Inquiring Minds

One side effect of the pandemic is that a lot of parents have spent more time than they were expecting to with their kids, and were sometimes left questioning their parenting decisions along the way. Melinda Wenner Moyer’s new book How To Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes: Science-Based Strategies for Better Parenting—from Tots to Teens could not be more timely, and she joins us on this week’s episode.

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This week we delve into a study with a citizen science element regarding the evolution of a social behavior in parrots, followed by a collaborative study regarding empathy in rodents, particularly toward those with whom they were kin or had some sense of association. Our hosts share the results of their own recent microbiome analyses which leads into a study looking at the impact of dietary fibre on gut microbes—and they finish up with a look at how migratory birds may help redistribute plants as the impact of climate change intensifies.

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In the summer of 2019—before Covid-19 had emerged—author, researcher, and ‘Gastropod’ co-host Nicola Tilley and her husband and co-author Geoff Manaugh told a rapt audience, “You and everyone around you is going to be quarantined, is going to experience quarantine in your lifetimes.” They had just presented their extensive research into quarantine that would ultimately become their new book, Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine. The book provides remarkably valuable information and insight into this now all too familiar part of life and its relationship with freedom, governance, and mutual responsibility.

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Among COVID-19’s many side effects are two that seem to be in direct conflict – on the one hand we’ve all become armchair epidemiologists, and on the other, conspiracy theories are at an all time high. In the common search for answers regarding the virus, some have put all their faith in the certainties of science while others are just as committed to making decisions based upon opinions and beliefs. This leads to the question, ‘What happens when we apply our newfound knowledge of diseases to parasitic infections of the mind?’, and today, Andy Norman offers his response as he discusses his new book, Mental Immunity, which maps out how bad ideas can take on these parasitic qualities and outlines what we can do to generate cognitive antibodies.

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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

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Over the years, music producers have tried to predict what audiences want to hear while at the same time advances in science and technology have taught us a lot about what happens in the brain when we listen to music that we love. Now, David Rosen, CEO and Co-founder of Secret Chord Labs, has brought these two fields together to explore the potential for artificial intelligence to generate guaranteed hits, and just what exactly that would mean for music and musicians. Listen in today as David joins the podcast to present a fascinating case study of the impact of AI or algorithms on human creativity.

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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

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What are your thoughts regarding the relationship between the mind and the brain? For that matter, what are your thoughts? Iris Berent has definitely done some deep thinking on these questions, unearthing the stories we tell ourselves about what we know and who we are as well as the impact these stories can have. She shares her thoughts here today in our eye-opening conversation about her book, The Blind Storyteller.

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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

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When was the last time you thought about geometry? Unless you're an architect or a kindergarten teacher, you probably don't spend a lot of time thinking about shapes. But mathematician Jordan Ellenberg wants to bring geometry back, and show us not just how shapes can measure the world, but how they can explain it.

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Joining Indre on the podcast today is University of Virginia Professor, Leidy Klotz. A former professional soccer player, Leidy has gone on to pursue his interest in studying how we transform things from how they are to how we want them to be, and has written for a number of prominent publications including The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, and The Behavioral Scientist. His new book, Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, explores the concept of subtraction as an effective yet often overlooked problem-solving strategy, and forms the basis for today’s fascinating episode.

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We all know how babies are made, but science is only now exploring how mothers are. Abigail Tucker discusses her latest book, exploring the factors that shape the behaviors of mothers and other caregivers.

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Andy Weir, science fiction writer and author of The Martian, joins us to talk about his new book Project Hail Mary: A Novel.

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