Big Brains

Can you imagine a world in which a wearable device, like a smartwatch, could move your fingers to strum the guitar or play the drums? That kind of technology is part of the innovative research coming out of the Human-Computer Integration Lab at the University of Chicago, led by renowned computer scientist Pedro Lopes. His lab is developing a new generation of gadgets that use haptics (or tactile sensations like the buzz of your sma...

More and more women in the United States are saying no to motherhood. In 2023, the U.S. fertility rate reached the lowest number on record. But the idea of non-motherhood is actually not a new phenomenon, nor did it come out of the modern feminist movement. For centuries, women have made choices about limiting births and whether or not to become mothers at all. This history is documented in a new book, "Without Children: The Long H...

What does it mean to see beneath the surface — of the human body, the brain, or even the universe itself? In his new book, The Future of Seeing: How Imaging Is Changing Our World, Prof. Daniel Sodickson of NYU explores the future of imaging: How technology is transforming not just medicine, but our very ways of perceiving the world. With the rise of AI-driven “digital vision,” Sodickson, a pioneer of MRI innovation, argues that ima...

Few ideas have gripped the public imagination quite like the idea of the “psychopath.” From Hollywood thrillers to true-crime podcasts, popular culture has led us to believe that psychopaths are dangerous and biologically distinct from the rest of us. But what if almost everything we think we know about them is wrong?

In this episode, we talk with Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen, an Assistant Professor of Forensic Epistemology at the Univer...

For decades, neuroscience has promised breakthroughs in treating conditions like depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s. Yet despite powerful technologies and billions invested, progress has been frustratingly slow. Why?

On this episode of Big Brains, we talk with Nicole Rust, neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Elusive Cures. Rust argues that the traditional “domino” view of the brain—where one broken...

Billions of years ago, Mars may have looked less like the barren red desert we know today and more like Earth—with a blue sky, flowing rivers, and even seas. What happened to turn a once-habitable world into the frozen, lifeless planet we see now?

On this episode of Big Brains, University of Chicago geophysical scientist Edwin Kite takes us on a journey through Mars’ hidden past. From evidence of a lost carbon cycle to theories abou...

We’re living in an attention economy—and most of us are broke. But what if the secret to restoring your focus, improving your mental health, and even reducing crime rates wasn’t found in an app or a pill, but in a tree?

In this episode, we speak with University of Chicago psychologist Marc Berman, whose research on “soft fascination” and nature’s cognitive effects is reshaping how we think about everything from urban planning to dep...

We’ve long marveled at how efficiently plants convert sunlight into energy—but no one guessed they were using quantum mechanics to do it.

In this episode, we speak with Greg Engel, a pioneering biophysicist at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry who helped launch the field of quantum biology. Engel explains how plants and bacteria evolved to exploit quantum effects for photosynthesis...

You’ve heard of plastic polluting oceans. But what if it’s polluting you—your brain, your reproductive system, even your unborn children?

In this eye-opening episode, we speak with Prof. Matthew Campen, a scientist at the University of New Mexico, whose latest studies have uncovered evidence of microplastics in placentas, reproductive organs and brains of humans—particularly in the frontal cortex, where decision-making and personali...

Hello listeners…we're re-releasing one of our favorite Big Brains episodes—an incredibly insightful conversation with psychologist Adam Alter. If you've ever felt stuck in your life or career, this episode offers practical strategies and surprising science to help you move forward.

From why your best ideas might come after you feel like giving up, to what Netflix can teach us about breaking through inertia, this episode is packed w...

One of the benefits of producing this podcast at the University of Chicago is that there are often events on campus that bring in not just one Big Brain, but many in order to find answers to the some of the most complex problems of our time. I recently had the pleasure of hosting one such event on artificial intelligence that we want to share with you today. It was part of the Graham School’s Leadership & Society Initiative Symposi...

For a more than a century, the Food and Drug Administration has worked to protect public health. In his research, Harvard University physician-researcher Jerry Avorn has examined how the FDA’s once-rigorous gold standard approval process has been affected by a powerful shortcut known as the Accelerated Approval Program—originally designed for desperate AIDS and cancer patients. He says that change in the 1990s has allowed more than...

Prof. James Evans, a University of Chicago sociologist and data scientist, believes we’re training AI to think too much like humans—and it’s holding science back.

In this episode, Evans shares how our current models risk narrowing scientific exploration rather than expanding it, and explains why he’s pushing for AIs that think differently from us—what he calls “cognitive aliens.” Could these “alien minds” help us unlock hidden break...

When someone we know or love starts to develop psychological issues, we don't often associate it with a form of dementia. However, this trait is one of the most common signs of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) — the most common neurodegenerative disease in people under the age of 65. In his new book, Mysteries of the Social Brain: Understanding Human Behavior Through Science, Dr. Bruce Miller highlights his experiences observing peopl...

The search for life beyond Earth is no longer science fiction—it takes a lot of data, powerful telescopes and a bit of cosmic detective work. And at the center of this search is University of Chicago astrophysicist Jacob Bean. Bean was part of the team that made history by detecting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a distant planet using the James Webb Space Telescope—a major step forward in our ability to study exoplanets.

Bean ...

Despite decades of policy ideas, pouring millions of dollars into the problem, and a slow pace of gun control measures, the United States hasn’t made much progress on curbing the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

For the past 25 years, Prof. Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago has examined the questions of: Why does gun violence happen, and is there anything we can do about it?

In his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Un...

What if a single number, derived from your DNA, could predict your income, education level or even who you're likely to marry? In his new book “The Social Genome,” Princeton University sociologist Dalton Conley explores the science behind how our genes are shaping our society in ways that are both profound and unsettling.

Conley explains how our genes, and the genes of those around us, are influencing our lives in ways we barely und...

When we lose someone, we love, we often say we have a broken heart—but what if that’s not just a metaphor?

In her new book “The Grieving Body: How The Stress of Loss Can Be An Opportunity For Healing” University of Arizona Professor of Psychology Mary Frances O’Connor shares groundbreaking insights into the biological and physiological impacts grief has on our bodies. O’Connor reveals how profound loss can lead to serious medical co...

New federal data paints a stark picture: American children are falling behind in reading and test scores, with the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged kids growing wider. But is this really just a problem of money? University of Chicago Developmental psychologist Ariel Kalil has spent her career studying how parents influence childhood development—not just through resources, but through daily habits and interactions.

On this ep...