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Great Question

35 episodes

Big Thinkers join us to ruminate on a great question that they may — or may not — have pondered before.

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All Episodes (35)

Various capsules arranged diagonally on a blue surface, alternating between light and dark colors.

The truth about supplements, from a doctor

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5 min

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A baby with blonde hair and blue eyes looks upward with a curious expression against a blue background.

The “unethical” myth about having children

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5 min

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A bear attempting to catch a jumping fish near a waterfall.

Nature’s “perfect balance” is a mystery scientists are trying to decode

A man in a suit looks upward with a surprised expression. There is a fiery effect in the foreground. Buildings and people are visible in the background.

How your brain works in an emergency, in 9 minutes

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9 min

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A bulletin board with newspaper clippings, maps, and strings. The text "THE HIDDEN TRUTH?" is prominently displayed in the center.

Our information pipelines have shifted. They’re fueling conspiracy theories

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8 min

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People say altruism is selfish. They’re not wrong

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6 min

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How to evaluate social norms as an independent thinker

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5 min

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Series of six images displaying the diffraction patterns of light as it passes through various shaped apertures.

A 7-minute guide to the relationship between quantum mechanics and black holes

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7 min

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A man sitting on a bench in the dark.

How loneliness is killing us, according to a Harvard professor

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6 min

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Robert Waldinger

A man in a suit with white hair and a red tie.

The four types of planetary civilizations, explained by Michio Kaku

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6 min

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A group of sheep in a barn with a green arrow in front of them.

The unexpected impact of AI on animals

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5 min

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A man in a suit is pointing his finger at a yellow background, referencing string theory.

Einstein failed to solve the Universe. Here’s what it would take to succeed. | Michio Kaku

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6 min

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The cover of a dying profession.

More accountants are leaving the field than joining. What’s going on?

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4 min

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Kelly Richmond Pope

A man doing push ups in a gym.

How to grow your brain by moving your body

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4 min

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An image of two people kissing on a blue background.

Neurodivergence is absent in sex education. That’s a problem.

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6 min

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a close up of a person wearing a suit and tie.

Hitler, Churchill, and the real trolley problem

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6 min

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a birthday cake with the number 100 on it.

How to eat if you want to age slowly

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5 min

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Game theory can explain humanity’s biggest problem

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4 min

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Is marriage dying?

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6 min

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The mind-blowing virality of music

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5 min

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Michael Spitzer

Ask a physicist: Do humans have souls?

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5 min

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Sabine Hossenfelder

The physics of entropy and the origin of life

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6 min

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Should you bring a kid into this world?

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4 min

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A person stands on an abstract surface, casting a large question mark-shaped shadow surrounded by vibrant orange, blue, and purple hues.

What psychedelics can’t explain

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4 min

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Matthew W. Johnson

Debate world champion explains how to argue

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5 min

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1 in 3 people cheat. Here’s what to do if you’re the 1.

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5 min

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Michael Slepian

Columbia professor: “Drug use is your birthright”

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4 min

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Can we build a Metaverse that’s GOOD?

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4 min

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Celebrity CEOs are amazing. Until they backfire.

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dao leadership

DAOs: The end of bosses?

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2 min

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Related

A woman sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a brick-walled room, with potted plants on tables on either side.

The biggest myth about aging, according to science

“This will help people take meaningful steps to slow the rate of aging and increase what we call their health span or their kind of time of life expectancy free from disease.”

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55 min

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A woman sits on a chair against a white backdrop, gesturing with her hands, with a dynamic black background and white abstract swirl surrounding her.

The hard problem of consciousness, in 53 minutes

“Our conscious awareness is everything. And the fact that it’s still so mysterious to scientists and to all of humanity, the fact that it’s still one of the great unsolved mysteries makes it something that everyone can be excited about and that inspires awe in everyone.”

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53 min

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A woman with long brown hair wearing a tan blazer over a dark shirt sits in front of a plain white background, looking at the camera.

Our intuitions about consciousness may be deeply wrong

We tend to trust our intuitions about consciousness because they feel immediate and personal, but feeling convinced is not the same as being right. Annaka Harris explores what happens when […]

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7 min

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A man sitting in a chair.

Why Stoicism treats self-control as a form of intelligence

Stoicism has been flattened into slogans about toughness, detachment, and emotional silence, a version that’s easy to sell, but mostly wrong. Massimo Pigliucci returns Stoicism to its original purpose: a […]

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1:51:15 min

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Massimo Pigliucci

A man sitting in a chair.

The real reason boys turn to extreme online role models

“I continue to believe that in the long run, boys, young men will believe their eyes more than their ears.”

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25 min

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