All Episodes

#1110 Willem Frankenhuis: Human Development in Harsh and Unpredictable Environments

Jun 13, 2025

Dr. Willem Frankenhuis is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Psychobiology at the University of Amsterdam and a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. He studies how people develop in harsh and unpredictable environments. He also uses mathematical modeling to explore the evolution of plasticity, the ability of organisms to adjust to environmental conditions. More»
#1109 Stefanos Geroulanos: The Invention of Prehistory

Jun 12, 2025

Dr. Stefanos Geroulanos is the Director of the Remarque Institute and a Professor of European Intellectual History at New York University. He usually writes about concepts that weave together modern understandings of time, the human, and the body. He is the author or co-author of several books, with the latest one being The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins. More»
#1108 Laurie Mintz - Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters and How to Get It

Jun 9, 2025

Dr. Laurie Mintz is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida, where she teaches the Psychology of Human Sexuality. She is the author of two books: Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters and How to Get It (HarperOne, 2017), and A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex: Reclaim Your Desire and Reignite Your Relationship (Adams Media, 2009). More»
#1107 Donald Johanson: Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis, and Homo habilis

Jun 6, 2025

Dr. Donald Johanson is the Virginia M Ullman Chair in Human Origins in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the Founding Director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. For the past 30 years, he has conducted field and laboratory research in paleoanthropology. Most notably, he discovered the 3.18-million-year-old hominid skeleton popularly known as "Lucy." Dr. Johanson has carried out field research in Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Tanzania. More»
#1106 Kevin Hong: Magic, Divination, and Dream Interpretation Across Societies

Jun 5, 2025

Dr. Kevin Hong is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at The University of Macau. He is broadly interested in human behavior and culture, and currently has three lines of research: magic, divination, and epistemic norms in small-scale societies; reporting biases in the transmission of instrumental practices; and theoretical modeling of the transmission of culture. More»
#1105 Kostas Kampourakis - Trusting Science: Why We Need to Reconsider School Science Teaching

Jun 2, 2025

Dr. Kostas Kampourakis is author and editor of several books about science. He works at the Teacher Training Institute and the Section of Biology at the University of Geneva. At the Section of Biology, he teaches the courses “Biologie et Société” and “Comprendre l’évolution”. He is the author and editor of several books, including Trusting Science: Why We Need to Reconsider School Science Teaching. More»
#1104 Vanessa Wills: Marx's Ethical Vision

May 30, 2025

Dr. Vanessa Christina Wills is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington University. Her areas of specialization are moral, social, and political philosophy, nineteenth century German philosophy (especially Karl Marx), and the philosophy of race. Her research is importantly informed by her study of Marx’s work, and focuses on how socioeconomic arrangements can inhibit or promote the realization of values such as freedom, equality, and human development. She is the author of Marx’s Ethical Vision. More»
#1103 Paul Seabright - The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People

May 29, 2025

Dr. Paul Seabright is British Professor of Economics in the Industrial Economics Institute and Toulouse School of Economics at the University of Toulouse, France. His research focuses on microeconomic theory, development economics, industrial policy in transition economies, and state aids to industry. He is the author of The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People. More»
#1102 Mandi Astola: Character, Virtue, and Vice

May 26, 2025

Dr. Mandi Astola is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on character: what good and bad character traits are like, why they are good or bad, and whether their status as good or bad changes according to context, and whether groups have a character which we can evaluate morally and epistemically. More»
#1101 Laura Betzig - The Badge of Lost Innocence: A History of the West

May 23, 2025

Dr. Laura Betzig is a Ph.D. in anthropology at Northwestern University; she’s held research and teaching positions at Northwestern, the University of California, and the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. She’s lectured all over the US and Europe in departments of biology, anthropology, history, economics, philosophy, political science, psychology and religion; at interdisciplinary conferences; and to general audiences. She’s also the author of four books, the latest one being The Badge of Lost Innocence: A History of the West. More»