All Episodes

#301 Michael Masters: The Anthropology Of Identified Flying Objects

Feb 28, 2020

Dr. Michael Masters is Professor of Anthropology at Montana Tech. His research centers on investigating human ocular, orbital, midfacial, cerebral and neurocranial morphology, and how competition among these features may act to constrain the eye and surrounding ocular tissues during ontogeny, as it relates to the disparate incidence & severity of astigmatism and juvenile-onset myopia. Further research interests center on investigating hominin biocultural evolution, astrobiology, astronomy and the physics of time as they relate to the UFO phenomenon. On that pic, he has written a book, Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon. More»
#300 Kristen Hawkes: The Grandmother Hypothesis

Feb 27, 2020

Dr. Kristen Hawkes is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah. Dr. Hawkes, an expert in human evolution and sociobiology, is the author of several studies on the “grandmother hypothesis,” which asserts that many of the characteristics that distinguish us from our ape ancestors are thanks to the thoughtful care of our grandmothers. Her research is based on ethnographic observation studies of hunter-gatherer communities such as the Aché and Hadza. She has also developed mathematical models to model evolution over time and trace the influence of grandmothers on human lifespan. Combining mathematical modelling and observational studies she also researches the effects of fire on ancient hunter-gatherers. More»
#299 Thom Scott-Phillips: The Biological And Cultural Bases Of Language

Feb 24, 2020

Dr. Thomas Scott-Phillips is a Senior Research Scientist in the Social Mind Center and the Department of Cognitive Science, at Central European University, Budapest. In particular he studies communication, and how it makes us human. His first book, Speaking Our Minds, was reviewed as “The most important and the best book ever written on the evolution of language” and “The best linguistics book I’ve read in 10 years”. He’s written short pieces for outlets such as Aeon, Scientific American, The Conversation; and he has given public talks for TEDx, British Humanist Association, Skeptics In The Pub, Digital Science and others. His academic articles and broader interests span cultural evolution, primate communication, language acquisition, philosophy of language, and others. More»
#298 Michael Inzlicht: Self-Control, Gratification Delay, Ego-Depletion, And The Replication Crisis

Feb 21, 2020

Dr. Michael Inzlicht is a Research Excellence Faculty Scholar at the University of Toronto. His primary appointment is as Professor in the Department of Psychology, but he is also cross-appointed as Professor at the Rotman School of Management. Dr. Inzlicht conducts research that sits at the boundaries of social psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Although he has published papers on the topics of prejudice, academic performance, and religion, his most recent interests have been in the topics of self-control, where he borrows methods from affective and cognitive neuroscience to understand the underlying nature of self-control, including how it is driven by motivation. More»
#297 Richard Ronay: Evolution, Hierarchy, And Leadership

Feb 20, 2020

Dr. Richard Ronay is Associate Professor of Leadership and Management at University of Amsterdam Business School. His research interests include power and status; social hierarchy; leadership; inequality; overconfidence; social intelligence; decision making; evolutionary psychology; and social neuroendocrinology. More»
#296 Laith Al-Shawaf: The Theoretical Bases Of Evolutionary Psychology, And Common Misconceptions

Feb 17, 2020

Dr. Laith Al-Shawaf is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). Before, he was an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University in Turkey and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, Germany. Laith has taught and conducted research in several different countries, and is a member of the Arab-German Young Academy (AGYA), as well as an academic adviser at Ideas Beyond Borders (IBB). More»
#295 David Benatar: The Second Sexism; Discrimination Against Men And Boys

Feb 14, 2020

Dr. David Benatar is professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. He is best known for his advocacy of anti-natalism in his book Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence, in which he argues that coming into existence is a serious harm, regardless of the feelings of the existing being once brought into existence, and that, as a consequence, it is always morally wrong to create more sentient beings. He’s also the author of books like The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys (2012), and The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (2017). More»
#294 Rob Dunn: Never Home Alone; The Species We Live With

Feb 13, 2020

Dr. Robert Dunn is William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University. He is known for efforts to involve the public as citizen scientists in arthropod surveys and bacterial flora studies. His projects include studies of belly button biodiversity, mites that live on human faces, ants in backyards, and fungi and bacteria in houses. He’s the author of five books, his most recent one being Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live. More»
#293 Kristin Andrews: Animal Minds, Theory of Mind, And Animal Ethics

Feb 10, 2020

Dr. Kristin Andrews is York Research Chair in Animal Minds and Professor of Philosophy at York University (Toronto), where she also helps coordinate the Cognitive Science program and the Toronto Area Animal Cognition Discussion Group. Dr. Andrews is on the board of directors of the Borneo Orangutan Society Canada, a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada, and the author of several books on social minds, animal minds, and ethics. More»
#292 Mattia Riccardi: Nietzsche's Psychology and Epistemology

Feb 7, 2020

Dr. Mattia Riccardi is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Porto. He does work in the areas of philosophy of mind, Nietzsche’s philosophy, Kant’s philosophy, 19th-century German philosophy, phenomenology, philosophy of perception, and philosophy of action. More»