Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.
479 episodes transcribedWhat would drive someone to take another person's life? When researchers at the University of Chicago asked that question, the answer was a laundry li...
We all know casual sex isn't about love. But what if it's not even about lust? Sociologist Lisa Wade believes the pervasive hookup culture on campuses...
A recent paper found that black patients receive less pain medication for broken bones and cancer. Black children receive less pain medication than wh...
Barely a week after assuming office, President Donald Trump set off a worldwide firestorm when he decided to temporarily ban entry to migrants from se...
In the months since the presidential election, many have noted that lots of Americans live in bubbles — echo chambers filled with the voices of people...
It's inauguration season, which means balls, parades, and celebrations. We may love the pomp and circumstance, but there's another, darker side to our...
Young people have always used language in new and different ways, and it has pretty much always driven older people crazy. But the linguist John McWho...
At one time or another, many of us feel stuck: in the wrong job, the wrong relationship, the wrong city – the wrong life. Psychologists and self-help...
Maya Shankar was well on her way to an extraordinary career as a violinist when an injury closed that door. This week, we look at how she wound up at...
There is a replication "crisis" in psychology: many findings simply do not replicate. Some critics take this as an indictment of the entire...
Look down at what you're wearing. You picked out that blue shirt, right? And those boots — you decided on those because they're warm, didn't you? Well...
It sounds like the plot of a movie: police discover the body of a young man who's been murdered. The body tests positive for a deadly infectious disea...
Many of us spend lots of time and energy trying to get organized. We KonMari our closets, we strive for inbox zero, we tell our kids to clean their ro...
It happens to all of us: someone recognizes you on the street, calls you by name, and says hello... and you have no idea who that person is. Researche...
On the morning after election day, pundits, pollsters, politicians, and citizens woke up feeling stunned. All signs, all year, had been pointing towar...
We didn't hear very much about climate change during this election cycle — and social science research might give us some insight as to why not. This...
In the early 1980s, a couple of researchers wrote an article in The Atlantic that would have far reaching consequences. The article introduced a new i...
Several years ago, sociologist Brooke Harrington decided to explore the secret lives of billionaires. What she found, she said, shocked her.
A century after women won the vote in the US, we still see very few of them in leadership roles. Researchers say women are trapped in a catch-22 known...
Our airwaves are filled with debates about migrants, refugees, and undocumented immigrants... Who should be in the United States, who shouldn't, and w...
