Best Dr Matthew Cook Podcasts (2025)

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Margaret Cook Andersen, "Fertile Expectations: The Politics of Involuntary Childlessness in Twentieth-Century France" (Manchester UP, 2025) 45:35

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16h ago45:35

45:35

An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, Fertile expectations: The politics of involuntary childlessness in twentieth-century France (Manchester University Press, 2025) by Dr. Margaret Andersen explores fraught political and cultural meanings attached to the notion of an "ideal" family size. When s…

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Ruben Laukkonen: Meditation and the cessation of consciousness 1:59:56

2h ago1:59:56

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A conversation with Dr  Ruben Laukkonen—cognitive scientist, neuroscientist and meditator —exploring the cutting edge of contemplative science and the mysterious experience of consciousness coming to a complete stop - cessation. - https://rubenlaukkonen.com/To join future events, newsletter and access ad-free event recordings go to:https://adventur…

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Kevin Guyan, "Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 55:00

2h ago55:00

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Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (Bloomsbury, 2025) by Dr. Kevin Guyan reveals how the fight for LGBTQ equalities in the UK is shaped – and constrained – by the classifications we encounter every day. Looking across six systems – the police and the recording of hate crimes; dating apps and digital desire; outn…

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Aaron Sloman: What is Life? Information, Intelligence, and the Ineffable within Science 1:08:39

1d ago1:08:39

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Aaron Sloman is Emeritus/Honorary Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science at University of Birmingham, UK. He is a Fellow of Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour and European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence. …

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Daanika Kamal, "Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of 'Bad' and 'Mad' Women" (Oxford UP, 2025) 53:29

4d ago53:29

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Pakistani women are increasingly pursuing legal avenues against acts of domestic violence. Their claims, however, are often dismissed through character allegations that label them as 'bad' women in need of control, or 'mad' women not to be trusted. Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of 'Bad' and 'Mad' Women (Oxford University Pre…

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Patrick Luiz Sullivan De Oliveira, "Ascending Republic: The Ballooning Revival in Nineteenth-Century France" (MIT Press, 2025) 1:17:42

5d ago1:17:42

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On August 27, 1783, a large crowd gathered in Paris to watch the first ascent of a hydrogen balloon. Despite the initial feverish enthusiasm, by the mid-nineteenth century the balloon remained relatively unchanged and was no longer seen as the harbinger of a new era. Yet that all changed in the last third of the century, when following the traumati…

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Sam Dalrymple, "Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia" (HarperCollins UK, 2025) 1:07:00

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As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the ‘Indian Empire’, or more simply as the Raj. It was the British Empire’s crown jewel, a vast dominion stretching from t…

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Sarah Gold McBride "Whiskerology: The Culture of Hair in Nineteenth-Century America" (Harvard UP, 2025) 1:13:20

8d ago1:13:20

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Hair is always and everywhere freighted with meaning. In nineteenth-century America, however, hair took on decisive new significance as the young nation wrestled with its identity. During the colonial period, hair was usually seen as bodily discharge, even “excrement.” But as Dr. Sarah Gold McBride shows in Whiskerology: The Culture of Hair in Nine…

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Christof Koch | Bernardo Kastrup: neuroscience & ultimate reality 2:56:48

9d ago2:56:48

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Christof Koch was the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle known for his interdisciplinary approach, combining insights from neuroscience, physics, and philosophy to tackle the complex problem of consciousness, published in over 350 scientific papers, significantly shaped modern understanding of the neur…

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Elena Jackson Albarran, "Good Neighbor Empires: Children and Cultural Capital in the Americas" (Brill, 2024) 42:42

10d ago42:42

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A class of child artists in Mexico, a ship full of child refugees from Spain, classrooms of child pageant actors, and a pair of boy ambassadors revealed facets of hemispheric politics in the Good Neighbor era. Good Neighbor Empires: Children and Cultural Capital in the Americas (Brill, 2024) by Dr. Elena Jackson Albarran explores how and why cultur…

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Tie Ning, Annelise Finegan trans., "My Sister's Red Shirt" (Sinoist Books, 2025) 36:30

