Back to Top

21 Aug 2018

Hearing Loss and Cognition – Yune Lee

Might early hearing impairment lead to cognitive challenges later in life? Yune Lee from the Ohio State University talks with us in episode 30 about his research into how even minor hearing loss can increase the cognitive load required to distinguish spoken language. His open-access article  "Diff...
Listen to the episode..Hearing Loss and Cognition – Yune Lee
7 Aug 2018

Differing Interpretations of Difficulty – Neil Lewis, Jr.

No matter whether you think you can or can't, the saying goes, you're right. Neil Lewis, Jr. from Cornell University talks with us in episode 29 about about his research into what differentiates students who experience difficulty in college as signaling its importance from those that make it mean ...
Listen to the episode..Differing Interpretations of Difficulty – Neil Lewis, Jr.
24 Jul 2018

Debunking Pterosaurs Flight – Armita Manafzadeh

Righting a 200 year old mistake: Armita Manafzadeh from Brown University talks with us about how her simulations of pterosaurs' range-of-motion demonstrate that the ancient reptiles almost certainly couldn't have flown like most paleontologists have long thought they did. Her open-access article, ...
Listen to the episode..Debunking Pterosaurs Flight – Armita Manafzadeh
10 Jul 2018

Prehistoric Origins of Birds – Bhart-Anjan Bhullar

What can prehistory tell us about the origins of modern birds? Bhart-Anjan Bhullar from Yale University talks with us about how the discovery of a 95 million year old Ichthyornis fossil in 2014 revealed some unexpected insights into the minds — and mouths — of today's birds. His article, "Complete...
Listen to the episode..Prehistoric Origins of Birds – Bhart-Anjan Bhullar
2 Apr 2018

How Misinformation Spreads Online – Soroush Vosoughi

By now, we're all familiar with the idea that social media can - and has - been used to spread untruths. But why does this work? Soroush Vosoughi from MIT's Laboratory for Social Machines and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center talks with us in episode 20 about his research into how false news dissemin...
Listen to the episode..How Misinformation Spreads Online – Soroush Vosoughi
6 Mar 2018

Empathic Accuracy – Michael Kraus

Michael Kraus from Yale University's School of Management talks with us about his research examining the role of the voice in our capacity to accurately estimate the emotions of others. His open-access article, "Voice-Only Communication Enhances Empathic Accuracy",  was published in the American P...
Listen to the episode..Empathic Accuracy – Michael Kraus
20 Feb 2018

Universals in Song – Sam Mehr & Manvir Singh

Sam Mehr and Manvir Singh from Harvard's Music Lab talk with us about their research suggesting that people across the world can detect the social purpose of other cultures' songs based only on how they sound. Their open-access article, "Form and function in human song"  was published in Current B...
Listen to the episode..Universals in Song – Sam Mehr & Manvir Singh
9 Jan 2018

Capacity for Number – Rafael Núñez

In episode 14 we talk with Rafael Núñez from the University of California San Diego about his research into if human understanding of number has developed through biological evolution, or through the evolution of language and culture. His article, "Is There Really an Evolved Capacity for Number?,"...
Listen to the episode..Capacity for Number – Rafael Núñez
12 Dec 2017

Reactivation of Earthquakes – Folarin Kolawole

In this episode we talk with Folarin Kolawole from the University of Oklahoma about his research into how the reactivation of faults can lead to earthquakes in places where they've never before occurred in recorded history. His open-access article "Aeromagnetic, gravity, and Differential Interfe......
Listen to the episode..Reactivation of Earthquakes – Folarin Kolawole
5 Sep 2017

Semantic Meaning in Images – Devi Parikh

A picture may be worth 1000 words, but can we also teach computers to create stories from the stories that lie inside our images? In this episode, Devi Parikh of Georgia Tech’s school of interactive computing discusses her work training computers to determine the semantic meaning within images...
Listen to the episode..Semantic Meaning in Images – Devi Parikh