Selects: What Is Collective Hysteria?

To call beans and rice a staple is to undersell the importance of beans and rice. Today we break down the ubiquity of this beloved food combo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

No food is more all-American than peanut butter – 80 percent of homes in the country have a jar of it in the pantry right now. And while the rest of the world might find peanut butter peculiar, maybe even gross, the rest of the world is wrong. Enjoy a smooth ride through one of o ...  Show more

Nuns meowing like cats. School girls laughing uncontrollably. People dancing in the streets until they die from exhaustion. Cristen and Caroline dig into the fascinating history of mass hysterias, why some think it's on the rise today and how it seems to affect more girls and ...

Throughout time and across cultures, orgasms in women have been the source of confusion, fear and fascination. Anney and Samantha pull back the curtain on the science of women's orgasms, the whys of faking, and (mis)perceptions around them, doing some myth-busting along the wa ...

Can a psychological illness become contagious? Many experts believe that in rare cases a phenomenon known as a "mass psychogenic illness" can break out in a population. Can this strange quirk of group psychology help us understand the Salem Witch Crisis of 1692? The community had ...  Show more

What exactly is a sociopath, and why are women with antisocial personality disorder rare? In this classic episode, Cristen and Caroline confront the clinical realities of sociopathy and why it's become pop culture's favorite character flaw.