12d ago36:30

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Growing up in a glittering new decade of possibility, Anran is radically different to her sister. Outspoken and idealistic, she relishes in challenging hypocrisy, unlike the older Anjing, whose memories of a turbulent past remind her of the perils of going against the grain. When Anran is gifted a stylish red shirt that becomes the talk of their sl…

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Dr James Cooke: A neuroscientist experiencing nonduality 46:09

11d ago46:09

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Workshops this weekend, 28th/29th June 2025 with Dr James Cooke in London: https://dandelion.events/e/n8hokJames Cooke has three degrees in experimental psychology and neuroscience from Oxford University, including a PhD in neuroscience. He has conducted research into the brain basis of consciousness at such institutions as Oxford University; the U…

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Philip Kadish, "The Great White Hoax: Frauds, Forgeries, and 200 Years of Selling Racism in America" 1:11:14

13d ago1:11:14

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Fake news, outright political lies, a shamelessly partisan press, and the collapse of truth, civility, and shared facts, Dr. Philip Kadish argues, are nothing new. The Great White Hoax: Two Centuries of Selling Racism in America (The New Press, 2025), a masterpiece of historical and literary sleuthing, reveals that the era of Fox News and Donald Tr…

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Matthew Allen, "Drink and Democracy: Alcohol and the Political Imaginary in Colonial Australia" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2025) 1:00:10

14d ago1:00:10

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The nineteenth-century spread of democracy in Britain and its colonies coincided with an increase in alcohol consumption and in celebratory public dinners with rounds of toasts. British colonists raised their glasses to salute the Crown in rituals that asserted fraternal equality and political authority. Yet these ceremonies were reserved for gentl…

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Lieba Faier, "The Banality of Good: The UN's Global Fight Against Human Trafficking" (Duke UP, 2024) 58:44

15d ago58:44

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In The Banality of Good: The UN’s Global Fight against Human Trafficking (Duke University Press, 2024), Dr. Lieba Faier examines why contemporary efforts to curb human trafficking have fallen so spectacularly short of their stated goals despite well-funded campaigns by the United Nations and its member-state governments. Focusing on Japan’s efforts…

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Vivian Kong, "Multiracial Britishness: Global Networks in Hong Kong, 1910–45" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 1:07:30

14d ago1:07:30

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What does it mean to be British? To answer this, Multiracial Britishness: Global Networks in Hong Kong, 1910–45 (Cambridge UP, 2023) by Dr. Vivian Kong takes us to an underexplored site of Britishness – the former British colony of Hong Kong. Vivian Kong asks how colonial hierarchies, the racial and cultural diversity of the British Empire, and glo…

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John Barr, "1960s University Buildings: The Golden Age of British Modern Architecture" (Lund Humphries, 2025) 1:01:39

16d ago1:01:39

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The 1960s continue to hold an almost mythical place in Western culture, particularly in Britain, where change was widespread and infiltrated many aspects of life. This included architecture, whose role in a modern democracy and the form it should take were hotly debated. 1960s University Buildings: The Golden Age of British Modern Architecture (Lun…

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Claire Pierson, "Women's Troubles: Gender and Feminist Politics in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland" (Manchester University Press, 2025) 55:28

16d ago55:28

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How do feminist movements develop and organise in ethno-nationally divided societies? How does this challenge our understandings of contemporary fourth wave feminism? Women's Troubles: Gender and Feminist Politics in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland (Manchester University Press, 2025) by Dr. Claire Pierson sets out to answer these questions using ri…

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Jeremy Stolow, "Picturing Aura: A Visual Biography" (MIT Press, 2025) 1:19:58

16d ago1:19:58

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Picturing Aura: A Visual Biography (MIT Press, 2025) by Dr. Jeremy Stolow is the first book of its kind: an extended historical, anthropological, and philosophical study of modern efforts to visualize the hidden radiant force encompassing the living body known as our aura. This rich, interdisciplinary study by Dr. Stolow chronicles the rise and glo…

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David Crystal, "Bookish Words and Their Surprising Stories" (Bodleian Library, 2025) 48:35

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In Bookish Words & their Surprising Stories (Bodleian, 2025) by Dr. David Crystal, explore how books have played a pivotal role in the history of English vocabulary. The noun itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today – by the book, bring to book and bo…

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139. Season Finale Life Update and What's Keeping Our Summer Fresh 42:23

