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A bearded man is surrounded by fantastical creatures and demons attacking him in an intricate, detailed, black-and-white engraving.
Philosophy
The case that madness is philosophy in practice
Great thinkers have long kept psychosis at a safe distance. But those asking the biggest questions may find it uncomfortably close.
Wouter Kusters
A hand reaches toward figs on a tree; one fig and part of another are pixelated, as if obscured by an unseen agency, while the rest of the image remains clear.
Mind & Behavior
5 ways to become more “high agency” in the age of AI
The ability to see your options clearly and act on them has never been more valuable.
Simone Stolzoff
Illustration of a person composed of various household items standing beside a desk with writing materials on it.
Science & Tech
Joanna Stern spent a year testing the AI future. Here’s what she learned.
Tech journalist Joanna Stern spent a year using as many AI products as she could. It changed more than her workflow.
Tim Brinkhof
A colorful, abstract scientific illustration with a central glowing sphere, circular patterns, and various lines and circles suggesting quantum connections or uncertainty data points, on a dark background with blue accents.
Starts With A Bang
Ask Ethan: How did atoms come to be?
From a primordial soup of particles, atoms eventually emerged. What happened to make it so, and could things have worked out any other way?
Ethan Siegel
A man in a blue shirt and dark pants sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a bright, modern room with shelves, books, and large windows.
1hr 21mins
Members
Full Interview
The gap between knowing better and doing better, and how to close it
Tal Ben-Shahar explains the Knowing-Doing gap, and how our typical interventions to close it fall short every time.
Tal Ben-Shahar
A person in traditional ceremonial attire sits on a decorated throne with gold, red, and floral patterns, wearing a tall yellow hat reminiscent of Tibetan Buddhism.
Mini Philosophy
The “hidden laziness” holding you back, according to a Tibetan Buddhist master
Tibetan Buddhism identifies three very different ways of wasting your life.
Jonny Thomson
colliding black holes
Starts With A Bang
Do gravitational waves show evidence of wave-particle duality?
All matter particles can act as waves, and massless light waves show particle-like behavior. Can gravitational waves also be particle-like?
Ethan Siegel
A person sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop, set against a classical painting of people gathered around a table, appearing to argue or converse intensely.
1hr 10mins
Full Interview
How to debate, from a two-time world champion
Two-time debate champion Bo Seo breaks down why arguments fail, four bad-faith personas that hijack conversations, and a four-question framework for picking worthy fights.
Bo Seo
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Members
Class
The unspoken rules to starting your career off right
While hard work is essential, Gorick Ng emphasizes that understanding unspoken workplace expectations can help early career professionals build relationships, gain recognition, and achieve their full potential.
Gorick Ng
black hole hawking
Starts With A Bang
The information paradox at the heart of every black hole
The matter that creates black holes won't be what comes out when they evaporate. Will the black hole information paradox ever be solved?
Ethan Siegel
Book cover of “The Opposite of Happiness” by George Loewenstein, featuring a large bubble and a pin about to pop it above the title.
Books
Misery is an emotional feature, not a glitch in the system
Why do anger, regret, and shame linger? Because evolution optimized our emotions to keep us alive, not to make us happy.
George Loewenstein
A person in a cleanroom suit stands next to a large cylindrical scientific instrument inside a high-tech laboratory with bright lighting and metallic walls, where one blip of dark matter was recently detected.
Starts With A Bang
One blip isn’t enough to declare “dark matter has been detected”
In 1982, an experiment showed unprecedented evidence for exotic matter: magnetic monopoles. But without reproducibility, it didn't hold up.
Ethan Siegel
Satellite view of Earth showing Eurasia at night, with illuminated areas highlighting population density and settlements across the continent.
Strange Maps
Scientists map massive layer of life just beneath our feet
Until recently, nobody had visualized the fungal "Wood Wide Web."
Frank Jacobs
A person holding a large stack of folders and binders next to a grayscale image of old, weathered gravestones.
Business
This 3-step method to simplify your life starts with your obituary
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei joins us to discuss why living a more meaningful life requires confronting what matters and removing what doesn’t.
Ross Pomeroy
A man in business attire sits in an office chair with his hand covering his face, surrounded by red circles. One circle says “WORK WISE.”.
Work Wise
The psychological trap that distorts how you see difficult people
Once you decide what kind of person someone is, every interaction becomes supporting evidence. Here’s how to interrupt the cycle.
Danny Kenny
blue marble not 24 hours apollo 17
Starts With A Bang
Only four days each year are actually 24 hours long
As the Earth spins and wobbles on its axis and revolves elliptically around the Sun, each day differs from the last. "24 hours" isn't right.
Ethan Siegel
A person wearing old-fashioned clothing and a red hat is holding and reading an open book, appearing focused and slightly puzzled.
Books
Beyond the Odyssey: A beginner’s guide to Greek mythology
Classicist Natalie Haynes joins us to discuss the trials and joys of learning about ancient Greece and its myths.
Tim Brinkhof
A person with gray curly hair, wearing glasses and a bright pink outfit, sits on a chair against a white backdrop, framed by a colorful, abstract painted arch.
1hr 14mins
Full Interview
The science, medicine, and mythology of menstruation and menopause
OB/GYN Jen Gunter charts the science, history, and mythology of menstruation and menopause, offering a guidebook to navigate the rocky terrain of our modern healthcare landscape.
Dr. Jen Gunter
A bright flash of light in the Universe
Starts With A Bang
Ask Ethan: Do white holes, the opposite of black holes, physically exist?
In general relativity, white holes are just as mathematically plausible as black holes. Black holes are real; what about white holes?
Ethan Siegel
Book cover of “Nary a Horse Left Standing” by Lee Alan Dugatkin, featuring an old illustration of men by a horse-drawn streetcar, with bold white and yellow text overlaid.
Books
The 19th-century veterinarian who nearly cracked one of medicine’s oldest mysteries
The Great Epizootic of 1872 gave James Law the evidence he needed to challenge centuries of thinking surrounding the origins of disease.
Lee Alan Dugatkin