Two Percent with Michael Easter

Inside the North Tower on 9/11 | Chief Joseph Pfeifer

Michael speaks with FDNY Chief Joseph Pfeifer, who led the first fire units into the North Tower on 9/11 and later gave the order to evacuate the towers. Chief Pfeifer la

Trauma Does Not Define Who You Are | Elizabeth Smart

Michael sits down with Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted at 14, survived nine months of captivity, and spent the decades after building her own path to recovery. She is t

Avoiding Anxiety Makes It Stronger | John Delony

John Delony argues that anxiety can be a signal, and avoiding the thing behind it often makes the alarm louder. Michael sits down with Delony, host of The Dr. John Delony

A Trial Lawyer's Rules for Hard Conversations | Jefferson Fisher

Michael sits down with trial lawyer Jefferson Fisher, author of The Next Conversation, on why hard conversations are some of the most uncomfortable things we do and how t

Should You Take Peptides? A Doctor's Evidence-Based Answer | Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum

Michael speaks with physician and competitive powerlifter Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum about what peptides are, why they suddenly seem to promise everything, and what the human

A Navy SEAL's Case for Being Humble and Obsessed | Eric Frohardt

Michael speaks with Eric Frohardt about his twelve years on SEAL Team 6 as a sniper and assaulter—and what you can learn from it. They discuss: - How to stay calm under

A Harvard Psychologist's Case Against Following the Rules | Ellen Langer

We treat aging, fatigue, and even disease as things that just happen to us. Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard's psychology department, has spent five decad

You're Living Through the Fastest Revolution in History | Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen has spent decades studying what makes people, societies, and economies thrive. He thinks we’re living through the fastest technological revolution humans have

What AI Is Actually Doing to Your Workday | Cal Newport

Modern work has a giant problem: It keeps us stressed enough to be miserable, but never stressed enough to quit. Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown Universit

Lessons From the Most Dangerous Job: Hotshot Firefighting with River Selby

Hotshot firefighting is one of the most physically demanding and dangerous jobs in the United States. River Selby spent seven years as a wildland firefighter, four of the

The Fastest Way to Help Animals Isn't Going Vegan | Dan Shannon, Humane League CEO

There are billions of animals living inside America's factory farms right now. Most live terrible, painful lives. Dan Shannon runs the Humane League, one of the largest a

Dr. Lucy McBride: Why Doctors Miss What's Actually Making You Sick

Americans spend more on healthcare than any other wealthy nation and have the worst outcomes to show for it. Dr. Lucy McBride, a Harvard-trained physician who has practic

The Man Who Proved the Blue Zones Are Fake | Saul Newman

Everybody wants to live longer, and for two decades the Blue Zones, places with the highest percentage of people 100+ years old, have promised to show us how with nine ti

Art Is the Missing Pillar of Your Health

Art is not a luxury. According to Daisy Fancourt, one of the world's foremost researchers on arts and health, it is a missing pillar of health, right next to sleep, diet,

Muscle, Not Weight, Predicts How Long You'll Live | How Medicine Gets Weight Loss Wrong with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

Most of us assume America's biggest health problem is obesity. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a physician for 20 years and the founder of Muscle-Centric Medicine, argues we have spe

Kidnapped in Colombia, Dinner with the Taliban: What the World’s Most Dangerous Places Actually Teach Us

Robert Young Pelton spent his early career as an advertising executive with 50 employees, a Rolls Royce, and a half acre on the ocean. At 40, he walked away from it to be

He Survived an Earthquake and Avalanche on Everest - Then Went Back Up

Most people will never even think about climbing Mount Everest. Dr. Jon Kedrowski has been on seven Everest expeditions and reached the summit four times. Along the way h

The Best Hand Loses 88% of the Time: What Poker Reveals About All Our Decisions

Maria Konnikova earned a PhD in psychology at Columbia studying human decision-making. She then took her research into the most unforgiving laboratory there is: the poker

The Self-Improvement Books That Will Actually Change Your Life | Ditch the Overrated Reads

Summer is peak reading season, so Michael sits down with Alex Wieckowski of Alex & Books, who has read two books a week for the past decade. Together they build a list of

These Sports Protect Your Brain Against Dementia

It turns out that tennis might be one of the best things you can do to protect your brain from dementia as you age. For this episode of Two Percent, Michael Easter sits d