Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know … and then keeps on going. Host Noam Hassenfeld and an all-star team of reporters — Byrd Pink...
It’s not great to be a lab rat. And it turns out, lab rats might not be that great for science either. Could the future be little lab-grown brain clumps?
Guests: Rachel Nuwer, science journalist; Lisa Genzel, professor of neuroscience at Radboud University
This episode has been updated. An earlier version didn’t differentiate between two stages of drug development.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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22:52
Why are there lefties and righties?
This week on Unexplainable or Not, we’ve got three scientific mysteries all about left and right. Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s new podcast Explain It to Me, is going to guess which of them has been solved and which ones are still unexplainable.
Guest: S. Furkan Ozturk, researcher at Harvard University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! [email protected]
We read every email.
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29:50
Placebos work. Why?
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream medicine? (First published in 2021.)
Guests: Ted Kaptchuk, professor at Harvard Medical School; Darwin Guevarra, professor of psychology at Miami University; Luana Colloca, professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! [email protected]
We read every email.
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27:57
Why is horror so fun?
It makes sense that we run away from scary things. That’s a good way to stay alive. But why do some people also love scary things? Why do people gravitate toward horror?
Guests: Mathias Clasen and Marc Andersen, co-directors of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! [email protected]
We read every email.
Support Unexplainable by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members
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21:51
Are psychedelics breaking science?
Drugs like ecstasy and mushrooms have shown promise as mental health treatments, but they’re also exposing some major cracks in how scientists study the brain.
Guests: Jonathan Lambert, science journalist; Boris Heifets, professor at Stanford University of Medicine; Amy Mcguire, professor at Baylor College of Medicine
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! [email protected]
We read every email.
Support Unexplainable by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know … and then keeps on going. Host Noam Hassenfeld and an all-star team of reporters — Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, and Mandy Nguyen — tackle scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
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