You Are Not So Smart

347 - Under Alien Skies - Phil Plait

Astronomer Phil Plait joins us to discuss his new book, Under Alien Skies, in which he describes what it would be like (through human eyes and real physical experiences)

346 - No Nocebo Effect - Helen Pilcher

The suffering is real, but the source may not be what you assume. That's the essence of the nocebo effect, the placebo effect's evil twin. As neuroscientist Dr. Helen Pil

345 - A Pox on Fools - Thomas Levenson

MIT professor Thomas Levenson, the author of the book A Pox on Fools, takes us through the same repeating patterns throughout history which have led to antivaxxers and va

344 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter

Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking? We explore all of this and

343 - Misguided - Matthew Facciani

What is misinformation? How does it differ from disinformation or just plain ‘ole propaganda? How do we protect ourselves from people with nefarious intentions using all

342 - The Conspiracy Theorist Who Changed His Mind

Tim Harford of the podcast Cautionary Tales sits down with David McRaney to hear a story from David's book, How Minds Change, about how (and why) a prominent conspiracy t

341 - Positive Rants - Heather Barnes

Communications professor Heather Barnes teaches us how to use what she learned teaching at Second City, managing the Museum of Science and Industry, and taking classes at

340 - Thinking Sideways - Jennifer Shahade

There are more possible chess moves than atoms in the universe, and chess champion Jennifer Shahade tells us how we can borrow from the best chess players' decision-tree

339 - Enlightened Disagreement

Northwestern University just launched the Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement, a real-world institution devoted to "research-backed approaches to cultivating ope

338 - May Contain Lies - Alex Edmans (rebroadcast)

Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School, tells us how to avoid the Ladder of Misinference by examining how narratives, statistics, and articles can

337 - Cognitive Surrender - Gideon Nave and Steven D. Shaw

How is AI reshaping human reasoning? What is cognitive surrender, and how do we avoid its negative impact? What is system three thinking, and how can we get the most out

336 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth (rebroadcast)

If you want to overthrow a dictator, resist an authoritarian regime, or create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don't need half the country, you on

335 - Align Your Mind - Britt Frank (rebroadcast)

Therapist, teacher, speaker, and trauma specialist Britt Frank tells us all about her new book, Align Your Mind, an all-access pass to understanding, befriending, and lea

334 - Magical Thinking - Matt Tompkins (rebroadcast)

In this episode, the story of Clever Hans, the horse who changed psychology for the better. We also sit down with psychologist and magician Matt Tompkins. Matt is the aut

YANSS 333 - Selective Perception - Jay Van Bavel

How can two people watch the same video yet see two different things? How can two people witness the same event but arrive at two different truths about what they witness

332 - Concordance Over Truth Bias (rebroadcast)

In this episode, we sit down with three disinformation researchers whose new paper found something surprising about both our resistance and our susceptibility to both tru

331 - Wicked Problems - Martin Carcasson

Dr. Martin Carcasson tells us how he, as the Director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State, trains people how to facilitate deliberation and overcome w

330 - A More Beautiful Question - Warren Berger (rebroadcast)

Warren Berger has made a career out of classifying, categorizing, and making sense of the many varieties of questions that we ask and in this episode he explains how we c

329 - Point Taken - Steven Franconeri

Dr. Steven Franconeri explains the powerful insights and opportunities offered by a game he and his team created for having better disagreements about just about anything

328 - Shape - Jordan Ellenberg (rebroadcast)

We sit down with Jordan Ellenberg, a world-class geometer, who takes us on a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better abo