Full Shaman Song
Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lWVLuc6CE Peruvian Shaman Daniel performs his icaro (healing chant) in its entirety.
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How to Make a Hero
What makes a hero? Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist behind the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, now runs seminars to teach everyday people how to be heroes. But can heroism be learned? I put his unsuspecting students into a fake crisis situation to see if they would act heroically. Also, I […]
The Power of Suggestion
Exactly how do placebos work? Researchers believe that, through the power of suggestion, placebos may unleash the power of our own subconscious minds to cure ourselves. I was honored to participate in McGill University’s groundbreaking study of an accessory-assisted placebo. Could a fake, non-functioning “Sham Brain Scanner” enable children with […]
The Cognitive Tradeoff Hypothesis
Humans are the only Earthlings with complex language. But at what cost was that ability acquired? In this episode, I visit Tetsuro Matsuzawa to learn about his influential cognitive tradeoff hypothesis. Available with YouTube Premium – https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP
The Stilwell Brain
There are 100 billion individual neurons in the human brain. Working together, they allow us to make sense of, and move through, the world around us. Scientists have built replicas of the human brain with computers, but no one has ever successfully made a brain out of humans. On this […]
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Normal people can become monsters given the right situation. That’s the standard narrative of the Stanford Prison Experiment, one of the most famous psychological experiments of all time. But what if the cause of its participants’ cruel behavior wasn’t what we’ve always been told?
Is Phosphorus the Cause of Our Loneliness in the Universe?
The Fermi Paradox introduces a thought-provoking puzzle, leading us to wonder why the seemingly endless universe is so devoid of life. Within the countless celestial phenomena and cosmic elements, could phosphorus be the missing piece to this enigmatic puzzle? As a fundamental building block of life, this essential element could […]
Should I Die?
If I could live forever, should I? How does being reminded of our own mortality affect us psychologically? In this episode I speak with mortician and death positivity activist Caitlin Doughty and visit a cryonics facility trying to extend human life indefinitely. Will I take them up on their offer, […]
How to Talk to Aliens
Are we alone in the universe? Even if we could contact aliens, what would we say? How would we say it? And, most importantly, should we even be trying to make contact at all? This episode takes me on a journey to compose and send my own personal message into […]
Behavior and Belief
How can a lie become true? In this episode, Dr. Aaron Blaisdell and I create a game show that is actually a giant “human Skinner Box” to observe the formation of superstitious beliefs. And Dr. Samuel Veissière helps me design and perform a placebo reverse exorcism, harnessing the power of […]
