Science Vs

A group of scientists meet a very unusual woman. A key part of her brain isn’t working: the amygdala. This is the part of the brain that we think is responsible for feeling fear. And in fact, this woman does seem pretty fearless. Researchers test her fear response using some very unconventional methods, but she takes everything in stride. Then, finally, they stumble onto the one thing that makes the woman who can’t feel fear absolutely panic. We scare up some science with neuropsychologist Dr. Justin Feinstein. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsWomanWhoFeltNoFear In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Meet the Woman Who Felt No Fear (04:38) Fear and the Amygdala (10:27) Scientists Start Running Experiments With the Woman Who Felt No Fear (11:48) Scientists Try to Scare SM (12:59) Scientists Try to Scare Her With Snakes (16:08) Scientists Try to Scare Her with a Haunted House (19:58) The Risks of Feeling No Fear (25:46) Scientists Try a New Approach (34:20) How Breathing Too Much Carbon Dioxide Causes Fear This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang, and Meryl Horn. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wiley, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. Thank you to all the scientists we spoke to for this episode including, Special thanks to Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman family. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Trump administration is rolling back restrictions on air pollution in the U.S., and some experts say this could affect the health of millions of people. And what makes air pollution especially dangerous is that we often can’t see it at all. So today, we’re going back to the story of Ella Kissi-Debrah, a little girl who suddenly got sick and landed in the hospital. In this episode, her mom, Rosamund, takes on the fight to find out what exactly happened to Ella. And the answer has BIG implications — for us all. We’ll hear from Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah and Professor Stephen Holgate. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsAirPollution In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Ella’s story (13:02) The campaign and investigation (21:01) Why air pollution is so dangerous (25:39) Accountability and change This episode was produced by Ekedi Fausther-Keeys with help from Rose Rimler, Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, and Courtney Gilbert. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is the Executive Producer. Extra help by Saidu Tejan-Thomas, Nicole Beemsterboer, Kendra Pierre-Louis, and Alex Blumberg. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, Bobby Lord and SoWylie. Thanks to all of the researchers and experts we got in touch with for this episode, including Jocelyn Cockburn, Professor Vernon Morris, Dr. George Thurston, Dr. Lauren Zajac, Dr. Jennifer Burney, Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Dr. Melissa Burroughs, Dr Wei Peng, Professor Barbara Hoffman, Dr Michael Craig, and Dr Wes Austin. Special thanks to Rachel Humphreys, BBC Motion Gallery / Getty Images, Jonah Delso, Jackie Llanos, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A weird virus has popped up on a cruise ship, and it’s making a bunch of us nervous. It’s a type of hantavirus called Andes virus, and scientists think that it’s infected almost a dozen people so far — three of them have died. And now people are getting off the boat, some of them going into government quarantine, but some of them traveling home. And people are like, wait … this all sounds VERY familiar … from the early days of Covid. So — how scary is this? Could this hantavirus be the next pandemic?? We talk to Prof. Michelle Harkins, Prof. Ann Sheehy and Dr. Neil Vora to find out. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsHantavirus In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Hantavirus shows up on a cruise ship (03:11) What happens if you get sick with hantavirus? (09:32) How does hantavirus spread? (14:05) How good is this hantavirus at spreading? (26:08) Is this hantavirus going to cause the next pandemic? This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, with help from Blythe Terrell, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys and Wendy Zukerman. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is the executive producer. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wylie, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. Special thanks to the other researchers we spoke to about this, including Prof. Glenn Marsh. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's claims out there that all kinds of things can make us happy in life, from making money to having kids to buying your dream home. But what actually works?? What does it take to have a happy life?? Professor Bob Waldinger is a psychiatrist at Harvard who has spent more than two decades as the director of this amazing study. It has tracked hundreds of people for decades and is the world's longest scientific study into happiness. So we're gonna find out what a lot of us get wrong in searching for the good life. Where we should be putting our time and attention. And we'll get this huge insight into how we can all be happier — and healthier. