Like millions of people, I first became aware of Jeff Leach when I read about his attempt to transfer a hunter/gatherer's fecal matter to his own colon as a way to study the human microbiome. Little did I know I'd find myself sitting at the table with him in rural Texas a few years later or that he'd agree to share his insights with me on a podcast. Jeff's published in Science, Nature and everywhere else a groundbreaking researcher could dream of, but he's too busy with new projects to reflect much on past success.

Cassie and I met John Duarte at a highway rest stop in Dateland, AZ. He was riding his bike from El Paso to San Diego, which is a short "training run" for him. Join us for this spontaneous conversation in the van. #vanthropology2018

Mike has been my best-buddy since I was 15 years old. The Mr. Spock to my Captain Kirk, he's kept me marginally out of trouble for 40 years now. Mike's a talented musician, speaks several languages fluently, and comes out of a confluence of culture and history. There's nobody quite like him.

Zhana is a NYC-based sex researcher, writer, and educator. She has a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, where she studied how different aspects of sexuality (especially casual sex/promiscuity and mostly heterosexuality) are linked to health and well-being. Currently an adjunct professor at the NYU Psychology department, Zhana teaches the first Human Sexuality course this department has offered in a long, long time.

Bruce Damer is a Canadian-American multi-disciplinary scientist, designer, and author. He collaborates with colleagues developing and testing a new model for the origin of life on Earth and in the design of spacecraft architectures to provide a viable path for expansion of human civilization beyond the Earth. He began his career in the 1980s developing some of the earliest user interfaces for personal computers, led a community in the 1990s bringing the first multi-user virtual worlds to the Internet, and since 2000 supported NASA and the space industry on numerous simulations and spacecraft designs. He has spent 25 years chronicling the history of computing in his DigiBarn Computer Museum and curates archives of counterculture figures such as Dr. Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna and others. He currently serves as Principal Scientist at DigitalSpace; Associate Researcher in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at UC Santa Cruz; Associate of the NASA Astrobiology Center; Member of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, and Founding Director of the Contact Consortium. He also served as Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington and as a member of the Faculty at Charles University, Prague. Bruce also hosts a podcast called Levity Zone.

Johann is the author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections -- both of which are largely about the traumas created by trying to live in a pathogenic society. He's a brilliant writer and conversationalist. In the first part of this podcast, we're in his hotel room in Beverly Hills (Thanks, Rupert Murdock!). The second part is in my car, headed south on the 405. I had a great time hanging with Johann, and hope you enjoy it, too.

Steve Silberman is an award-winning science writer whose articles have appeared in Wired, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the MIT Technology Review, Nature, Salon, Shambhala Sun, and many other publications. He is the author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Avery 2015), which Oliver Sacks called a “sweeping and penetrating history…presented with a rare sympathy and sensitivity.”  Follow Steve on Twitter: @stevesilberman.

Host of the Michael Brooks Show, and contributing host for the four time award winning independent political talk show, The Majority Report, Michael appears regularly as a political and cultural analyst on outlets including Huffpost Live, SirusXM, AlJazeera English, CCTV and France 24. His writing has appeared in Al Monitor, Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, among others, and he has blogged for leading trend watch site PSFK. He is also know for his impressions of cultural figures from Donald Trump to Nelson Mandela. 

Jamie was a prominent stand-up comic before he drifted into political commentary, eventually becoming a leading voice among the social justice warrior crowd, with his radio show (Citizen Radio). That ended when he was accused of "inappropriate behavior" and he suddenly found himself the target of the same kinds of uncritical condemnation he'd directed at others. It's been a wild ride, but he's back on his feet, and wiser for it.

David Stansfield has spent many years studying Arabic and the cultures of the Middle East. Together with his partner and wife of 42 years, Denise Boiteau, he has produced documentaries for television and written several books. He's a sophisticated, kind, and fascinating man.