Informações:
Sinopse
From neurons to nanotech and from quarks to the cosmos, BookLab is the podcast that puts science books under the microscope! Join hosts Dan Falk and Amanda Gefter for a look at the latest in popular science writing: whats new, whats hot, and what you ought to be reading right now.
Episódios
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BookLab 035: The Blind Spot; Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation; The Rigor of Angels
22/08/2024 Duração: 01h22minSome researchers believe that the traditional scientific approach, in spite of its impressive 400-year track record, has left something out. Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson lay out the argument in The Blind Spot. And on the nightstand: Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation, by George Musser; and The Rigor of Angels, by William Egginton.
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BookLab 034: Determined by Robert Sapolsky and Free Agents by Kevin Mitchell
21/12/2023 Duração: 01h15minIt’s one of the oldest and most vexing questions in science and philosophy: Do we have free will? In this episode of BookLab, we take a close look at two books by two scientists who have considered the question at length -- and have been led to two very different conclusions.
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BookLab 033: The Book of Minds; The Darkness Manifesto; Existential Physics
03/08/2023 Duração: 01h16minThe human mind is quite something. We can use it to reason; to envision past and future events; to ponder abstractions. But what other minds are out there? In Philip Ball’s The Book of Minds, we’re invited to explore the space of possible minds. And on the nightstand: The Darkness Manifesto, by Johan Eklöf; and Existential Physics by Sabine Hossenfelder.
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BookLab 032: The One; Sounds Wild and Broken; What We Owe the Future
27/02/2023 Duração: 01h15minThe world around us seems incredibly diverse -- but what if beneath that diversity there was a unifying sameness? That’s the idea behind “monism” -- an ancient idea that physicist Heinrich Pas believes is due for a comeback. He explores the idea in his new book, The One. And on the nightstand: Sounds Wild and Broken, by David George Haskell; and What We Owe the Future, by William MacAskill.
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BookLab 031: Reality+; Well, Doc, You’re In; and As Gods
16/12/2022 Duração: 01h09minVirtual reality has taken off in recent years. But what if the virtual worlds of VR are real -- just as real, perhaps, as the physical world we see around us? And... is it possible we’re living in a simulation right now? Philosopher David Chalmers probes these questions in his provocative new book, Reality+. And on the nightstand: A new biography of physicist Freeman Dyson, called Well, Doc, You’re In, edited by David Kaiser; and As Gods, by Matthew Cobb.
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BookLab 030: Being You, The Monster’s Bones, and Quantum Legacies
15/09/2022 Duração: 58minFeatured book: Being You, by Anil Seth. A lot has been written on the subject of consciousness, but few are positioned to tackle the problem better than neuroscientist Anil Seth, whose new book examines how we experience “life in the first person.” And on the nightstand: The Monster’s Bones, by David K. Randall; and Quantum Legacies, by David Kaiser.
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BookLab 029: Hawking Hawking, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, and When We Cease to Understand the World
26/12/2021 Duração: 57minFeatured book: Hawking Hawking, by Charles Seife. Charles Seife’s new biography of Stephen Hawking takes an unflinching look at the good and bad sides of the famous physicist. And on the nightstand: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Arik Kershenbaum; and When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut.
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BookLab 028: Life’s Edge, by Carl Zimmer; and The Genesis Quest, by Michael Marshall
16/10/2021 Duração: 49minWhat is life? As Carl Zimmer shows in Life’s Edge, the more we try to pin it down, the more elusive an answer becomes. And in The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall examines the age-old puzzle of how life began on our planet.
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BookLab 027: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, Why Fish Don’t Exist, and The Precipice
30/03/2021 Duração: 01h02minFeatured Book: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett take a deep dive into our most remarkable organ – and explains why the brain is for much more than just thinking. And on the nightstand: Why Fish Don’t Exist, by Lulu Miller; and The Precipice, by Toby Ord.
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BookLab 026: The End of Everything, and Black Hole Survival Guide
30/12/2020 Duração: 51minWe double up on the physics in this episode: First, Katie Mack looks at the universe’s end-game in The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). Then we explore the universe’s most exotic objects in Janna Levin’s new book, Black Hole Survival Guide.
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BookLab 025: COVID-19, by Debora MacKenzie
27/10/2020 Duração: 46minIn this special episode of BookLab, we focus on COVID-19 by journalist Debora MacKenzie. Her book examines how this pandemic happened, how it might have been prevented – or at least mitigated – and what can be done to make sure a similar catastrophic public health crisis doesn’t happen again.
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BookLab 024: Until the End of Time, Superior, and Moral Tribes
26/06/2020 Duração: 01h05minFeatured book: Until the End of Time, by Brian Greene. Where exactly do human beings fit in, in this vast cosmos? Brian Greene tackles the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in an ambitious new book. And on the nightstand: Superior, by Angela Saini; and Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene
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BookLab 023: The Feeling of Life Itself, Supernavigators, and The Math of Life & Death
17/05/2020 Duração: 53minFeatured book: The Feeling of Life Itself, by Christof Koch. A neuroscientist who’s spent decades studying the puzzle of consciousness explores the problem of how the brain gives rise to the mind. And on the nightstand: Supernavigators, by David Barrie; and The Math of Life and Death, by Kit Yates.
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BookLab 022: The Number of the Heavens, and Something Deeply Hidden
12/02/2020 Duração: 01h02minIt’s one of the most provocative ideas in all of science – the notion that our universe might just an infinitesimal part of a much larger reality. In this episode, we look at two new books that take us deep into the multiverse: The Number of the Heavens, by Tom Siegfried; and Something Deeply Hidden, by Sean Carroll.
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BookLab 021: The Goodness Paradox; The Overstory; The Trouble with Gravity
05/11/2019 Duração: 48minFeatured book: The Goodness Paradox, by Richard Wrangham. Our species, Homo sapiens, is less violent than any of our primate cousins -- but how did we get that way? A Harvard anthropologist suggests an answer. And on the nightstand: The Overstory, by Richard Powers; and The Trouble with Gravity, by Richard Panek.
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BookLab 020: What is Real? and Beyond Weird
15/04/2019 Duração: 44minFeatured Books:What is Real? by Adam Becker; and Beyond Weird by Philip Ball. Quantum physics has been with us for more than 100 years – but what is it actually telling us about the world?
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BookLab 019: Adventures in Memory; Outside Color; The Invention of Nature
02/01/2019 Duração: 52minFeatured Book: Adventures in Memory, by Hilde Østby and Ylva Østby Few things are as fundamental to the human experience as memory. But what exactly is memory? How do memories actually work, in our brains? And why did we evolve to have memories? And on the nightstand: Outside Color, by Mazviita Chirimuuta; and The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf
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BookLab 018: Lost in Math; Through Two Doors at Once; The Order of Time
25/10/2018 Duração: 55minFeatured Book:Lost in Math, by Sabine Hossenfelder Physics made enormous progress in the 20th century – but Sabine Hossenfelder says we’ve reached a dead-end in the 21st, because today’s physicists take their equations too seriously. And on the nightstand: Through Two Doors at Once, by Anil Ananthaswamy; and The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli.
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BookLab 017: The Strange Order of Things; Internal Time; The Last Man Who Knew Everything
28/05/2018 Duração: 38minFeatured Book:The Strange Order of Things, by Antonio Damasio How did emotions and feelings – and conscious awareness in general – come into existence? Neuroscientist and philosopher Antonio Damasio weighs in. And on the nightstand: Internal Time, by Till Roenneberg; and The Last Man Who Knew Everything, by David Schwartz.
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BookLab 016: A special episode – Why Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time still matters, 30 years later
02/04/2018 Duração: 44minStephen Hawking’s first book aimed at a popular audience, A Brief History of Time, became a surprise bestseller and turned the world of popular science writing upside down. We look back at this remarkable book, 30 years after its publication.