Inquiring Minds

Indre talks to science writer Abigail Tucker about her book The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Indre wrote a book! It’s called How Music Can Make You Better and this week we hear all about it.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

A careful look into research on whether or not we can generate new neurons as adults; new research into using machine learning to predict premature death; and a new technique to reshape cartilage by heating it.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Jeremy Lent about his book The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Christie Aschwanden about her new book Good To Go: What the athlete in all of us can learn from the strange science of recovery.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Matt Richtel about his new book An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

A study taking a deep look into insect populations and their decline; bad news about global warming four generations from now, new research showing why older mice benefit from receiving younger blood; and a new study on microwaving grapes.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Jennifer Ouellette, science writer and former director of The Science & Entertainment Exchange, about last year’s best and the worst science movies and tv.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Blake J. Harris about his new book The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

The science behind the polar vortex, a new study attempting to directly translate brain signals into speech, and an update on the incredible work of neuroscientist Ed Boyden.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to New York Times best-selling science writer Maria Konnikova about her book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to psychologist Ellen Winner about her new book How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to bestselling author Daniel Pink about his latest book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

This week: The New Horizons spacecraft took pictures of an object in the Kuiper belt; a study that brings up questions about how to define death; there’s a major upcoming scientific study that the US conducts every 10 years: the US census; and a look into the pricing and access to scientific journals.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to David Amodia, a social neuroscientist and psychology professor at NYU and the University of Amsterdam, about the science of prejudice.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

This week: Kishore looks back through 2018 and lays out his favorite science stories of the year.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to Dave Williams, a Canadian astronaut, neuroscientist, physician, and author of the new book Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

This week: A study looking into how male hummingbirds divebomb fast enough that their tail feathers make high-pitched squeaks; and new evidence explaining why sea levels were 6-9 meters higher about 150,000 years ago (even though the climate was just about as warm as it is today), and why that’s especially relevant now.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

We talk to author Robert Greene, most known for the bestselling The 48 Laws of Power, about his new book The Laws of Human Nature.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

This week: A look into quorum sensing, a field of research looking into if bacteria, particularly bacteria that are trying to invade another host, can communicate with each other—and new research suggesting viruses can exhibit the same behavior; new research into using alpha waves to stimulate creativity; and Indre and Kishore’s 2018 science gift recommendations.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds