Best Sean Carroll | Wondery Podcasts (2025)

1
315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability 1:28:55

2d ago1:28:55

1:28:55

Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that falls upward. How is science possible at all? Philosophers, as you might expect, have thought hard abou…

1
314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere 1:09:18

9d ago1:09:18

1:09:18

There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite different from what we're familiar with. They live off of nutrients that have penetrated from the su…

1
313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging 1:12:03

16d ago1:12:03

1:12:03

Medical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol about two aspects of this story. First, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially in diagnostics. This is an area that is a perfect match between an important question and the capabilities of machine learning, to the point where AI can…

1
AMA | May 2025 3:38:06

23d ago3:38:06

3:38:06

Welcome to the May 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the question…

1
312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs 1:31:28

1M ago1:31:28

1:31:28

The germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, continental drift, and evolution via natural selection. (Even if there will always be cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microsc…

1
311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental 1:09:58

1M ago1:09:58

1:09:58

Questions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have some particular experience -- to the deeply profound -- does consciousness emerge from matter, or does matter emerge from consciousness? While it might be straightforward to think that consciousness arises from the collective behavior of atoms in the…

1
AMA | April 2025 3:30:22

1M ago3:30:22

3:30:22

Welcome to the April 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questi…

1
310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies 1:26:14

2M ago1:26:14

1:26:14

Cosmologists were, let us be honest, pretty stunned in 1998 when observations revealed that the universe is accelerating. There was an obvious plausible explanation, the cosmological constant proposed by Einstein, which is equivalent to a constant vacuum energy pervading space. But the cosmological constant was known to be enormously smaller than i…

1
309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information 1:20:46

2M ago1:20:46

1:20:46

Consciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and see what lights up when conscious awareness is taking place. A complete understanding of this would be known as the "neural correlates of consciousness." Once we have that, we could hopefully make progress on developing a theoretical picture of what…

1
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking 1:09:56

2M ago1:09:56

1:09:56

We often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are different from our own. Today's guest, psychologist/philosopher Alison Gopnik, argues that we needn't look that far: human children aren't simply undeveloped adults, they have a way of thinking that is importantly distinct from that of grownups. Children ar…

1
AMA | March 2025 2:58:00

2M ago2:58:00

2:58:00

Welcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questi…

1
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails 1:16:36

3M ago1:16:36

1:16:36

A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it that way. And even if you have no interest in cocktails as such, the general principles extend to other activities in art and in life. I talk to scie…

1
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans 1:12:19

3M ago1:12:19

1:12:19

It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and success of life on this planet. The oceans are a paradigmatic complex system: there are many components, distinct but mutually interacting, that add u…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Sean Carroll | Wondery Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Sean Carroll | Wondery

1
315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability 1:28:55

1
314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere 1:09:18

1
313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging 1:12:03

1
AMA | May 2025 3:38:06

1
312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs 1:31:28

1
311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental 1:09:58

1
AMA | April 2025 3:30:22

1
310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies 1:26:14

1
309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information 1:20:46

1
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking 1:09:56

1
AMA | March 2025 2:58:00

1
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails 1:16:36

1
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans 1:12:19