Reason, numbers and Mr Spock

Can it really be true that every shuffle of a deck of cards is unique? Mathematician and stand-up comedian Matt Parker claims that every time you do a shuffle, the cards have never been in that order before. But how can he be so confident? Matt came into the studio armed with a d ...  Show more

What's this, an extra podcast? Has Christmas come early? No, the Bayeux Tapestry has instead returned to England for the first time in almost 1000 years.To mark the occasion, we've compiled six snack-sized stats all about the Norman invasion of England to help you have something ...  Show more

Julia Galef (@juliagalef) is the host of the Rationally Speaking podcast, co-founder of The Center for Applied Rationality, and author of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't. What We Discuss with Julia Galef: How to spot bad arguments and faulty ...  Show more

Claudia Hammond meets cognitive scientist and author Steven Pinker. He describes the times we are living in as a pandemic of poppycock and has advice on how to be more rational. 

We tend to think we’re smart, rational beings, making good choices based on clear information. In truth, we’re anything but. We are pretty much walking, talking bundles of delusion and bias, much of it utterly hidden from our consciousness, by no one other than our subconsciou ...

Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist at MIT, discusses his book The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results. Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.