Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the future of opinion polls with Mark Pack

New Books Network
History of Science
On Religion May 23, 2022

Neuromatic

Or, a Particular History of Religion and the Brain

John Lardas Modern

Hosted by Alison Renna
In Neuromatic: Or, a Particular History of Religion and the Brain (U Chicago Press, 2021), religious studies scholar John Lardas Modern offers a sprawling examination of the history of the …

History of Science

Subscribe:

Interviews with historians of science about their new books.

Military History May 23, 2022

Maladies of Empire

How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine

Jim Downs

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Most stories of medical progress come with ready-made heroes. John Snow traced the origins of London's 1854 cholera outbreak to a water pump, leading to the birth of epidemiology. Florence …
Science May 19, 2022

The Joy of Science

Jim Al-Khalili

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
Today’s world is unpredictable and full of contradictions, and navigating its complexities while trying to make the best decisions is far from easy. The Joy of Science (Princeton UP, 2022) …
Sports May 19, 2022

Eugenics and Physical Culture Performance in the Progressive Era

Watch Whiteness Workout

Shannon L. Walsh

Hosted by Keith Rathbone
Today we are joined by Dr. Shannon Walsh, Associate Professor of Theatre History, and author of Eugenics and Physical Culture Performance in the Progressive Era: Watch Whiteness Workout (Palgrave MacMillan …
Medicine May 13, 2022

Difference and Disease

Medicine, Race, and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire

Suman Seth

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
Before the nineteenth century, travelers who left Britain for the Americas, West Africa, India and elsewhere encountered a medical conundrum: why did they fall ill when they arrived, and why …
Indian Religions May 12, 2022

Holy Science

The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism

Banu Subramaniam

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism (University of Washington Press, 2019), Banu Subramaniam examines how science and religion have come together to propel a vision of the modern Indian nation …
Anthropology May 11, 2022

Prophets and Ghosts

The Story of Salvage Anthropology

Samuel J. Redman

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology (Harvard UP, 2021) is a searching account of nineteenth-century salvage anthropology, an effort to preserve the culture of “vanishing” Indigenous peoples through …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast May 11, 2022

Covid and the Art of Science Communication

Pandemic Perspectives 10

John Tregoning

Hosted by Howard Burton
In this Pandemic Perspectives Podcast, Ideas Roadshow founder and host Howard Burton talks to John Tregoning, Imperial College respiratory infections researcher and author of the acclaimed book Infectious: Pathogens and …
High Theory May 9, 2022

Eugenics

A Discussion with Mercedes Trigos

Mercedes Trigos

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Kim talks with Mercedes Trigos about eugenics. Mercedes references Francis Galton, who coined the term, preimplantation genetic profiling, and the failures of our ordinary progress narratives. If you are interested …
Latin American Studies May 5, 2022

The Religion of Life

Eugenics, Race, and Catholicism in Chile

Sarah Walsh

Hosted by Claudia Monterroza Rivera
The Religion of Life: Eugenics, Race, and Catholicism in Chile (U Pittsburgh Press, 2021) examines the interconnections and relationship between Catholicism and eugenics in early twentieth-century Chile. Specifically, it demonstrates …
Education May 2, 2022

When Communication Became a Discipline

William F. Eadie

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
When Communication Became a Discipline (Lexington, 2021) argues that speech and journalism professors embraced the concept of communication between 1964 and 1982. They changed the names of their scholarly societies …
Science April 29, 2022

Carbon Queen

The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus

Maia Weinstock

Hosted by Ana Georgescu
Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus (MIT Press, 2022) follows Mildred Dresselhaus (or Millie, as everyone calls her) from her childhood in New York City to her …
Medicine April 28, 2022

Medicalizing Blackness

Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780-1840

Rana A. Hogarth

Hosted by Laura Stark
Medicine and slavery went hand-in-hand. But what was the nature of this vile partnership? In Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780-1840 (UNC Press, 2017), Rana Hogarth …
Political Science April 28, 2022

The Wives of Western Philosophy

Gender Politics in Intellectual Labor

Jennifer Forestal and Menaka Philips

Hosted by Lilly Goren
The Wives of Western Philosophy: Gender Politics in Intellectual Labor (Routledge, 2020) fills in a rather large hole in the understanding and the substance of the generation of knowledge. This …
Women's History April 28, 2022

Building the Population Bomb

Emily Klancher Merchant

Hosted by Nicole Bourbonnais
Across the twentieth century, Earth's human population increased undeniably quickly, rising from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to 6.1 billion in 2000. As population grew, it also began to take …
Psychology April 27, 2022

Deliberately Divided

Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart

Nancy L Segal

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte
A lot can be learned from scientific twin studies about the relative contributions of nature versus nurture to human experience. However, when such studies do lasting harm to its participants …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast April 27, 2022

Covid and the Embrace of the Biological World

Pandemic Perspectives 8

Patricia Churchland

Hosted by Howard Burton
In this Pandemic Perspectives Podcast, Ideas Roadshow founder and host Howard Burton talks to renowned UC San Diego neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland about the importance of communicating science, the wonders of …
Medicine April 20, 2022

First Patients

The Incredible True Stories of Pioneer Patients

Rod Tanchanco

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
When Dr. Rod Tanchanco, a busy internist and clinical researcher, began digging into old journals looking for a deeper history of renowned medical innovations, he wasn’t planning to write a …
Scholarly Communication April 13, 2022

The Science of Science

Dashun Wang and Albert-László Barabási

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Dashun Wang, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, and also with Albert-László Barabási, Robert Gray Dodge …
Critical Theory April 12, 2022

Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition

Retracing the Origins of Conflict

James C. Ungureanu

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
The story of the “conflict thesis” between science and religion—the notion of perennial conflict or warfare between the two—is part of our modern self-understanding. As the story goes, John William …