The Connection with Marty Moss-Coane

Scott Simon is one of the most recognized names — and voices — in public radio. He began working at NPR in the 1970s and became the first host of Weekend Edition Saturday in 1985, a job he still holds today. Known for his empathy and curiosity, he has earned numerous awards for his distinctive style of journalism.

Marty sat down with Scott for a special WHYY member event earlier this week, and we’re bringing that conversation to this week’s edition of The Connection. Scott shared memories of an awkward sit-down with Bill Cosby and a hilarious conversation with Dame Edna. He also reflected on the inspiring people he’s met in war-torn regions and discussed the current state of journalism in a time when the profession is increasingly under attack.

We also learned Scott adores his family and espresso, never got a driver’s license, and doesn’t think he has a voice for radio. And in a surprising twist, both he and Marty once played the Artful Dodger in their school productions of Oliver!.

Anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker comes from a long line of psychiatrists—his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather—all of whom believed that everyone has some degree of mental illness.

Grinker’s book, Nobody’s Normal, explores the shifting history of stigma and acceptance toward people who are perceived as different. He writes about his daughter, who was diagnosed with autism in the 1990s, a time when the condition was still considered rare.

In a recent piece for The New York Times, Grinker criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy and President Trump for describing autism as a tragic epidemic and a “horrible crisis.”

This week on The Connection, Roy Richard Grinker joins us to discuss the progress made in understanding autism, the ongoing efforts to overcome stigma, and the need to dispel persistent myths that threaten to set back public understanding.

We’ll also explore how war shapes our understanding of psychological adversity, the limitations of psychiatric diagnoses, and the powerful role culture plays in defining what we consider mentally healthy or not.

Most American teens and tweens have smartphones and spend hours each day streaming videos, playing games, and using social media. Phones can allow kids to be creative, help them explore new ideas, and connect them with peers who share their interests. But they also come with significant downsides: screen time can be a major distraction, expose young users to inappropriate or dangerous content, rob them of sleep, and increase the risk of depression and anxiety.

Psychologist Jean Twenge sounded the alarm about these risks nearly a decade ago. Her 2017 Atlantic article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, sparked a national conversation about the impact of digital technology on kids.

As a mother of three daughters, Twenge knows firsthand how difficult it is for parents to monitor and manage their kid’s online lives. She argues that tech companies have failed to take responsibility for protecting young people and that parents have been left to pick up the slack. Her new book, 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World, gives parents the tools they need to help their kids develop a healthier relationship with social media. Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

A conversation with Columbia University linguist and author John McWhorter on the power of language, the dangers of censorship, and the evolution of slang and swearing.

Clinical psychologist Ingrid Clayton used fawning as a coping strategy growing up in a scary home. It helped her in those frightening moments but came at a terrible price.

Why don’t we always prioritize what matters most—like making time for family and friends or fitting in a workout during a busy day? Emily Falk believes that understanding how our brain works can help us make better, more intentional choices.

Falk is a professor of communication, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab. Her new book, What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change, explores how different regions of the brain shape the big and small decisions we make every day.

NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg reflects on lessons learned and not learned from the COVID pandemic and the ways it changed our lives, culture and politics.

There are songs that can transport us to memorable moments from our past, especially from our adolescence. Those memories are often vivid, conjuring up intense feelings about a first love, a broken heart, a shared experience with friends. Music, even just a few notes, has a way of unlocking forgotten events and relationships, creating a soundtrack for our lives.

Our guest this week is Elizabeth Margulis, director of The Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University. She joins us to discuss why music can transport us and connect us to others, how different cultures shape our taste in music, and how melodies affect our mood. We’ll also talk about why some tunes can get stuck in our head, why repetition is central to music, where music is stored in the brain, and how music can unlock language for people with aphasia.

What can octopuses on MDMA teach us about sociability? That’s what neuroscientist and psychedelics researcher Gül Dölen wanted to find out. The creatures are antisocial with a brain structure very different from humans, but on the drug ecstasy, octopuses wanted to hang out with each other – and were even “touchy-feely.” Dölen has been doing groundbreaking work with MDMA and other hallucinogens to learn how they affect brains and unlock their therapeutic potential. She has a particular interest in critical periods in brain development, when humans are open to learning something new and meaningful from the environment. It’s a fascinating time to be researching MDMA, psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelics as they show increasing potential to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and addiction…but they are no magic pill.

Philosopher Stephen Cave says that we humans struggle with something he calls “The Mortality Paradox.” We know that death is inevitable, and yet we cannot conceive of not existing. Instead, we make up stories that help us live with this existential conundrum.

These narratives include the search for the Fountain of Youth, ideas about resurrection, rebirth, the immortality of the soul, and the value of what we leave behind—like children.

While our life spans have increased dramatically over the last century thanks to science and medicine, the longevity industry now promises to defy aging—and even death itself.

How would living to 150 and beyond change what it means to be alive? Does our mortality make life more precious and meaningful? Is aging an illness to be cured? How can we deal with our fear of death?

Our guest, Stephen Cave, is a professor at Cambridge University and director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. He’s the author of Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization, and co-author of Should You Choose to Live Forever?