Best Dean Anand Podcasts (2025)

1
Inside the Brain: A Journey Through the Halls and the Songs of Consciousness ~ Pria Anand 54:40

Play Pause

17m ago54:40

54:40

Our brains can feel remote and abstract. Hidden behind Latin names and textbook diagrams, they rarely feel as personal to us as our hearts and stomachs. In this episode, neurologist and author Pria Anand helps us get a little more intimate with that grey, wrinkly seat of our consciousness. Together we explore both the structural architecture and th…

1
Not So Simple After All? Apes, Einstein, and the Many Mysteries of the Human Brain ~ Dean Falk 30:42

7d ago30:42

30:42

Here is a simple story about the origins of the human brain: All primate brains are good at packing neurons into a small space—they are neural supercomputers. The human brain is just what you’d expect from a monkey of our size: big, packed with neurons, but no more special than that. It's the chimps and gorillas who are special: without cooked food…

1
Lily Lloyd Burkhalter, "Raffia Memory," The Common Magazine (Spring, 2025) 31:22

11d ago31:22

31:22

Lily Lloyd Burkhalter speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Raffia Memory,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. Lily talks about traveling to the Cameroon Grassfields to research the rituals and production of ndop, a traditional dyed cloth with an important role in both spiritual life and, increasingly, economic life as w…

1
Prologue: The (Very Simple) Story of the Human Brain ~ Suzana Herculano-Houzel 50:20

12d ago50:20

50:20

I'm excited to announce that On Humans is launching a new series this fall! This one will explore the wonders of the human brain. The new episodes will drop throughout September and early October. To set the stage, we will revisit a conversation with neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel, newly re-edited and remastered. It’s the simplest and most …

1
The Great Question of History: India, Britain, and the Fates of Nations | Live at the British Academy 26:25

24d ago26:25

26:25

Why did the great powers of Asia stagnate whilst Europe was rising? This question—often called the Great Divergence—is one of the most defining questions of modern history. Few case studies illuminate this question as well as the contrast between Britain and India. Did colonialism make Britain rich and India poor? Or was Britain’s rise already unde…

1
Encore | Why Agriculture? Climate Change and the Origins of Farming ~ Andrea Matranga 58:26

1M ago58:26

58:26

Climate. Weathers. History. Here's an encore episode to wrap up the mini-series on these themes! This episode on the puzzling origins of farming is one of my all-time favourites on the show. I thought it was a good time to put it out again. You can also read my essay on the topic ⁠here⁠. Enjoy! ~ ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES Agriculture changed everything. …

1
Mariah Rigg, "Target Island," The Common (Spring, 2025) 39:33

2M ago39:33

39:33

Mariah Rigg speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “Target Island,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. “Target Island” is a story from her short story collection Extinction Capital of the World, out August 5 from Ecco; both focus on the islands of Hawai’i. Mariah talks about the process of writing and revising this story a…

1
Climate, Water, and the Origins of Colonialism ~ Tirthankar Roy 55:49

2M ago55:49

55:49

Before they built empires, the Europeans built ports. Across Africa and Asia, European sailors arrived as merchants. They traded and negotiated. They defended their interests—sometimes with cannon fire. But they were not trying to govern a foreign land. Yet things changed. Why? Historian Tirthankar Roy has a bold new answer. Roy is a professor at t…

1
How Climate Crafted Humanity (Or Did It?) ~ Jessica Thompson 1:06:31

2M ago1:06:31

1:06:31

On Humans is back from the break! To mark the summer heat, here is a two-part series on how climate has shaped the human story. In next week's episodes, we will explore the role of water and weather in the origins of European colonialism. But today, we start by crawling deeper into the past: to the origins of humanity itself. In this episode, Yale …

1
Pria Anand "The Elephant's Child" The Common Magazine (Spring, 2025) 50:42

2M ago50:42

50:42

Pria Anand speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “The Elephant’s Child,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. The piece is a vivid retelling of a Hindu myth, the origin story of the elephant-headed god Ganesh. Pria talks about the process of writing and revising many versions of this ancient myth, why she felt inspired by i…

1
Lucas Schaefer, "Tuesday" The Common Magazine (Spring, 2025) 31:49

4M ago31:49

31:49

Lucas Schaefer speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Tuesday,” which appears in The Common’s brand new spring issue. “Tuesday” is an excerpt from his novel The Slip, out June 3 from Simon & Schuster; both center on a motley cast of characters at a boxing gym in Austin, Texas. Lucas talks about the process of writing and revising …

1
An Essential Difference? Males, Females, and the Spaces In Between ~ Augustín Fuentes 1:01:43

4M ago1:01:43

1:01:43

Binary thinking is out of fashion. But what about biological sex? Whatever we might say about diversity and fluidity, the ideas of “male” and “female” seem essential in biology. I’ve taught the subject. I’ve drawn bees and flowers, with arrows from anthers to ovaries. I’ve used the terms “dad cell” and “mother cell” while doing so. I don’t know how…

1
The Rest is History: From the Origins of Farming to the Dawn of Modernity ~ Johannes Krause 1:03:25

5M ago1:03:25

1:03:25

And so it ends! In the final episode of The Origins of Humankind, we explore the aftermath of the story so far—the story of how one peculiar species, Homo sapiens, evolved, spread, and outlived its relatives. Guiding us through this final chapter is Johannes Krause once again. Together, we uncover the emerging picture of the global spread of farmin…

1
A Human Like No Other: The Rise of Homo Sapiens ~ Johannes Krause 1:10:09

5M ago1:10:09

1:10:09

The time has come: This is where our story truly begins. In Episode 4 of The Origins of Humankind, we finally turn the spotlight on Homo sapiens. Guiding us through this journey is Johannes Krause, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a pioneer of one of the greatest scientific revolutions of our time: the science …

1
Why Humans? The New Science of the Genus Homo ~ Chris Stringer 1:06:17

5M ago1:06:17

1:06:17

Things are about to get personal... In episode 3 of The Origins of Humankind, we zoom into the birth and spread of humanity itself. Our guide is the iconic Chris Stringer, one of the most influential paleoanthropologists alive. Together, we trace the origins of our genus and the emergence of Homo sapiens as the last surviving human species. While d…

1
An Unusual Ape: The Deep Origins of Our Human Oddities ~ Dean Falk 50:17

6M ago50:17

50:17

The story continues! In part 2 of the Origins of Humankind, we trace the first steps of our ancestors after they left the chimpanzee lineage. To get humanity going, our ancestors had to wander through millions of years of what anthropologist Dean Falk has called the Botanic Age. It's a time shrouded in mist, yet it may hold the key to some of human…

1
Michael David Lukas, "More to the Story," The Common Magazine (Fall, 2025) 32:37

6M ago32:37

32:37

Michael David Lukas speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his essay “More to the Story,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Michael talks about his writing process for the essay, which began when a dark family mystery moved him to research a side of his family he’d never learned much about. He also discusses the revision stages of th…

1
The Big Picture: From the Origin of Life to the Rise of Humans ~ Tim Coulson 1:04:14

6M ago1:04:14

1:04:14

Welcome to the first episode of the Origins of Humankind! In this sweeping pilot, we cover the entire planetary backstory of human existence – from the origins of life to the climate change that kickstarted human evolution. Our expert guide on this journey is Tim Coulson, the Head of Biology at the University of Oxford and the author of A Universal…

1
Trailer | Origins of Humankind 2:57

6M ago2:57

2:57

Where do we come from? How did we get here? What kind of creature are we? The science of human origins has made great progress in answering these timeless questions. From carbon isotopes to ancient DNA extraction, we now have unprecedented tools to explore our past. But with all this detail, it’s easy to miss the forest from the trees. To fill this…

1
Gray Davidson Carroll, "Silent Spring," The Common magazine 41:02

7M ago41:02

41:02

Poet Gray Davidson Carroll speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about their poem “Silent Spring,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Gray talks about poetry as a way to witness and observe the world and how we experience it, and how it’s changing. Gray also discusses how they started writing poetry, how they approach drafting and revision…

1
What About India? Part II: Success and Stagnation In the World’s Largest Democracy ~ Bishnupriya Gupta 30:28

7M ago30:28

30:28

India’s history isn’t just the story of one nation—it’s the story of one-sixth of humanity. It’s also a lens for understanding how colonialism, democracy, and globalization shaped the modern world. This mini-series offers a human-centred perspective on that remarkable story, focusing on how politics and trade impacted the lives of ordinary Indians.…

1
What About India? Part I: Mughals, British, and the Causes of Poverty ~ Bishnupriya Gupta 1:07:13

7M ago1:07:13

1:07:13

Following the success of last year’s ⁠What About China ⁠-trilogy, I’m delighted to introduce a two-part series on the economic history of India. This series examines the origins of modern India by focusing on politics, poverty, and the experience of ordinary Indians from 1600 till today. The first episode covers the decline of the Mughals and the h…

1
Julia Sanches, "The Advice," The Common magazine 39:17

8M ago39:17

39:17

Translator Julia Sanches speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about translating “The Advice,” a story by Irene Pujadas, which appears in The Common’s fall issue in a portfolio of writing by contemporary Catalan women. Julia talks about her translation process, and the importance of capturing the tone and style of a piece, like the understated ab…

1
Why Patriarchy? Foragers, Farmers, and the Origins of Gender Inequality ~ Angarika Deb 54:39

8M ago54:39

54:39

Why are history books so full of men? Why have so many societies treated women as property? In short, why is patriarchy so pervasive? A casual thinker might find an easy answer from biology. Men tend to be bigger and stronger. Hence, they get to run the show. “Just look at chimpanzees!” But this explanation has obvious problems. Indeed, female chim…

1
Bonus | Evolution Beyond the Selfish Gene (with Eva Jablonka) 19:30

8M ago19:30

19:30

“We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.” - Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene In 1976, Richard Dawkins published one of the most iconic science books of all time. It has inspired a generation of science enthusiasts. But unsurprisingly, many readers disliked the idea of being b…

1
Bonus | The Real Lessons From The World Happiness Report (with Lara Aknin) 16:26

8M ago16:26

16:26

Each year, the World Happiness Report ranks countries based on their citizen's life satisfaction. My home country, Finland, tends to come at the top. Sure. But lessons can we draw from all this? Beyond patting Finns on the back, can we distil some more insights from the report? I got to discuss this with Lara Aknin, co-editor of the World Happiness…

1
Bonus | Some Myths About Human Mating (with Katie Starkweather) 11:57

9M ago11:57

11:57

Many traditional societies accept polygyny (one man, many wives). Monogamy, too, is practised across the globe. But what about polyandry — one woman, many husbands? Is this a "dubious idea" as sometimes suggested by evolutionary theorists? In this bonus clip, anthropologist Katie Starkweather offers interesting examples of formal and informal polya…

1
Encore | The Mindbending Conversation That Topped 2024 (with Donald Hoffman) 1:28:37

9M ago1:28:37

1:28:37

Happy New Year 2025! To celebrate, here is an encore of what proved to be the most popular episode of 2024. This rerun combines episodes 30 and 31 into one epic journey towards the frontiers of human understanding. My guest is Donald Hoffman. Our topics are consciousness, cosmos, and the meaning of life. Enjoy! Original show notes Laws of physics g…

1
Live from London | Yasheng Huang on the Origins of Modern China 1:25:51

9M ago1:25:51

1:25:51

This was fun! Last Wednesday saw the first-ever live recording of On Humans. The event was held at the London Business School, courtesy of the LBS's China Club. My guest was MIT Professor Yasheng Huang, familiar to regular listeners from the China trilogy published earlier this fall. In this new episode, we keep tackling the origins of modern China…

1
A New Theory on the Broadest Patterns of History ~ Ideen Ali Riahi 1:08:29

10M ago1:08:29

1:08:29

Persians. Romans. Chinese. Guptas. Abbasids. Mongols. British. The list of the world’s largest empires is a list of different peoples of Eurasia. With the sole exception of ancient Egypt, the Eurasian landmass has been the breeding ground for the largest empire of each moment in history. Why has Eurasia been so prone to large empires? Similarly, wh…

1
Megan Tennant, "Little Women," The Common magazine 38:33

10M ago38:33

38:33

Megan Tennant speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “Little Women,” which appears in The Common’s brand new fall issue. Megan talks about the process of writing and revising this story, which explores the complex dynamics between two sisters in a religious family in South Africa after one sister gets engaged. Megan also discusses …

1
Is War Inevitable? Lessons from East Asia ~ David C. Kang 51:21

10M ago51:21

51:21

Why do wars begin? How can we avoid them? Do countries wage wars whenever it suits their own goals? Or are wars a product of failed understanding and military madmen? These are questions at the centre of the study of war and peace. But for too long, the field of international relations has answered them by scavenging data from European history alon…

1
Is War Natural After All? Revisiting the Debate ~ Luke Glowacki 1:06:04

11M ago1:06:04

1:06:04

Our ancestors did not wage war. Warfare emerged only when humans started settling down and storing food. Indeed, some modern hunter-gatherers still enjoy the peaceful existence that once was the natural state of our species. Or so argued Douglas P. Fry, my guest in episode 8. I found many of his arguments convincing. For example, ancient cave art i…

1
Nobel-Prize Special | Daron Acemoglu on Why We Should Celebrate Humanity 20:44

11M ago20:44

20:44

Daron Acemoglu has been awarded the 2024 Nobel-prize for Economic Science. This is a great testament to his impressive career. But the award was given for his early work on global inequality, together with Johnson and Robinson. The Swedish Riksbank did not pay attention to his new work on inequality within rich countries. Should we? And is his new …

1
This Might Be The Nicest Thing About Human Nature ~ Lara Aknin 55:25

12M ago55:25

55:25

You are given 20 dollars in cash. You can use it as you wish, but with one condition: you have to use it to treat yourself. Now imagine getting another 20 dollars next week. This time, the rules have changed: you must use the money to treat someone else. Which do you think will make you feel better? Contrary to many people's predictions, we tend to…

1
Kevin Dean, "Patron Saints" The Common Magazine 42:17

12M ago42:17

42:17

Kevin Dean speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Patron Saints,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Kevin talks about the process of writing and revising this story, which follows a young American trying to find his place in Cairo, while the city roils with political uncertainty after the Arab Spring uprising. Kevin…

1
What About China? Part III: A Brief History of China’s Future ~ Yasheng Huang 30:36

12M ago30:36

30:36

Where is China today? Will its rise continue to benefit the vast majority of its population? Or is Xi Jinping's increasingly repressive government committing one of the biggest blunders of modern history? This is the final episode in the China-trilogy, the product of hours of conversations I've had with ChinaTalk's Jordan Schneider and MIT professo…

1
What About China? Part II: Explaining the Chinese Miracle ~ Yasheng Huang 1:05:57

1y ago1:05:57

1:05:57

China's rise has shook the world. It has changed the lives of over a billion people in China. It has flooded humanity with cheap goods, from single-use toys to high-tech solar panels. And it has changed the logic of war and peace in the 21st Century. But how to explain China's dramatic rise? Was it due to the wisdom of China's leaders after Mao? Or…

1
What About China? Part I: The Deep Currents of Chinese History ~ Yasheng Huang 1:12:59

1y ago1:12:59

1:12:59

The West has ruled history — at least the way history has been written. This is a shame. To tell the story of humans, we must tell the story of us all. So what about the rest? What themes and quirks does their history hide? And what forces, if anything, prevented them of matching Europe’s rise? I aim to cover these topics for several countries and …

1
Maria de Caldas Antão, "My Freedom," The Common Magazine 36:20

1y ago36:20

36:20

Maria de Caldas Antão speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her poem “ My Freedom,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Maria talks about how a casual comment inspired this poem, which explores the idea of freedom, and what it might mean to be free: personally, politically, physically, philosophically. Maria also discusses how…

1
Does It Matter Who Brings In The Meat? ~ Katie Starkweather 48:44

1y ago48:44

48:44

How do hunter-gatherers live? Do they wage war? Are they egalitarian? Do they really work for less? These are fascinating questions. I’ve tried my best at covering them on the show. (You can see a list of episodes below). But since 2023, the most controversial question has been on the role of women. Is it true that men hunt and women gather? Or is …

1
A. J. Rodriguez, "Papel Picado," The Common Magazine (2024) 45:45

1y ago45:45

45:45

A. J. Rodriguez speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Papel Picado,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. A.J. talks about the process of writing and revising this story, which explores a fraught moment in the life of a Latino high schooler struggling under the pressures of family, friendship, and expectation in Albuq…

1
Why Agriculture? Climate Change and the Origins of Farming ~ Andrea Matranga 58:22

1y ago58:22

58:22

Agriculture changed everything. Traditionally, this “Neolithic Revolution” was celebrated for opening the gates of civilisation. Recently, it has been compared to the original sin. But whatever our take on agriculture, we should be puzzled by one thing: Why did our ancestors start to farm in the first place? It's not like early farmers had improved…

1
What Can Moral Dilemmas Tell Us About Ourselves? ~ Peter Railton 1:11:39

1y ago1:11:39

1:11:39

You are driving a car. The brakes stop working. To your horror, you are approaching a busy street market. Many people might be killed if you run into them. The only way to prevent a catastrophe is by turning fast to the right. Unfortunately, a lonely pedestrian might be killed if you do so. Should you turn? Many people say you should. After all, ki…

1
The Birth of Modern Prosperity, Part IV: Grasping Towards Equality (with Branko Milanovic) 36:26

1+ y ago36:26

36:26

The Industrial Revolution played in the hands of the rich. A century after James Watt revealed his steam engine in 1776, the richest 1% owned a whopping 70% of British wealth. Then things changed. Across rich countries, inequality plummeted for decades. Join Branko Milanovic on this quest to understand the evolution of inequality during the buildin…

1
The Birth of Modern Prosperity, Part III: Power to the People (with Daron Acemoglu) 36:09

1+ y ago36:09

36:09

The Industrial Revolution did not create modern prosperity. Indeed, the British workers saw little or no improvements in their wages between 1750 and 1850. They did, however, experience ever-worsening working conditions. Then things changed. Britain became a democracy. And with democracy, the economy changed, too. Or so argues Daron Acemoglu, one o…

1
The Birth of Modern Prosperity, Part II: Laboratories of the New Era (with Brad DeLong) 35:25

1+ y ago35:25

35:25

For millenia, patriarchy, population growth, and extractive elites made the world a bleak place for most humans. But there are good news, too: everything changed around 1870. And the changed happened due to the taming of the genius of people like Nikolai Tesla. So runs the argument my guest today, Brad DeLong. I will let him explain it to you. You …

1
Mayada Ibrahim (trans.), “Symphony of the South," The Common magazine (2024) 25:51

1+ y ago25:51

25:51

Mayada Ibrahim speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her translation of “Symphony of the South,” a short story by Tahir Annour that appears in The Common’s most recent issue, in a portfolio of writing in Arabic from Chad, South Sudan, and Eritrea. Mayada talks about the process of translating this piece, including working with the author an…

1
The Birth of Modern Prosperity, Part I: The Shape of the Story (with Oded Galor) 29:39

1+ y ago29:39

29:39

We live longer and grow taller than ever before. We are healthier and wealthier. Our ancestors could hardly have imagined a life of such prosperity. A future archaeologist would be equally puzzled. How did we become so rich so fast? What changes could have been so dramatic as to literally change the height of our species? Our modern prosperity is n…

1
Mothers, Fathers, And The Many Myths We Have Held ~ Sarah Blaffer Hrdy 59:12

1+ y ago59:12

59:12

Over half a century, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy has challenged many of our myths about parenting, attachment, and "human nature". In this conversation, we dive into her remarkable career, culminating in her new book, Father Time. [You can now order Father Time via Amazon or Princeton Uni Press] We discuss a variety of topics, from hunter-gatherer parenting…