16d ago42:23

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Getting a little more personal, with behind-the-scenes of our lives. From personal growth & new beginnings, family & being present, friendships as adults (who knew they could be hard to find?!), and all our faves we want to share with you: reads, listens, foods, and life hacks galore! Episode Show Notes Newsletter Sign-Up Support Our Podcast on Pat…

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Emily Hauser, "Penelope’s Bones: A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out of It" (Univ of Chicago Press, 2025) 55:39

18d ago55:39

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Achilles. Agamemnon. Odysseus. Hector. The lives of these and many other men in the greatest epics of ancient Greece have been pored over endlessly in the past three millennia. But these are not just tales about heroic men. There are scores of women as well—complex, fascinating women whose stories have gone unexplored for far too long. In Penelope’…

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James D. Brown, "Cracking the Crab: Russian Espionage Against Japan, from Peter the Great to Richard Sorge" (Hurst, 2025) 32:18

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Richard Sorge is one of history’s most famous spies. This hard-drinking, womanising, motorcycle-crashing Soviet officer penetrated the German embassy in Tokyo during the 1930s and gathered intelligence credited with changing the course of the Second World War. It is an intriguing tale; but Sorge’s spy ring was just one chapter in a much longer hist…

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Jay Garfield & Bernardo Kastrup - Emptiness vs Idealism 2:39:50

16d ago2:39:50

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To join future events in this series, and access ad-free event recordings go to:https://adventuresinawareness.comTo join weekly meetings with Bernardo Kastrup: https://www.withrealityinmind.com/This event was recorded Dec 2024.Jay Garfield is a world specialist in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, leading classes everywhere from Harvard Divinity School …

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Violet Moller, "Inside the Stargazer's Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century Europe" (OneWorld, 2024) 40:38

19d ago40:38

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In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus declared the earth revolved around the Sun, overturning centuries of scholastic presumption. A new age was coming into view – one guided by observation, technology and logic. But omens and elixirs did not disappear from the sixteenth-century laboratory. Charms and potions could still be found nestled between glistening …

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Emily Webber, "Mining Men: Britain's Last Kings of the Coalface" (Penguin, 2025) 32:42

18d ago32:42

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The story of the last generation of British miners: fathers and sons, brothers and comrades, big hitters and broken men, strikers and scabs. Mining Men: Britain's Last Kings of the Coalface (Penguin, 2025) by Dr. Emily P. Webber explores how these men felt when the pits were closed and what happened next, including former miners who became factory …

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Frederick Reece, "Forgery in Musical Composition: Aesthetics, History, and the Canon" (Oxford University Press, 2025) 1:04:07

20d ago1:04:07

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We all know about art forgeries, but why write fake classical music? In Forgery in Musical Composition: Aesthetics, History, and the Canon (Oxford University Press, 2025), Dr. Frederick Reece investigates the methods and motives of mysterious musicians who sign famous historical names like Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert to their own original works. An…

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Mark Somos, Matthew Cleary, Pablo Dufour, Edward Jones Corredera, and Emanuele Salerno, "The Unseen History of International Law" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:05:37

20d ago1:05:37

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The Unseen History of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2025) locates and describes almost one thousand surviving copies of the first nine editions of Hugo Grotius' De iure belli ac pacis (IBP) published between 1625 and 1650. Meticulously reconstructing the publishing history of these first nine editions and cataloguing copies across hun…

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L. Sasha Gora, "Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada" (University of Toronto Press, 2025) 1:00:20

20d ago1:00:20

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Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2025) by Dr. L. Sasha Gora explores the complex relationships between wild plants and introduced animals, Indigenous foodways, and Canadian regulations. Blending food studies with environmental history, the book examines how cuisines reflect social and political…

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Barbara Allen, "Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds: Stories of Extinction" (Reaktion, 2025) 1:07:03

20d ago1:07:03

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Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds: Stories of Extinction (Reaktion, 2025) by Reverend Barbara Allen presents thirty-one extinct species through the personal perspectives of those animals. This intimate approach not only highlights each species but explores the broader implications of losing a species forever. How do we honour such a loss? Can we gr…

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Samuel Rutherford, "Teaching Gender: The British University and the Rise of Heterosexuality, 1860-1939" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:04:32

