Health & Science

Deep in the Arizona desert, there’s an enormous glass terrarium that houses a replica, in miniature, of the earth’s ecosystems. It’s called Biosphere 2.

MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini was working with a facial recognition software when she encountered a problem: The robot she was programming could not detect her own face, and she had to wear a white mask in order to finish the project.

It’s hard to get boys and young men to talk about sex and intimacy. But that’s just what Peggy Orenstein set out to do when researching her new book Boys & Sex.

It’s the New Year and, if you’re anything like us, you’re thinking about at least a couple of things you’d like to change in your day-to-day habits. Researcher Wendy Wood says change isn’t about willpower, but rather tapping into our unconscious selves. 

Are robots taking over the world? In her new book about artificial intelligence, Melanie Mitchell sets aside the hysterics around AI and asks us to think about it this way: What can artificial intelligence actually do well? And what can’t it do?

  For most of us, overwork is the new normal, and rest is an afterthought. But by dismissing the importance of rest in our lives we may be stifling our talents and abilities. This episode picked by producer Benjamin Bombard.

Biomechanist Katy Bowman and her family don't own couches or recliners or even chairs at the kitchen table. That’s so they have every possible opportunity for physical movement, which is a central idea of Bowman’s fitness philosophy. This episode picked by producer Benjamin Bombard.

  Chances are good you’re sitting down as you read these words. After hearing what Dr. James Levine has to say about the dangers of inactivity, you might find yourself standing a lot more. Listener survey

Since the 1950s, a war has been waged in America against an accused dietary culprit: fat. However, as the investigative journalist Nina Teicholz discovered, there isn’t solid evidence for the benefits of a low-fat diet, nor of the dangers of fat. This episode was picked by producer Benjamin Bombard.

A lot of people these days are wondering how they should eat, how they should exericse, how they should use their bodies. To answer those questions, it helps to toss in another one: What is the human body adapted for? Today's pick comes from producer Benjamin Bombard.