The podcast for curious minds. Every Thursday, Emma Kennedy delves into the science and psychology of why we are the way we are.
Emma is joined by leading expe...
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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46:19
Why can’t I upload my consciousness… yet?
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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44:14
Why are planets so weird?
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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43:30
Why aren’t men on the Pill?
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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45:11
Why do we cry?
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.
Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The podcast for curious minds. Every Thursday, Emma Kennedy delves into the science and psychology of why we are the way we are.
Emma is joined by leading experts and some of science's brightest minds to answer the big questions you never knew how to ask. Why do people join cults? Why do we need the moon? Why are we drawn to evil? Why do we have fetishes?
Find out all of this and more on Why? from the makers of Oh God, What Now?, The Bunker and Paper Cuts.
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