23d ago1:04:32

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In Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, universities were one of many institutional state structures wherein gender difference, the male breadwinner ideal, and heterosexuality were central to a conception of citizenship. But while the state could enforce these norms through the parameters it set on the extension franchise o…

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Brent Z. Kaup and Kelly F. Austin, "The Pathogens of Finance: How Capitalism Breeds Vector-Borne Disease" (U of California Press, 2025) 55:41

23d ago55:41

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The Pathogens of Finance: How Capitalism Breeds Vector-Borne Disease (University of California Press, 2025) by Dr. Brent Z. Kaup & Dr. Kelly F. Austin is an exploration of how the rising power and profits of Wall Street underpin the contemporary increases in and inadequate responses to vector-borne disease. Over the past fifty years, insects have t…

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Matthew Immergut: The Mind Re-Illuminated - on Gurus, Practise & Awakening 2:02:58

23d ago2:02:58

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Matthew Immergut, Ph.D., was co-author of the highly successful meditation classic, 'The Mind Illuminated,' and works as an Associate Professor of Sociology at Purchase College, SUNY where he has developed a minor in Contemplative Studies, and teaches classes on meditation, happiness, social theory, and new religious movements.We discuss how the sy…

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Alison Griffiths, "Nomadic Cinema: A Cultural Geography of the Expedition Film" (Columbia UP, 2025) 1:06:25

26d ago1:06:25

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From In Borneo, the Land of the Head-Hunters to The Epic of Everest to Camping Among the Indians, the early twentieth century was the heyday of expedition filmmaking. As new technologies transformed global transportation and opened new avenues for documentation, and as imperialism and capitalism expanded their reach, Western filmmakers embarked on …

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Sarah Bilston, "The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder and Obsession" (Harvard UP, 2025) 55:14

26d ago55:14

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In 1818, a curious root arrived in a small English village, tucked—seemingly by accident—in a packing case mailed from Brazil. The amateur botanist who cultivated it soon realized that he had something remarkable on his hands: an exceptionally rare orchid never before seen on British shores. It arrived just as “orchid mania” was sweeping across Eur…

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Dr. Santiago Septien Stringel: Decentralized Water Systems Explained | Room by Room #80 58:41

26d ago58:41

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While sanitation in the home might be something many of us take for granted, in this episode we dive deeper into how they work - the specifics of decentralized water systems, how they work, their benefits and their disadvantages. Host Sarah Stancombe is joined by expert Dr. Santiago Septien Stringel to discuss his journey toward waste management. D…

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Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne, "Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes" (Beacon Press, 2025) 42:58

29d ago42:58

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The debate over the inclusion of gender diverse people in sport has become the latest battleground in the fight for basic human rights and equality. Trans and nonbinary people around the world are facing physical harm and violence—including death—at unprecedented rates. In Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes (Beacon Press, 2…

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Sladja Blažan, "Ghosts and Their Hosts: The Colonization of the Invisible World in Early America" (University of Virginia Press, 2025) 53:18

29d ago53:18

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In Ghosts and Their Hosts: The Colonization of the Invisible World in Early America (University of Virginia Press, 2025), Dr. Sladja Blažan explains the foundational role of ghost stories in fostering the cultural imaginary, offering a medium for framing political ideologies, philosophical thought, racial anxieties, and social concerns. Ghosts and …

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Jenn Hobbs, "Bodily Fluids, Fluid Bodies and International Politics: Feminist Technoscience, Biopolitics and Security" (Bristol University Press, 2024) 1:04:05

30d ago1:04:05

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In recent years, security actors have become increasingly concerned with health issues. Bodily Fluids, Fluid Bodies and International Politics: Feminist Technoscience, Biopolitics and Security (Bristol University Press, 2024) by Dr. Jenn Hobbs reveals how understandings of race, sexuality and gender are produced/reproduced through healthcare policy…

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Josh Bongard: What are Biological Robots? How AI is Reshaping Life, Consciousness & Matter! 1:20:55

1M ago1:20:55

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Josh Bongard is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont and director of the Morphology, Evolution & Cognition Laboratory. His work involves automated design and manufacture of soft-, evolved-, and crowdsourced robots, as well as computer-designed organisms. In 2007, he was awarded a prestigious Microsoft Research New Faculty Fell…