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsHappiness In this episode, we cover: (00:00) What makes us happy? (01:48) The world's longest study into happiness (07:25) The biggest finding of the study (13:18) How do you build good relationships? (18:26) How did Bob get happier?? (21:53) How childhood adversity changes us (24:12) Does having kids make you happy? (25:22) Does making money make us happy? (27:55) The Happiest Person (29:40) Looking back on our lives Don't forget to text a friend you haven't seen in a while! Let us know what they say. Send us a photo if you end up catching up!! You can email us at ScienceVsTeam@gmail.com or tag us in an instagram post — we're at @science_vs. And come say hello to Wendy on tiktok, I'm @wendyzukerman This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking help by Ekedi Fauster-Keeys. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wiley, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. An extra thanks to the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI tools like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm, with tons of people saying they use them regularly. This is especially true for students, many of whom say they use AI to get their schoolwork done. And this is freaking some of us out — we're hearing that jumping on the AI train could be a terrible idea, partly because of claims that these tools could be bad for our brains. So — are we outsourcing too much of our thinking to the bots?? Will our brains turn to mush? Or can we use AI to boost our brainpower? To find out, we talk to Dr. Shiri Melumad, expert in the psychology of technology, and Dr. Aaron French, expert in information systems. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsAIStupid In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Is AI ruining or boosting our brains? (02:45) How often are LLMs like ChatGPT wrong? (05:01) Do LLMs mess with our ability to learn? (19:26) Does using AI make us more productive? (24:33) Another example of a technology that freaked a bunch of people out (27:40) Can using AI help us learn? This episode was produced by Meryl Horn with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Michelle Dang, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Our executive producer is Wendy Zukerman. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wylie, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke with including Daniela Fernandes, Dr. Marcin Romanczyk, Professor Michael Henderson, Dr. Tim Zindulka, and Professor Vitomir Kovanovicent. Special thanks also to Sebastian Peleato, Chris Suter, Elise, Dylan, Jack Weinstein and Hunter. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tons of people visit the chiropractor, saying it helps soothe pain in their neck or back. But we’re now hearing claims that chiro can do a whole lot more. Like, some say it can help kids with stuff like asthma, colic, even breastfeeding problems. So … can chiro really do all that?? To find out what’s cracking here, we talk to chiropractor Carl Cleveland III, physical therapist Anita Gross, neurophysiologist Dr. Marcello Costa — and the parents of former Senior Producer Kaitlyn Sawrey. We originally published a version of this episode several years ago; we’ve updated it with new science. Check out our full transcript here: https://bit.ly/sciencevschiropractors 00:00 Welcome to Science Vs chiropractors 01:09 Baby Kaity and the Sawreys 04:54 The origin of chiropractic 07:35 The theory behind subluxation 10:19 Neck and back pain 13:18 The science on taking kids to the chiro 19:07 The evidence on subluxation 24:42 What are the risks? 27:14 Let’s round it all up This episode was produced by Rose Rimler and Wendy Zukerman, with help from Kaitlyn Sawrey, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Shruti Ravindran and Heather Rogers. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Michelle Harris. Sound design by Martin Peralta and Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord. Recording help from Asher Griffith. Special thanks to Dr. Richard Deyo, Prof. Tim Mirtz, Prof. Gregory Whitcomb, Dr. Adam Cifu and Julie Knaak. An extra big thanks to Rachel Ward, Emma Morgenstern, Christina Sullivan, Jasmine Romero, Phoebe Flanigan, Alex Ward, Russell Gragg, Fiona Croall and Judy Adair. Also, a shout-out to the Sawreys! Thank you, Bill & Chris. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every day we’re all doing a little bit of chemistry: when we bake potatoes, add a little salt to our pasta, or even bake a box cake. And award-winning chef Samin Nosrat just loves to nerd out over all this. She's the author of the best-selling book “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and has a new book out called “Good Things.” Today, Samin joins us to talk all about the science and art of cooking. Plus — why you should NEVER put meatballs on spaghetti. Video available on Spotify. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsSaminNosrat Samin’s Book: https://ciaosamin.com/shop/good-things In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Welcome to Science Chats with Samin Nosrat (01:27) Samin’s childhood in California (06:05) Samin’s obsession with boxed cake mix (14:29) Why salt, fat, acid and heat matter (17:17) The magic of salt (21:11) Why soy sauce and cheese can bring out big feelings (32:26) Why we bake with room-temperature eggs (34:32) Why tomatoes don’t belong in the fridge (37:00) The geopolitics of cinnamon (40:07) Why vanilla beans cost so much (42:15) The value of handmade food (47:10) Why you shouldn’t put meatballs on spaghetti This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Meryl Horn, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Michelle Dang, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Video editing and sound design by Bobby Lord. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wylie, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. Thanks to Roland Campos, Skyline Studios and Humdinger Studios. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices