597. Why Do Your Eyeglasses Cost $1,000?

In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn’t able to. (Part three of a three-part series originally published in 2024.) SOURCES: Alan Alda, actor and screenwriter. Barbara ...  Show more

What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series originally published in 2024 ...  Show more

When were glasses invented? What happened back then if your horse stepped on them? How is the digital age changing adults’ and kids’ vision? The first half of this special bonus episode about Optical Technology features the charmingly hilarious director of the Museum of the Ey ...

Do you see yourself the same way others see you? What’s the difference between self-perception and self-awareness? And why do Mike and Angela both hate fishing?

Does a surplus of information create a shortage of attention? Are today’s young people really unable to focus? And do goldfish need better PR? 

Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg is Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology and Director of the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University, a leading scientist in the development and degeneration of the visual system from eye to brain, and a practicing ophthalmologist and su ...