Stuff To Blow Your Mind

What exactly is personhood? Over time, the term "person" has evolved to include numerous concepts. In this episode, Julie and Robert explore the nature of personhood and sticky concept of consciousne…

What exactly is personhood? Over time, the term "person" has evolved to include numerous concepts. In this episode, Julie and Robert explore the nature of personhood, why corporations are considered …

A woman in a museum stares into your soul. A man implants a cybernetic ear on his arm. A dog starves. In this episode, Robert and Julie dive into the world of performance art, discussing the works of…

What goes on inside the minds of babes? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this episode, Julie and Robert peer inside the infant brain to learn about their enhanced state of consciousness. Plus find ou…

When it comes making art, most of us operate under a set of rules. So what happens when you feed machines code for churning out art? Plenty, as it turns out. And if creativity is the seat of the soul…

From screaming infants to cinematic scream queens, there's no denying the universal language of yelling. But why do we do it? What are we communicating? In this episode, Julie and Robert explain how …

You can learn a lot from an animal's scat, even if that animal hasn't walked the Earth since prehistoric times. In this episode, Robert and Julie explore the fascinating world of coprolite and ponder…

If you're tired of hearing about the Higgs "don't-call-me-a-god-particle" Boson but still want to know what it is, then this is the podcast episode for you. In this episode, Robert and Julie recount …

Sure, you're no stranger to yoga, but how much do you know about its ancient origins in magical ritual and tantric sex? In this episode, Julie and Robert peer into yoga's sensual past and consult mod…

About 20 million people in the U.S. practice some form of yoga. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind Julie and Robert suss out the claims and revelations -- could it really be a telomere founta…

The parasitic worm onchocerciasis carries uses a bacterial cloaking device to colonize the human body, causing tremendous suffering and even blindness. Luckily, the Carter Center is waging a campaign…

Illusionists merely engage a fiction of sorcery, but there's a rich foundation of neuroscience beneath the smoke and mirrors. In this episode, Julie and Robert explore the ways in which magicians man…

There's far more to military camouflage than painting a tank green. As Robert and Julie discuss in this episode, camouflage design incorporates both the neuroscience of how we perceive the world and …

We all know the potentially dangerous effects of microgravity, but what are the long-term effects? Join Robert and Julie as they wonder what life will be like if evolution continues in space. Imagine…

The Internet continues to spread its roots through our world, and soon it will launch cosmic seeds, spreading digital humanity into space. How will it all happen? In this episode, Julie and Robert co…

" Humans have mapped the microbiome and changed our understanding of the bacterial worlds thriving inside us. How will this affect our war on bacteria and the state of modern medicine? Julie and Robe…

Armed with state-of-the-art telescopes and other high-tech tools, astronomers are spotting new worlds at an astonishing rate. Could any of these planets support life? In this episode, Robert and Juli…

In this episode, Robert and Julie suit up and venture into the dark and Gigery heart of 'Prometheus.' They’ll examine the film’s futuristic science as well as some of its themes. And fear not! You’ll…

" Don't underestimate the power of the storyteller. His tale may begin with whimsy, but by the end of it he'll have changed the world you live in. He might even change who you are. In this episode, J…

The Horror: Why do we enjoy scary movies or a stroll through a haunted house? How is our response colored by our genes, evolution and culture? In this episode, Julie and Robert take a close look at w…