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Suzanne Gildert: Can We Engineer Consciousness? Quantum Physics, Robotics & Conscious AI Technology 1:35:14

29d ago1:35:14

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Dr Suzanne Gildert, Roboticist & Quantum Physicist, is the CEO-founder of Nirvanic Consciousness Technologies, a quantum-AI technology company innovating “Conscious AI” for improved AI decision-making. She holds a Ph.D. in experimental quantum physics from the University of Birmingham in the UK. Suzanne is a prolific technology inventor with dozens…

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The neuroscience supporting spiritual awakening - Dr. Shamil Chandaria 2:02:17

29d ago2:02:17

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Join Shamil's 4-week course at:https://adventuresinawareness.com Dr Shamil Chandaria is a senior research fellow at the centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, University of Oxford. He is also a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, London University, where he focuses on philosophical issues in neuroscience and well-being; a research…

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Will Henshall: Transform Distraction into Peak Focus with Functional Music 1:03:33

1M ago1:03:33

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Do you find yourself more distracted than ever? You’re not alone. In the rapid-fire, hyper-connected, dopamine-driven modern world, harnessing true focus is a rare superpower… But understanding the subtle mechanics of human attention might just be the most valuable skill in our increasingly distracted world. Today, we're exploring the extraordinary…

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Bonnie Yochelson, "Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen" (Fordham UP, 2025) 1:02:25

1M ago1:02:25

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In Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen (Fordham University Press, 2025) by Dr. Bonnie Yochelson, explore Gilded Age New York through the lens of Alice Austen, who captured the social rituals of New York’s leisured class and the bustling streets of the modern city. Celebrated as a queer artist, she was this and muc…

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Coll Thrush, "Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific" (University of Washington Press, 2025) 32:13

1M ago32:13

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The Northwest Coast of North America is a treacherous place. Unforgiving coastlines, powerful currents, unpredictable weather, and features such as the notorious Columbia River bar have resulted in more than two thousand shipwrecks, earning the coastal areas of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island the moniker “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Beginni…

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Anthony C. Infanti, "The Human Toll: Taxation and Slavery in Colonial America" (NYU Press, 2025) 1:06:47

1M ago1:06:47

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The Human Toll: Taxation and Slavery in Colonial America (NYU Press, 2025) by Anthony C. Infanti documents how the American colonies used tax law to dehumanize enslaved persons, taxing them alongside valuable commodities upon their forced arrival and then as wealth-generating assets in the hands of slaveholders. Dr. Infanti examines how taxation al…

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Carol A. Heimer, "Governing the Global Clinic: HIV and the Legal Transformation of Medicine" (University of Chicago Press, 2025) 1:05:30

1M ago1:05:30

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HIV emerged in the world at a time when medicine and healthcare were undergoing two major transformations: globalization and a turn toward legally inflected, rule-based ways of doing things. It accelerated both trends. While pestilence and disease are generally considered the domain of biological sciences and medicine, social arrangements—and law i…

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Robert Garland, "What to Expect When You're Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife" (Princeton UP, 2025) 53:49

1M ago53:49

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A lively story of death, What to Expect When You're Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife (Princeton University Press, 2025) by Dr. Robert Garland explores the fascinating death-related beliefs and practices of a wide range of ancient cultures and traditions—Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Earl…

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138. You Don’t Need Meat to Get Strong with Sophie Waplington 56:38

1M ago56:38

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Expert insights on building strength, hitting your protein goals, and fueling your workouts—all on a plant-based diet. We talk about practical strategies for pre- and post-workout meals, the myths around plant protein, and how life-shaping it can be to never eat meat and still build a brand around high-protein cooking. Whether you’re plant-curious …

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Katarina Kušic, "Beyond International Intervention: Politics of Improvement in Serbia" (University of Michigan Press, 2025) 1:03:37

1M ago1:03:37

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Studies of statebuilding and peacebuilding have been criticized for their disregard of people living the consequences of intervention projects. Beyond International Intervention: Politics of Improvement in Serbia (University of Michigan Press, 2025) by Dr. Katarina Kušic takes on the task of engaging with spaces and peoples not usually present in I…