Best Adam Omary Podcasts (2025)

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Nature & Nurture #159: Dr. Jaap de Roode - How Parasites & Immune Systems Evolved 47:36

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15d ago47:36

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Dr. Jaap de Roode is the Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University, and the author of Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, & Other Animals Heal Themselves. He is an expert in the population biology of parasites and virus transmission, and how animals defend themselves against these threats.…

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Nature & Nurture #158: Dr. Eric Kaufmann - Universities & The History of Wokeness 1:04:05

24d ago1:04:05

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Dr. Eric Kaufmann is a Professor of Politics at The University of Buckingham and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science. He is the author of several books including The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism. In this episode, Eric and I discuss The Third Awokening, beginning with the history of the term…

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Nature & Nurture #157: Dr. Bill von Hippel - Evolutionary Psychology & Digital Health 1:21:12

1M ago1:21:12

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Dr. Bill von Hippel is a social psychologist and author of The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness.

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Nature & Nurture #156: Dr. Dean Hamer - The Genetics of Sexual Orientation 1:19:54

2M ago1:19:54

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Dr. Dean Hamer is a geneticist, author of several books including The Science of Desire and The God Gene, and a filmmaker. In this episode, we talk about Dean’s background in genetics and how the science of sexual orientation helped shape the “born this way” movement in gay civil rights. We talk about ethical debates surrounding the biological stud…

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Nature & Nurture #155: Dr. Helen Joyce - Making Sense of the Transgender Debate 1:33:41

2M ago1:33:41

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Dr. Helen Joyce is a journalist, mathematician, women’s right advocate, and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. In this episode, we talk about Helen’s background in mathematics and transition into journalism, and eventually the so-called gender culture war. We discuss sex differences in personality, why gender nonconformity is normal, and…

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Nature & Nurture #154: Dr. Carl Marci - Protecting Your Brain From Screens 59:09

3M ago59:09

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Dr. Carl Marci is a psychiatrist, Director of the Social Neuroscience Psychotherapy Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and author of Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age. In this episode, we discuss how social media and digital technology impact attention span and brain development, what is happening to kids in the dig…

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Nature & Nurture #153: Dr. Robin Nusslock - Neuroinflammation, Emotion, & Mindfulness 48:53

5M ago48:53

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Dr. Robin Nusslock is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. He is an expert on the interactions between the brain and the immune system, including the role of neuroinflammation in regulating positive emotion, negative emotion, and mental health. In this episode, we discuss Robin’s research on the brain a…

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Nature & Nurture #152: Dr. Webb Keane - Technology, Morality, & Narrative 1:06:55

5M ago1:06:55

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Dr. Webb Keane is the George Herbert Mead Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is an expert in the anthropology of religion and ethics; semiotics and language; material culture; gifts, commodities, and money; and media. He is the author of Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures in the Mor…

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Nature & Nurture #151: Dr. Michael Bernstein - The Placebo & Nocebo Effects 57:07

6M ago57:07

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Dr. Michael Bernstein is an experimental psychologist, Assistant Professor at Brown University Medical School, and the author of The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick. Dr. Bernstein’s research is focused on the overlap between cognitive science and medicine, studying the role of expectation in healthcare and leveraging the placebo effect to i…

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Nature & Nurture #150: Dr. Michael Bailey - Gender Dysphoria and Sexual Orientation 1:37:42

7M ago1:37:42

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Dr. Bailey is a psychologist, behavioral geneticist, and Professor at Northwestern University specializing in the etiology of sexual orientation, sexual preferences and paraphilias, and gender diversity. In this episode, we discuss the history of transexualism in clinical psychology and its relation to modern transgender identifying people, the sci…

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Nature & Nurture #149: Dr. Ogi Ogas - Autism, Sex, & Consciousness 1:42:02

7M ago1:42:02

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Dr. Ogi Ogas is a mathematical neuroscientist and author several books including Consciousness: How It’s Made, and A Billion Wicked Thoughts. He writes about autism, mathematical neuroscience, consciousness, and more on his Dark Gift blog: https://www.ogiogas.com/ In this episode Ogi and I discuss the history of mathematical neuroscience, competing…

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Nature & Nurture #148: Dr. Holly Bowen - Emotion, Motivation, & Memory 59:09

8M ago59:09

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Dr. Holly Bowen is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Bowen’s research focuses on how affective states, specifically emotion and motivation, influence how we form memories and remember past experiences. She is also interested in how the links between emotion, motivation and memory are impacted by age-related …

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Nature & Nurture #147: Dr. Jason Storm - From Postmodernism to Metamodernism 1:32:13

8M ago1:32:13

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Dr. Jason Storm is a philosopher, historian, and the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Religion at Williams College. Dr. Storm is the author of several books including Metamodernism: The Future of Theory. In this episode, Jason and I talk about the history of modernism and postmodernism in philosophy and the arts, the concept of…

