Science

Science

episodes

Interviews with scientists about their new books.

Mitra Sharafi, "Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 25, 2026

Fear of the False

Mitra Sharafi
Hosted by Saumya Dadoo

Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia (Cornell University Press, 2026) uncovers colonial South Asia's critic…

Georgia Holly et al, .eds., "Heritage in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and Beyond"  (U Edinburgh Press, 2025)

July 18, 2026

Heritage in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and Beyond

Georgia Holly, Jon Henderson, Arturo Rey da Silva, Annie Edwards, Hannah Cocks, and Athena Trakadas
Hosted by Helen Dewar

Heritage in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and Beyond (U Edinburgh Press, 2025) outlines the need to embed Oce…

Philippa Gander, "Life in Sync: The Science of Internal Clocks and How We’re Disrupting Them" (Princeton UP, 2025)

July 13, 2026

Life in Sync

Philippa Gander
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

All of life is profoundly shaped by the daily, monthly, and yearly cycles of our planet, and all creatures have internal timekeeping systems that rely…

Kit Chapman, "The Age of Alchemy: How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry" (Profile Books, 2026)

July 9, 2026

The Age of Alchemy

Kit Chapman
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

The first chemists were Sri Lankan forgers who crafted unimaginably strong steel millennia before it should have been possible. They were alchemists i…

Audio and Ideas Panel #3

July 3, 2026

Audio and Ideas Panel #3

Allison Carruth and Ellen Horne

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton’s Center for Human Values hosted a d…

Ijeoma Uchegbu, "Chain Reaction: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World" (HarperCollins, 2026)

June 28, 2026

Chain Reaction

Ijeoma Uchegbu
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

By one of the world's leading chemists, an entertaining and revealing tour of the chemical bonds that shape our everyday lives and provide the infrast…

Pedro Domingos, "The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World" (Basic Books, 2018)

May 30, 2026

The Master Algorithm

Pedro Domingos
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge …

Janani Balasubramanian and Natalie Gosnell, "Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration" (U California Press, 2026)

May 30, 2026

Art-Science Undisciplined

Janani Balasubramanian and Natalie Gosnell
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Art-Science Undisciplined invites us into a collaborative journey grounded in mutual exploration and transformation. Moving beyond transactional excha…

Yosef Grodzinsky, "How Deeply Human Is Language?: Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy" (MIT Press, 2026)

May 24, 2026

How Deeply Human Is Language?

Yosef Grodzinsky
Hosted by Mariam Olugbodi

How Deeply Human Is Language? Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy (MIT Press, 2026) is Yosef Grodzinsky’s exploration of the criticality of the lin…

Samuel Markind, "Music Between Your Ears: How Musical Engagement Powers the Human Brain" (JHU Press, 2025)

May 24, 2026

Music Between Your Ears

Samuel Markind
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

Explores the profound power of music to influence brain function and well-being. IPA 2026 Distinguished Favorite in the Music Category Why does musi…

Richard Elwes, "Huge Numbers: A Story of Counting Ambitiously, from 4 1/2 to Fish 7" (Basic Books, 2026)

May 22, 2026

Huge Numbers

Richard Elwes
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

What if, every time you wanted to write down 1,000,000, you had to draw a picture of a god? And what if that number were the biggest you had a symbol …

Sumana Roy, "Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 19, 2026

Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal

Sumana Roy
Hosted by Arnab Dutta Roy

Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal (Oxford UP, 2024) by Sumana Roy takes an unexpected cast of writers and artists and, in studying their work…

Rina Bliss, "What's Real About Race: Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society" (W.W. Norton, 2025)

May 13, 2026

What's Real about Race?

Rina Bliss
Hosted by Grace Smith

Professor Rina Bliss teaches in the sociology department at Rutgers University, and has written on the social significance of genetic studies on intel…

Antony Valentini, "Beyond the Quantum: A Quest for the Origin and Hidden Meaning of Quantum Mechanics" (Oxford UP, 2026)

May 5, 2026

Beyond the Quantum

Antony Valentini
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

Based on decades of research, Beyond the Quantum: A Quest for the Origin and Hidden Meaning of Quantum Mechanics (Oxford UP, 2026) offers a panoramic …

Scott Solomon, "Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds" (MIT Press, 2026)

April 30, 2026

Becoming Martian

Scott Solomon
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

How living in space will affect future generations—and what the potential unintended consequences of space settlements are.We are on the cusp of a gol…

Raffaele Danna, "The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals: How Practical Arithmetic Shaped Commerce and Mathematics in Western Europe, 1200–1600" (Harvard UP, 2026)

April 28, 2026

The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals

Raffaele Danna
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, commerce transformed as merchants shifted from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals—an alternative that better facil…

Masud Husain, "Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain" (Canongate, 2025)

April 22, 2026

Our Brains, Our Selves

Masud Husain
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

What makes us who we are?Through the stories of seven of his patients, acclaimed Oxford University neurologist Masud Husain shows us how our brains cr…

David Blumenthal and James A. Morone, "Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science" (Yale UP, 2026)

April 21, 2026

Whiplash

David Blumenthal and James A. Morone
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For nearly a century, every Democratic president—and many Republicans—entered office promising to restructure America’s health care system. Barack Oba…

Adrian Woolfson, "On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2026)

April 20, 2026

On the Future of Species

Adrian Woolfson
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

Imagine a future where we grow houses rather than build them. Where smartphones are alive, clothing has opinions and all human knowledge fits into a s…

Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)

April 15, 2026

Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact

Keith Cooper
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a double sunset on Tatooine, stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis or gaze at the gas-giant plan…