themselves.
Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s most cunning chemist. As …
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Neanderthals and Us: A Complex Story of Coexistence and Hybridization
Episode 520
In this eye-opening episode, Michael Shermer chats with evolutionist Telmo Pievani about the surprising coexistence—and hybridization—of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
They discuss recent scientific …
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
AI, Trade Wars, Degrowth: What's Next for the Global Economy?
Episode 519
Amid rising concerns about AI, inequality, trade wars, and globalization, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist John Cassidy takes a bold approach: he tells the story of capitalism thro…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Is Modern Life Making Us Miserable? What’s Fueling the Mental Health Crisis & What Can Help?
Episode 518
What does your diet have to do with your mood? Is mercury in fish really dangerous? Psychiatrist Dr. Drew Ramsey joins Michael Shermer to discuss the science behind nutritional psychiatry and how foo…
Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago
Free Speech Under Fire? From Campus Protests to Deportations
Episode 517
Jacob Mchangama, author of Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media, joins Michael to examine the evolving landscape of free expression amid rising political and cultural tensions. They d…
Published on 4 months ago
Is It Possible to Change Your Entire Personality?
Episode 516
Is it really possible to change your entire personality in a year? An award-winning journalist experiments with her own personality to find out—and reveals the science behind lasting change.
Research…
Published on 4 months ago
The Trouble with Economic Data: Flawed Metrics, Flawed Decisions
Episode 515
The ways that statisticians and governments measure the economy were developed in the 1940s, when the urgent economic problems were entirely different from those of today. Diane Coyle argues that the…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
Did Shutting Down Schools Help or Hurt? A COVID-19 Postmortem
Episode 514
David Zweig’s new book An Abundance of Caution (MIT Press) is an account of the decision-making process behind the extended closures of public schools during the pandemic. In fascinating and meticulo…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
What’s Holding You Back? Scott Barry Kaufman on Resilience in the Age of Fragility
Episode 513
It’s tempting to see ourselves as damaged or powerless—defined by past traumas, overwhelming emotions, and daily struggles. But is that really the most helpful way to understand ourselves? Does seein…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago