378 episodes
Inquiring Minds Indre Viskontas
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- Social Sciences
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4.4 • 805 Ratings
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Each week we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science and society collide. We’re committed to the idea that making an effort to understand the world around you though science and critical thinking can benefit everyone—and lead to better decisions. We want to find out what’s true, what’s left to discover, and why it all matters.
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Where did artificial intelligence come from?
We talk to New York Times reporter and author Cade Metz about his new book Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
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Up To Date | Aliens didn’t make Oumuamua, aphantasia, and baseball beer research
This week: New research on the first known interstellar object in our solar system, A/2017 U1—or Oumuamua—suggesting it’s probably a chunk of a Pluto-like planet, and not from aliens; research that used 2,000 microphones to get super detailed recordings of hummingbirds and learn how they make the sounds they make; the impact of alcohol consumption policies at major league baseball stadiums; and new research on people with aphantasia—the inability to form mental imagery—and how scary stories are less likely to scare them.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
What does it mean to be alive?
We talk to acclaimed science writer and return guest Carl Zimmer about his new book Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
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Literature may be the most powerful technology we’ve invented
On the show this week we talk to professor of story science Angus Fletcher about his new book Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
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Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong
On the show this week we talk to professor of genetic epidemiology Tim Spector about his new book Spoon-Fed: Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Up To Date | Paleogenetics, naps, and shocking your brain into remembering better
This week: We look at new paleogenetic research on mammoth molars; delve into the biological drive for napping; and talk about a surprising new study on memory that involves transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
Offspring of Elevatorgate
“Inquiring Minds” began in 2013 when Chris Mooney and Indre Viscontas quit their jobs as hosts of the Center for Inquiry podcast “Point of Inquiry” in protest over remarks by CFI chief Ron Lindsey that were critical of skeptic personality Rebecca Watson, the central figure of the “Elevatorgate” brouhaha that marked the beginning of the end of the New Atheist movement of the aughts. After leaving PoI at the behest of the show’s producer—who was Watson’s boyfriend—Mooney and Viscontas started this podcast. Mooney didn’t stick around for long, but Viscontas has kept the show going for eight years. The show currently consists primarily of interviews with the authors of popular science books. Viscontas is a decent interviewer. I sort of wish that she and Mooney hadn’t dropped the religious skepticism aspect of the “Point of Inquiry” show when they started this show, but that decision probably helped the show last this long.
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Informative and balanced
Thorough and centered discussions.
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