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Nature & Nurture #146: Dr. Susana Monsó - How Animals Understand Death 56:40

10M ago56:40

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Dr. Susana Monsó is a philosopher, animal ethicist, and author of Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death. In this episode, we discuss how different animals grieve, how opossums fake death, why predators play with their prey, why dogs sometimes eat their deceased owners as a sign of love, and human rituals surrounding death. We discuss how thi…

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Nature & Nurture #145: Dr. Karen Bales - Neurobiology of Care & Attachment 55:34

10M ago55:34

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Dr. Karen Bales is a Professor of Psychology and Neurobiology at UC Davis, and an expert in oxytocin, pairbonding, and the neurobiology of care. In this episode we discuss Karen’s background, education, and research on parental care and pairbonding across a wide variety of species including marosets, tamarins, titi monkeys, prairie voles, and seaho…

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Nature & Nurture #144: Dr. Alexey Tolchinsky - Chaos Theory in Psychology & Neuroscience 1:30:42

12M ago1:30:42

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Dr. Alexey Tolchinsky is a licensed psychologist and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University. In this episode, we discuss Alexey’s clinical experience as a therapist, our shared research interests in neuropsychoanalysis, chaos theory as a way to measure complexity in neuroscience and psychology, narrative fallacy in research, and t…

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Nature & Nurture #143: Dr. Nicholas Christakis - The Evolution of Social Networks 57:25

12M ago57:25

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Dr. Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he directs the Human Nature Lab. Dr. Christakis is an MD-PhD physician and sociologist known for applying social network analysis to the study of public health and the evolutionary psychology of cooperation. He is the author of several books in…

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Nature & Nurture #142: Dr. Mark Solms - A Journey to the Source of Consciousness 1:34:34

1y ago1:34:34

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Dr. Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist, Professor at the University of Cape Town, and author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. In this episode, we discuss The Hidden Spring - core areas within the brainstem which are the root of all feeling and consciousness in all vertebrates - and pioneering discoveries from affective…

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Nature & Nurture #141: Dr. Jorge Morales - The Neuroscience & Philosophy of Perception 1:21:10

1y ago1:21:10

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Dr. Jorge Morales is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Northeastern University, where he directs the Subjectivity Lab. In this episode, we discuss Jorge’s research on the neuropsychology and philosophy of visual perception, introspection, and theory of mind as lenses through which to study consciousness. We discuss the neural a…

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Nature & Nurture #140: Dr. Beatriz Luna - Adolescent Brain Development, Dopamine, & Risk-Taking 1:00:29

1y ago1:00:29

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Dr. Beatriz Luna is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where she directs the Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development. Dr. Luna is an expert in adolescent brain development and the neurodevelopment of the dopamine reward system, and its interactions with inhibitory control to produce developmental changes in se…

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Nature & Nurture #139: Dr. Rob Chavez - Computational Neuroscience & Social Cognition 51:46

1y ago51:46

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Dr. Robert Chavez is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Oregon, where he directs the Computational Social Neuroscience Lab. https://csnl.uoregon.edu/ In this episode, Rob and I discuss our shared background in cognitive science and statistics, our mutual interests in neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, soc…

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Nature & Nurture #138: Dr. Adriene Beltz - Hormones, Sex Differences, & Contraceptives 50:49

1y ago50:49

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Dr. Adriene Beltz is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Methods, Sex Differences, and Development Lab.

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Nature & Nurture #137: Dr. Larry Young - Hormones & Sexual Behavior Across Species 1:01:45

1+ y ago1:01:45

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Dr. Larry Young is the William P. Timmie Professor of Psychiatry at Emory School of Medicine, where he directs the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience and the Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition at Emory University. He is the author of The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction explores the late…

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Nature & Nurture #136: Dr. Steve Rathje - The Global Social Media Experiment 1:29:03

1+ y ago1:29:03

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Steve Rathjay is a Psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Social Identity and Morality Lab of New York University. He is an expert in the psychology of social media use and one of the leaders of the Global Social Media Experiment, an international collaboration examining the causal impact of social media usage in 76 countries around t…

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Nature & Nurture #135: Dr. Rob Henderson - Childhood Instability, Poverty, Education, & Resilience 1:33:11

1+ y ago1:33:11

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Dr. Rob Henderson is a Psychologist, Air Force Veteran, and author of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class. Expanding on our past episode, in which we discuss luxury beliefs, social status, and classism at length, this time our discussion is much more personal. In this episode, Rob and I discuss formative experiences written …

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Nature & Nurture #134: Dr. Sergio Pellis - The Neurobiology of Play 1:11:53

1+ y ago1:11:53

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Dr. Sergio Pellis is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge and one of the world’s leading experts in the neurobiology of play. In this episode, we discuss how play behavior across mammals relies on the same neural reward circuitry, the evolutionary origins and benefits of play, and how hormones contribute to sex differences in…

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Nature & Nurture #133: Angel Millar - The Path of the Warrior-Mystic 1:01:21

1+ y ago1:01:21

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Angel Millar is a hypnotist, martial artist, and author of The Path of the Warrior-Mystic: Being a Man in an Age of Chaos. In this episode we discuss the balance between masculine and feminine traits, discipline and creativity, mind and body, and tradition and modernity. The warrior-mystic, Angel explains, represents the ideal balance between these…

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Nature & Nurture #132: Dr. Daniel Quintana - Oxytocin & Sex Hormones 1:04:47

1+ y ago1:04:47

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Daniel Quintana is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. He leads a lab investigating biological systems that link psychological and social factors to health, with a focus on neuroendocrine systems (e.g., oxytocin) and the autonomic nervous system. His lab uses various research approaches, including intranasal …

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Nature & Nurture #131: Dr. Lee Cronin - Evolution, Entropy, & The Chemical Origins of Life 1:03:55

1+ y ago1:03:55

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Dr. Lee Cronin is a Professor and the Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, where he leads research on the chemical origins of life, computerized chemistry, and assembly theory. In this episode, we explore how assembly theory, analogues between chemistry and computation, the origins of life, the concepts of entropy and time, quant…

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Nature & Nurture #130: Dr. Alex Byrne - There Is No Gender Without Sex 1:43:04

1+ y ago1:43:04

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Dr. Alex Byrne is a Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender. In this episode, we talk about the problematic concept of gender, which is often used interchangeably to mean sex, gender identity, gender role, gender norm, or gender stereotypes. Alex and I discuss each of these, and their precise definitions in philosophy, biol…

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Nature & Nurture #129: Dr. Wolfram Schultz - All About Dopamine Neurons 1:21:23

1+ y ago1:21:23

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Dr. Wolfram Schultz is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and one of the world’s leading experts on dopamine. In this episode, we discuss the dopamine system's role in reward processing, evolutionary fitness, the functioning of dopamine neurons, the interplay between reward vs punishment, and the complexity of neurons. Dr. S…

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Nature & Nurture #128: Dr. Camilla Nord - Neurotransmitters, Prediction Error, & Mental Health 1:14:02

1+ y ago1:14:02

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Dr. Camilla Nord is a neuroscientist, leader of the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge, and the author of The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health. In this episode we talk about The Balanced Brain, prediction error as the source of positive and negative emotion, how dopamine controls motion, motivation, and pleasu…

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Nature & Nurture #127. Dr. Rachel Marsh - Self-Regulation, Brain Development, & Anxiety 55:18

1+ y ago55:18

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Dr. Rachel Marsh is the Irving Philips Professor of Medical Psychology in Child Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, where she runs the Cognitive Development and Neuroimaging Lab. Dr. Marsh studies the neurodevelopment of self-regulatory control and its pathology in disorders such as OCD, eating disorders, and Tourette’s syndrome. More…

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Nature & Nurture #126. Dr. Walter Veit - Animal Consciousness, Evolution, & Morality 1:17:47

1+ y ago1:17:47

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Dr. Walter Veit is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading and author of A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness. He is an expert in philosophy of mind, cognitive and biological sciences, applied ethics, and animal welfare. In this episode, we talk about philosophy of mind and the evolution of consciousness in animals. Wa…

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Nature & Nurture #125: Dr. Ellen Langer - The Mother of Mindfulness 1:13:30

1+ y ago1:13:30

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Dr. Ellen Langer is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and one of the pioneers of the positive psychology movement, known as the Mother of Mindfulness. Dr. Langer has won numerous awards including 3 Distinguished Scientist Award, the Staats Award for Unifying Psychology, and the Liberty Science Genius Award. She is the author of 13 boo…

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Nature & Nurture #124: Dr. Henning Tiemeier - Hormones, Brain Development, & Public Health 51:56

1+ y ago51:56

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Dr. Henning Tiemeier is a Professor of Social and Behavioral Science and the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Chair of Maternal and Child Health at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Tiemeier is an expert in pediatric epidemiology, focusing on prenatal exposures and the environmental determinants that influence brain development in children. I…

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Nature & Nurture #123. Dr. Willem Frankenhuis - Development, Evolution, Ecology, & Adversity 1:14:50

1+ y ago1:14:50

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Dr. Willem Frankenhuis, he's an Associate Professor of Evolutionary and Population Biology at the University of Amsterdam, a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, and Director of the Research Network on Communicating Strength-Based Approaches to Child Development and Learning in Adverse Conditions.…

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Nature & Nurture #122: Dr. Lars Chittka - The Mind of a Bee 1:24:44

1+ y ago1:24:44

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Dr. Lars Chittka is a Professor of Sensory and Behavioral Ecology and the founder of the Research Center for Psychology at Queen Mary University of London. He directs the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab,and is the author of The Mind of a Bee. In this episode, we discuss the results of decades of research on intelligence in bees and other ins…

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Nature & Nurture #121: Dr. Jack Schultz - Cultural Anthropology, Religion, & Relativism 1:17:08

1+ y ago1:17:08

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Dr. Jack Schultz is a Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University and an expert in the cultural anthropology of religion and sociology of knowledge.

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Nature & Nurture #120: Dr. Kevin Mitchell - Evolution, Entropy, Neurogenetics, & Free Will 1:11:12

1+ y ago1:11:12

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Dr. Kevin Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He's the author of Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are, and Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.In this episode, we talk about Free Agents and the question of free will. We discuss what we mean by freedom, how living orga…

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Nature & Nurture #119: Dr. Edward Hagen - Evolutionary Anthropology, Sex Differences, & Drugs 1:18:36

1+ y ago1:18:36

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Dr. Edward Hagen is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University, where he directs the Bioanthropology Lab. In this episode, Ed and I discuss the recent controversy of the American Anthropological Association’s decision to censor a conference panel on sex differences, the reality and importance of understanding sex differ…

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Nature & Nurture #118: Dr. Jennifer Silvers - Brain Development, Puberty, & Emotion Regulation 51:07

1+ y ago51:07

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Dr. Jennifer Silvers is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair in Developmental Neuroscience at UCLA, where she runs the Social Affective Neuroscience and Development Lab. She is an expert in adolescent brain, cognitive, and emotional development, particularly in the development of emotion…

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Nature & Nurture #117: Dr. Cory Clark - Meta-Science, Morality, and Psychological Bias 1:37:49

2y ago1:37:49

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Dr. Cory Clark is a social psychologist and Director of the Adversarial Collaboration Project at the University of Pennsylvania. In this episode we talk about adversarial collaboration and open science, meta-psychology research on common biases in psychology carried by psychologists themselves, and its moralization. We also discuss gender differenc…

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Nature & Nurture #116: Dr. James Roney - Sex Hormones, Motivation, & Evolution 1:16:26

2y ago1:16:26

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Dr. James Roney is a Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he runs the Human Behavioral Endocrinology Lab.In this episode we talk about the proximate and ultimate evolutionary explanations of different sex hormones’ roles in coordinating motivated behavior, such as testosterone’s influence…

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Nature & Nurture #115: Dr. Joseph Henrich - Culture, Cognition, & Coevolution 1:07:16

2y ago1:07:16

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Dr. Joseph Henrich is an anthropologist and Chair of the Human Evolutionary Biology Department at Harvard University, where he runs the Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution Lab. Joe is also the author of the WEIRDest People in the World and The Secret of Our Success. Timestamps:0:00:46 Environmental factors leading to cultural evolution0:03:19 Cultu…

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Nature & Nurture #114: Dr. Massimo Pigliucci - Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy, & Skepticism 1:00:20

2y ago1:00:20

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Dr. Massimo Pigliucci is a philosopher and evolutionary biologist, the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a prolific author of over 100 academic papers, 16 books including Evolution: The Extended Synthesis, and the best-selling How to Be a Stoic, a…

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Nature & Nurture #113: Dr. Stephanie Bugden - Children's Math Learning & Education 52:11

2y ago52:11

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Dr. Stephanie Bugden is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Winnipeg, and an expert in the psychology and neuroscience of children's math learning.In this episode we discuss the nature versus nurture debate in math ability and the genetic and environmental influences on math learning. Dr. Bugden explains that both genetics and…

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Nature & Nurture #112: Kevin J. DeBruin - Rocket Science, Education, Fitness, & Perseverance 1:08:25

2y ago1:08:25

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Kevin J. DeBruin is a former NASA rocket scientist, a science educator and speaker, former bodybuilder and American Ninja Warrior, founder of Space Class, and author of To NASA and Beyond, and To Dare Mighty Things.In this episode we talk about Kevin’s career as a rocket scientist, life at NASA, and his story of perseverance in his books. We also d…

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Nature & Nurture #111: Dr. Jonas Kaplan - The Neuroscience of Narrative 1:39:01

2y ago1:39:01

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Dr. Jonas Kaplan is a cognitive neuroscientist and faculty at USC's Brain and Creativity Institute, where he co-directs the the Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center. His research focuses on consciousness, the self, belief, empathy, social relationships, action perception and creativity. In this reunion episode, episode, we discuss active inferenc…

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Nature & Nurture #110: Dr. Paul Bloom - Evolution, Language, & Morality 1:10:07

2y ago1:10:07

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Dr. Paul Bloom is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. Paul studies how children and adults make sense of the world, with special focus on language, pleasure, morality, religion, fiction, and art. He is the author of seven books, including his l…