It can show up as a spark or a lightning bolt; a glance or a touch; an easy rapport or butterflies in your stomach. Attraction — it's a feeling we know when we experience it, but we're often not sure exactly what fuels it. Is it about looks or personality? Psychology or chemistry? Instant fireworks or long-term compatibility? On this episode, we explore the mysteries of attraction — what kindles it, what kills it, and why we're often totally wrong about who we might be attracted to. We talk with a leading attraction researcher about the factors that determine attraction, and why he often advises people to follow their gut. We find out what dating apps — and the massive amounts of data they gather — are teaching researchers about who we're drawn to and why. And we hear the story of a couple whose mutual attraction changed over time — and why that turned out to be a good thing.

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The Mysteries of Attraction

Go on an adventure into unexpected corners of the health and science world each week with award-winning host Maiken Scott. The Pulse takes you behind the doors of operating rooms, into the lab with some of the world's foremost scientists, and back in time to explore life-changing innovations. The Pulse delivers stories in ways that matter to you, and answers questions you never knew you had.

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DIY culture is all about empowerment — teaching yourself new skills to do things on your own, like retiling your bathroom or fixing a leaky faucet. But what happens when the DIY approach extends to something as complicated and potentially dangerous as medicine?

On this episode, we take a look at the growing number of patients who are taking health care into their own hands — experimenting with DIY treatments ranging from brain stimulation to homemade wound ointments. We hear about a man who developed a cure for his persistent infection in his garage, find out why so many people are flocking to DIY medicine, and learn how one researcher carefully evaluates his patients' DIY approaches.

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The DIY Medicine Movement

Competent. Capable. Strong. Stoic. Provider. Protector. Leader. Patriarch. These are the kinds of words that we've long associated with masculinity and manhood — but in recent decades, ideas of what it means to be a man have undergone drastic changes.

As women have gained ground in education and careers, politics and culture, the role of men has shifted. They're no longer automatically assumed to be the main breadwinners, the decision-makers or leaders. And a lot of the "masculine" attributes that were once considered virtues — decisiveness, stoicism, paternalism — are now sometimes seen as problematic. In other words, the old script for what it means to be a man has been torn up. But some experts say that script has not really been replaced, leading many men and boys to feel destabilized and lost.

On this episode, we explore how our ideas of masculinity are changing — why there seems to be a void of positive messages, the lure of the manosphere, and how men are reinventing and re-envisioning their roles. Also — a look at how being more deeply involved in caring for babies and children is affecting men's brains.

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The Search for Modern Masculinity

When it comes to science, it's often the flashiest stories that grab headlines — the cancer breakthroughs, the tech innovations, the discoveries of new species or distant stars. But there's also plenty of science that, while it may not make a huge splash, is quietly changing the way we live.On this episode, The Pulse celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a special live show that turns the spotlight on the science changing our everyday lives. We talk with a pediatrician and engineer whose work has transformed the way children travel – and saved countless lives; host Maiken Scott volunteers as a guinea pig for neurologists studying brain stimulation; and we hear from a biologist whose early-career quest changed the way she thinks about her work.

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10th Anniversary Show: The Science Changing Our Lives

On this rebroadcast of The Pulse - We often think of art and science as existing in different — even opposite — spheres. One revolves around creativity and imagination; the other around observable facts and data — and never the twain shall meet.
But really, art and science aren't as far apart as we might think. For centuries, artists have drawn on the natural sciences, and the wonders of the natural world, as inspiration for some of our most celebrated works.

On this episode, we explore the hidden architecture of science that often underlies music, literature, and more. We talk with a mathematician who makes the case that math is key to appreciating literature on a whole new level; a pianist who reveals how the natural world inspired some of classical music's most iconic composers; and an artist whose work on water blurs the lines between art, ecology, and activism.

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How Art and Science Intersect

When psychologist Lewis Terman launched his decades-long study of high-IQ children in 1921, he had a specific goal in mind: to prove that "gifted" people were born leaders, and superior in just about every way. Although his theory didn't pan out, Terman did kick off national interest in identifying and cultivating intellectually gifted children.
Just over a century later, experts in science, education, and psychology are grappling with questions about how we define giftedness, who qualifies as gifted, how we should teach and treat gifted children, and where the limits of their talents lie.

On this episode, we hear stories about the challenges of growing up gifted, how musical prodigies are made — and identified, and what a chess wunderkind has to teach us about the value of raw talent vs. experience.

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The Mysteries of Attraction

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