Phobias are the most common anxiety disorder in the world. We’re very familiar with the likes of arachnophobia and claustrophobia, but some people suffer from more unconventional, even bizarre fears – say, a terror of buttons or even spoons. Where do they come from? What do they mean? And can they be treated? 

Emma Kennedy talks to Joseph E. LeDoux, Professor of Neuroscience at NYU, and clinical psychologist Dr Ali Mattu who has treated anxiety disorders in New York’s top hospitals. 

• Buy Joseph E. LeDoux’s Anxious: The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

• Check out Ali Mattu’s YouTube channel here.  

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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The concept of eternal life is a long-standing fantasy in science fiction, but will it ever be possible to upload our consciousness to an external host –  or even a robot? Will there be a day when we can upload the very essence of our being, the things that make us human, into some kind of machine? And if we could, what would it do to our humanity? 

To find out, Emma Kennedy is joined by Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at the City University of New York, Queens College.  

Buy Anil Seth’s Being You: A New Science of Consciousness and Douglas Rushkoff’s Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Space is fundamentally quite weird, and seldom as weird as the thousands of “exoplanets” that – we’ve fairly recently discovered – exist outside of our solar system. We’re all familiar with the likes of Tatooine from Star Wars and Krypton from Superman, but what are the REAL exoplanets like? And how do filmmakers turn these planets from figments of imagination into something immersive that look and feel real to audiences? 

To find out, Emma Kennedy talks to Lisa Kaltenegger, world-leading astronomer and author of Alien Earths: The Search for Life in the Cosmos and Paul Franklin, Oscar-winning Visual FX Supervisor and co-founder of the digital effects company DNEG.  

Buy Lisa Kaltenegger’s Alien Earths: The Search for Life in the Cosmos through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Since the first contraceptive pill came out in 1961, the burden of birth control has fallen overwhelmingly on women. While women have numerous birth control options – each with its own long list of dizzying side effects – men only have two, and there hasn’t been a new commercial contraceptive for men in decades. So, why isn’t there a male pill yet? And would men even take it if there was?  

Emma Kennedy talks to two experts on contraception – endocrinology professor Stephanie Page and associate sociology professor Krystale Littlejohn, author of Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics – to find out why the uneven burden of contraception isn’t just a medical issue, but a sociological one.  

• Buy Krystale’s book Just Get on the Pill: The Uneven Burden of Reproductive Politics through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission from every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Crying is a universal human experience. We can shed tears of joy, laughter, and sorrow - some of us even weep cutting onions. But what exactly are tears, and why do some of us cry more than others? 

Emma Kennedy talks to Ad Vingerhoets, author of Why Only Humans Weep and Emeritus Professor of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Tilburg University, and Tom Lutz, Professor and Chair of Creative Writing at UC Riverside and author of Crying, to find out. 

Buy Ad’s book Why Only Humans Weep through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? By earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

Check out Tom’s website. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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If you can think of it, someone probably has a fetish for it. Whether you’re into feet, balloons, chair legs or latex, one thing’s for sure – fetishes are still a taboo subject, and not something we often discuss with others. But how do fetishes develop, and how can people partake in fetishes in a safe and ethical way?  

Emma Kennedy delves into the science and sociology of fetishes with Justin Lehmiller, Research Fellow in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at the Kinsey Institute, and award-winning clinical sexologist and sexuality educator Sunny Megatron.

Buy Justin’s book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How it Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? By earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

Listen to Sunny’s American Sex Podcast here. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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You might not consider smell to be that important compared to some of your other senses. But, it’s intrinsic to our sense of taste, place, memory and desire. To uncover the surprising importance of our sense of smell, Emma Kennedy is joined by Professor Stuart J. Firestein, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, and Professor Barry C. Smith, director of Philosophy at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Time travel was once the holy grail of science fiction, but scientists have now shown that time travel into the future is theoretically possible – so why not backwards? If we can use the quirks of physics to move into the future “faster” than we’d get there anyway, could it be possible to move into the past? And if time travel in either direction became possible, what would it do to our world… and ourselves? 

Emma Kennedy asks Jim Al-Khalili, famed for The Life Scientific and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Surrey, and Nikk Effingham, professor of philosophy at the University of Birmingham, about our days of future past. 

Buy Nikk’s book Does Tomorrow Exist?: A Debate through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

Check out Jim’s Radio 4 show The Life Scientific. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Many of us are obsessed with true crime documentaries and podcasts, and actively seek out the most gruesome details of horrific murder, torture and kidnapping. It’s all pretty horrible – so why are we drawn to it? Does ‘evil’ really exist – and if so, what does it look like? Are people born evil or do they become it over time? 

Emma Kennedy is joined by forensic psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das and the UK’s top expert on serial killers, criminologist Professor David Wilson to uncover why we are so obsessed with evil. 

Buy Dr Das’ book In Two Minds: Shocking true stories of murder, justice and recovery from a forensic psychiatrist and Professor Wilson’s My Life with Murderers: Behind Bars with the World’s Most Violent Men through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. 

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Most of us could list a few physical attributes for our ideal romantic partner – like preferring blondes or men over 6ft tall. But is having a ‘type’ real? If so, how does it develop? Is it biological, or socially constructed? And is the rhetoric of ‘types’ actually dangerous?  

Emma Kennedy speaks to University of California Davis Psychology Professor Paul W. Eastwick, and Not My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating author and University of Michigan Assistant Professor Apryl Williams, about the psychology and sociology of who we’re attracted to.  

Buy Apryl’s book Not My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. 

Listen to Paul's new podcast Love Factually here.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? Is a Podmasters Production. 

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