Eyes Wide Open: Part 1

From childhood, we're taught that honesty is the best policy. Yet in everyday life, we hedge, soften our words, and leave things unsaid. This week, we talk with psychologist Steven Pinker about why indirect speech is such a fundamental part of human relationships. How long can yo ...  Show more

Think about the last time a piece of music stopped you in your tracks, or a novel kept you up late at night. Why do these experiences feel so powerful? Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt says engagement with the arts can help to regulate our emotions, build resilience, and support lo ...  Show more

No sleep tonight! 17-year-old Randy Gardner stayed awake for days on end, in what started as an experiment to see if sleep deprivation could induce paranormal abilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 

Put down the bowl of... what IS that... there's no world record for eating the most chicken feet, and you fell asleep three hours after setting out to break the world's record of staying awake the longest. Plus it's seriously time to throw away that storage unit fu ...

Guy Raz is making a schedule for the perfect slumber, and while Mindy might find his color-coded snoozing chart unusual, it's not half as unusual as the sleeping habits of some animals. On this round of Two Whats?! And A Wow!, we challenge you to separate the fact from fiction on ...  Show more

Dr. Adrian Owen, a renowned neuroscientist, discovered that individuals in a persistent coma could still communicate- and he went one step further and listened to what they wanted to say. He’s also performed the largest sleep and cognition study in the world, and demonstrated why ...  Show more