Sing for Science

By TalkhouseScience Music Music Interviews

Sing for Science episodes

October 29 Scott Holiday (Rival Sons): Topology (Phenomenology with Dylan Trigg)
⁠ @RivalSons ⁠ guitarist Scott Holiday joins philosopher Dr. Dylan Trigg of Central European University in Vienna for a conversation about identity, dreams, and what remains of us when everything changes.

Taking “Veridream” from Scott’s album Topology as a starting point, we explore topology as a philosophical metaphor: how we can be transformed by experience while retaining something essential. Scott shares how recovery from a serious cycling accident reshaped an instrumental project into songs he needed to sing himself. Drawing on his accompanying essay, The Invisible Geometry of the Heart, Trigg brings the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Freud’s concept of the uncanny into a discussion of perception, technology, and our connections to one another.

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47 min
October 15 Cain Culto: a plague, a pestilence (Psychiatry with Dr. Jack Drescher)
Musician ⁠ ⁨@cainculto⁩ ⁠ and Columbia University clinical professor of psychiatry Dr. Jack Drescher join Sing for Science to examine the evidence against conversion therapy.
Cain discusses his Latin American and Appalachian roots, his journey from Christian rock to queer self-expression, and his experience with conversion therapy. Dr. Drescher explores psychiatry’s history of pathologizing homosexuality, the activism that helped change it, and the evidence against efforts to change sexual orientation. A conversation about faith, identity, and what happens when the promise of healing becomes a source of harm.
Subscribe to our channel for new podcasts every other week or subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app:
Listen Now:
https://www.singforscience.org/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sing-for-science/id1535070210Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xXs2PTc16TYY34FTgpbIY?si=ac55ac8510c54befYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC5IsH4kGa8B2UlAmaeuULYw X: https://x.com/singforscienceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/singforscienceFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/singforscienceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sing-for-science
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50 min
October 01 Blu DeTiger: Shock! (Music, Labor and Gender with Clara Latham)
Bass virtuoso, DJ, and producer Blu DeTiger joins Dr. Clara Latham, music scholar at The New School, for a conversation about groove, gender, and the work behind making music look effortless. Taking Blu’s “SHOCK!” as a starting point, we explore her fluency in disco and funk, the coordination involved in DJing while playing bass, and the blurry line between music as work and music as play. Along the way, we consider why labor-saving technologies sometimes create more work, what makes a turntable an instrument rather than an appliance, and how women musicians challenge expectations about skill, sexuality, and who gets taken seriously.
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43 min
September 18 Kota The Friend: For Colored Boys (Black Aliveness with Kevin Quashie)
Brooklyn rapper, producer, and singer-songwriter Kota the Friend joins Brown University professor and author Dr. Kevin Quashie for a conversation about Black life, language, world-building, and the possibilities of imagining a Black world beyond narratives defined by violence.
Using Kota’s “For Colored Boys” alongside ideas from Quashie’s Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of Being, the conversation explores Black aliveness, Black pessimism, audience, self-love, conformity, spirituality, and the extraordinary power of language to create new ways of seeing and being.
Recorded live at Poster House NYC on September 2, 2026, in conjunction with its Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen exhibition.
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1 hr 6 min
September 03 Jensen McRae: Massachusetts (Place Memory with Christine DeLucia)
How do the specific objects and places of our past shape our understanding of personal and collective history?
In this episode of Sing for Science, singer-songwriter ⁨Jensen McRae sits down with Williams College historian Dr. Christine DeLucia to explore the intersections of songwriting, material culture, and historical memory.
Starting with a deep dive into the specific imagery of Jensen’s song "Massachusetts"—specifically the lyric referencing a souvenir pilgrim ashtray—they examine how ordinary objects serve as powerful conduits for memory.
#SingForScience #JensenMcRae #ChristineDeLucia #massachusetts #songwriting #MaterialCulture #HistoricalMemory #WilliamsCollege #SciencePodcast #MusicAndHistory #PublicHistory #PodcastsOnYouTube
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39 min
August 20 Sean Ono Lennon: The Golden Egg of Empathy (AI Ethics with Anat Perry and Jason D’Cruz)
What happens when artificial intelligence is given a directive without a human conscience to constrain it?

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter Sean Ono Lennon joins AI ethics researchers Dr. Jason D'Cruz and Dr. Anat Perry for a conversation inspired by The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, Sean's concept album and companion comic book co-created with Les Claypool.

Using Nick Bostrom’s famous "paperclip maximizer" thought experiment as a jumping-off point, the panel explores the alignment problem, the nature of theory of mind, and the fundamental tension between cold, mathematical optimization and human empathy. Together, they unpack whether true empathy requires a conscious, mortal experience of existing—and examine the risks of integrating persuasive, simulated empathy into courtrooms, therapy, and everyday human relationships.

This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and recorded live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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45 min
August 06 Brantley Gilbert: Sins of the Father (Faith & Science with Katharine Hayhoe)
Country star Brantley Gilbert joins us for a conversation about his song “Sins of the Father” with Texas Tech University Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. We talk about the relationship between faith and science, how to have conversations with people you disagree with, the truth about what’s causing our planet to warm and so much more.
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45 min
July 23 Debbii Dawson: Everybody’s Missing Their Medullas (Psychophysics with Daw-An Wu)
How does the brain transform the physical world into the rich inner experience we call reality?

Singer-songwriter Debbii Dawson joins Caltech neuroscientist Dr. Daw-An Wu for a conversation inspired by her songs "Where Have All the Good Men Gone" and "Chemical Attraction."

Together they explore psychophysics, the science of perception, asking how illusion, consciousness, free will, love, and even spirituality emerge from the brain's interpretation of the world around us.

From medullas to panpsychism, this wide-ranging discussion examines the mysterious space where objective reality becomes subjective experience.
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30 min
July 09 Chaka Khan: Tell Me Something Good (Music as Medicine with Mei Rui)
Can music transform the brain and body?Recorded live at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with 11-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan and MD Anderson neurosurgery assistant professor, concert pianist, and music medicine researcher Dr. Mei Rui for a conversation inspired by Rufus’s classic “Tell Me Something Good.” Together they explore the neuroscience of rhythm, music as medicine, Chaka’s early years in Chicago, the profound role music has played in connecting with her nonverbal nephew Tallon, and how emerging research may benefit neurodivergent communities.This episode was produced in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Chaka Khan Foundation, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
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47 min
June 25 Special Highlight: Bryan Cranston and Alan Hart on "The Chemistry of Breaking Bad"
Recorded live at London’s Natural History Museum on November 24, 2025. Breaking Bad fanatics, have a fresh pair of trousers at the ready—Bryan Cranston delivers an unforgettable conversation packed with behind-the-scenes stories from his years playing Walter White. He shares how DEA agents taught him the fundamentals of meth production, what he learned shadowing a USC chemistry professor to prepare for the role, and the surprising science details the show actually got right. A Hollywood legend through and through, Cranston does not disappoint.Joining him is the eminent Alan Hart—mineralogist, science historian, and keeper of extraordinary knowledge about the material world. Hart breaks down the real science behind Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the intricate chemistry of organic and inorganic crystal structures, and the remarkable history of how the Periodic Table came to be. Together, Cranston and Hart illuminate the scientific heart of Breaking Bad in a way fans have never heard before.
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1 hr 16 min

About Sing for Science

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Sing For Science is a science-and-music podcast where musicians sit down with scientists to explore the scientific ideas hidden in their most iconic songs. Listen to JD from Korn talk…