Sleep — we all need it, but most people aren't getting enough of it. Ideally, we spend about a third of our lives asleep. When we're well rested, we feel like we can take on the world. But when we're not, we find ourselves exhausted, cranky, moody, forgetful ... and our overall health takes a hit. Clearly, sleep is important. The question is — why? What happens when we sleep? What makes it such an important part of our survival? And what's stopping us from getting our best rest? On this episode, we look at the anatomy of sleep — why it matters, how we get our best sleep, and what happens when we don't. We hear stories about what happened to one physician when long COVID brought her sleeplessness to a crisis level, why one physical therapist says we're all sleeping wrong, and a look inside our sleeping brains.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Americans love their pets — as many as seven out of 10 households are home to cats, dogs, birds… or more unusual animal choices. What defines a pet in the first place? Plenty of people are pushing the boundaries of the kinds of animals we usually think of as pets, blurring the lines between wild and domestic, livestock and companion, pets and pests. On this episode, we look at unusual pets and why people love and keep them — while others find them objectionable.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

When it comes to generosity, there’s a wide spectrum in terms of how far we’ll go for others. There’s buy-your-friends-dinner generosity, donate-to-charities generosity — and then there’s give-your-organ-to-a-perfect-stranger generosity. There’s generosity that makes us feel good, generosity that happens anonymously, generosity that goes viral on social media, generosity that changes someone’s mood, and generosity that changes someone’s life.

On this episode, we explore generosity — what it is, where it comes from, and how it spreads. We talk with Georgetown psychologist and neuroscientist Abigail Marsh, who studies everything from psychopaths to extraordinary altruists. We hear stories about the role of an altruistic family structure in the Black community and find out how the TV show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is inspiring random acts of kindness.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

The process of therapy can sometimes seem a bit opaque. What exactly happens in therapy? How does it work? And which approach is right for which issues? On this episode, we get inside the heads of therapists to find out how they ply their craft, and what it takes to really feel better. We hear stories about what happened when a city took a bold step toward providing free, virtual mental health services to its residents. Also: what happens when politics and therapy collide; how Freud's brainchild — psychoanalysis — is still relevant; and what it's like to grow up as the child of two shrinks.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The new year often feels like a good time to make a fresh start, to tackle some issue that’s giving you grief — eating habits, work-life balance, having time for friends or exercise… but as the pandemic rages on, it’s hard to have the energy to keep trudging along, let alone become some better version of yourself.

Which is why more people than ever are turning to therapy. But the process of therapy can still seem a bit opaque. What exactly happens in therapy? How does it work? And which approach is right for which issues? On this episode, we get inside the heads of therapists to find out how they ply their craft, and what it takes to really feel better.

We hear stories about what happened when a city took a bold step toward providing free, virtual mental health services to its residents. Also: what happens when politics and therapy collide; how Freud’s brainchild — psychoanalysis — is still relevant; and what it’s like to grow up as the child of two shrinks.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

It seems like every week, we hear about new breakthroughs in cancer treatment — new discoveries, new medications, new hopes for a cure. The war on cancer has been a slow and steady grind, with incremental progress that’s been built one study, one breakthrough at a time.

Behind each of those small but meaningful victories are years of unseen work — lifetimes spent studying specific cells, protein structures, gene mutations, and more.

On this episode, we take a look at some of the latest breakthroughs in cancer treatment, and the personal stories behind them. We hear about the tradeoffs with new lung cancer screenings, find out how immunotherapy is advancing, and talk with a veteran of cancer research about the big wins and grating frustrations.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

As a materials scientist, Anna Ploszajski was trained to analyze materials on a number of levels — their atomic structure, their chemical properties, their ability to conduct or resist electricity, their magnetism, hardness, ductility, and more.

But Ploszajski quickly realized there was a hole in her knowledge — in terms of what it feels like to work with materials hands-on. She set out to understand things differently, learning by doing. Along the way, she met craftspeople who built their own body of knowledge about everything from glass and steel, to sugar and wool, using only their eyes, their instincts, and their hands. Her new book is called “Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making.”

On this episode, we follow Ploszajski and others on their journeys to understand everyday materials through the process of creating. We also hear why making things can feel so empowering and soothing, and learn about a movement that wants all of us to learn how to fix our belongings.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

Humans have long tried to mitigate their own destructive impact on the planet through conservation efforts. Often, those efforts are attached to one iconic species or another — the majestic bald eagle, cuddly cute baby seal, or awe-inspiring blue whale. But is this about them, or is it about us? On this episode, we take a closer look at conservation, and dig into the human motivations and emotions behind it.

We hear stories about a near-extinct fish called the delta smelt — and whether it’s actually worth saving; how a weird-looking bird has sparked a battle over land in the American West; and how plucky raccoons carve out their own existence in cities.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

In 2018, Owen Rivers woke up in a hospital bed after a fentanyl overdose — and could no longer form new memories. It was a terrifying experience; he’d ask the same questions over and over — why he was there and what had happened to him — only to forget the answers.

On this episode, we’ll hear Owen’s story and explore what scientists are finding out about the connection between overdoses and amnesia — along with what all of this means for other people suffering from memory loss. Science journalist Lauren Aguirre captured this scientific puzzle in her book “The Memory Thief: And the Secrets Behind How We Remember — A Medical Mystery” and she joins us to discuss what she’s learned.

Also heard on this week’s episode:

Living on a planet that’s been inhabited by humans for hundreds of thousands of years means pretty much every piece of ground that you walk on holds some history. Somebody was born right here, somebody died, somebody got married, gave a speech, or ran a store. Maybe a famous battle was fought on this spot. Maybe the piece of grass you call your lawn was once sacred ground.

Over time, left alone, the structures and belongings of those who came before us return to the ground, becoming layers of dust and dirt. In some places, we choose to preserve that history, and the land that holds it — in others, the physical past is razed to the ground, and exists only in human memories.

Either way, being in those places can be a powerful experience — an anchor for our memories, and how we remember what happened.

On today’s episode we look at the connection between place and memory and why they’re so deeply linked. We hear stories about a mountain in West Virginia that was the site of a bloody battle between coal miners and mine owners — and the ongoing fight over how that history should be remembered. We take a tour of an area that used to be known as Black Bottom, a largely African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia that was razed in the name of development. And we talk to scientists about how memories exist in our brains, and why they’re so deeply tied to place.

Also heard on this week’s episode: