312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs
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 microscope (1670s) to Louis Pasteur's work on pasteurization and vaccination (1860's)? Thomas Levenson is the author of a new book exploring this fascinating history: So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs--and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/21/episode-312-thomas-levenson-on-the-mutual-history-of-humans-and-germs/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Thomas Levenson received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Science Writing and director of the graduate program in science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous books and has written and produced a number of science documentaries for television.Web siteMIT web pageWikipediaAmazon author pageBlueskySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental
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 brain, Annaka Harris and others argue that consciousness could be the fundamental stuff from which matter arises. She talks with a variety of experts in her new audio series, Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe.Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/14/311-annaka-harris-on-whether-consciousness-is-fundamental/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Annaka Harris received a BFA from New York University. She is the author of Consciousness: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind. She is a co-founder of Project Reason.Web siteWikipediaAmazon author pageSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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AMA | April 2025
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 questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/07/ama-april-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.A couple of links relevant to the intro:Tariff formula (Snopes)Tufts student nabbed by ICE (plus video)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies
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 its "natural" value, and it seems fine-tuned for it to be so small but not yet zero. Once burned, twice shy, and since then we have been looking for evidence that the dark energy might not be strictly constant, even though that's even more fine-tuned. We talk to cosmologist Marc Kamionkowski about recent evidence that dark energy might be changing with time, and what this might have to do with the Hubble tension and other cosmic anomalies.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/31/310-marc-kamionkowski-on-dark-energy-and-cosmic-anomalies/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Marc Kamionkowski received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. Among his prizes are the Gruber Cosmology Prize, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, membership in the National Academy of Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.Johns Hopkins web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaKamionkowski and Riess, "The Hubble Tension and Early Dark Energy"Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument paper and followupDark Energy Survey paperSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information
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 consciousness is and why it happens. Today's guest, Christof Koch, is a leader in the search for neural correlates and an advocate of a particular approach to consciousness, Integrated Information Theory.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/24/309-christof-koch-on-consciousness-and-integrated-information/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Christof Koch was awarded a Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. He is currently a Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where he was formerly president and chief scientist, and Chief Scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is the author of several books, most recently Then I Am Myself the World - What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It.Web siteAllen Center web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsAmazon author pageWikipediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
About Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you’ve come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and television producers, Sean and his guests talk about the biggest ideas in science, philosophy, culture and much more.
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