The Story of Stories

Pain feels like a simple message from the body. If your elbow hurts, there must be something wrong with your elbow. If your back is painfully stiff, you need some work done on your back. But psychologist Rachel Zoffness says our minds play a much larger role in our experience of ...  Show more

As we move through the world, it's easy to imagine we're processing everything that happens around us and then deciding how to respond. But psychologist and neuroscientist Norman Farb says our brains actually navigate the world by coming up with mental maps. These maps act like a ...  Show more

How close can words get you to the truth and feel and force of life? That's the question poking at our ribs this hour, as we wonder how it is that the right words can have the wrong meanings, and why sometimes the best translations lead us to an understanding that's way deeper ...

What is thirst? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind series, Robert and Joe dive into the biological, cultural and mythological answers to this broad question. (originally published 02/01/2022)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether the mass of scientific understanding and knowledge we have accumulated has destroyed our sense of poetic wonder at the world. Has our sense of awe at how the world works obscured our desire to know why it works the way it does? With Richard ...  Show more

Humans are amazing storytellers. It allows us to connect with each other, entertain each other and empathize with each other. But problems arise when the stories that we create in our minds grow beyond our current reality. Today, look out for times when thoughts are spinning out ...  Show more