Why? with Emma Kennedy

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. The rules around sex are changing: what was once considered taboo is becoming the norm – and even The Guardian is dishing out kinky tips to their readers. Why are we now more honest about our sexual desires than ever before? Why are so many of us willing to engage in these non-traditional desires?  Emma Kennedy talks to psychosexual therapist Dr Kate Moyle, author of The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780241593295], to find out just why swingers swing? • Buy Kate’s book The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780241593295] through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission from every sale. Bookshop.org [https://uk.bookshop.org/]’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/why_thepodcast] | ⁠X⁠ [https://twitter.com/why_thepodcast] | ⁠Threads⁠ [https://www.threads.net/@why_thepodcast?hl=en] | ⁠Bluesky⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/whypodcast.bsky.social] WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io [https://artlist.io/]. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

There’s a new series of WHY? coming very soon… but in the meantime, try a bite-sized sample of our brand new CRIME SCENE. Every week ex-Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and former Mirror editor Alison Phillips lift the lid on how criminal investigations really work. In our debut episode: The horrific shooting of an innocent nine-year-old girl in Dalston in 2024 laid bare bitter rivalries between London’s armed gangs. Are police they fighting a losing battle against guns in the Capital? Want to know more? Hear the full show [https://linktr.ee/crimescenepodcast] and subscribe tp CRIME SCENE for new episodes every Thursday. Presented by Bernard Hogan-Howe and Alison Phillips. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Music by Simon Williams. Produced by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis and Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Executive Producer: Martin Bojtos. Thanks to Helen Purvis at Knight Ayton Management. CRIME SCENE is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk [https://www.podmasters.co.uk/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Phobias are the most common anxiety disorder in the world. We’re very familiar with the likes of arachnophobia and claustrophobia, but some people suffer from more unconventional, even bizarre fears – say, a terror of buttons or even spoons. Where do they come from? What do they mean? And can they be treated?  Emma Kennedy talks to Joseph E. LeDoux, Professor of Neuroscience at NYU, and clinical psychologist Dr Ali Mattu who has treated anxiety disorders in New York’s top hospitals.  • Buy Joseph E. LeDoux’s Anxious: The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9781780747675] through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org [http://bookshop.org/]’s fees help support independent bookshops too.  • Check out Ali Mattu’s YouTube channel here [https://youtube.com/@drali?si=fQW1cGRXbopwHdHt].   WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io [http://artlist.io/]. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.    Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/why_thepodcast] | X [https://twitter.com/why_thepodcast] | Threads [https://www.threads.net/@why_thepodcast?hl=en] | Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/whypodcast.bsky.social]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The concept of eternal life is a long-standing fantasy in science fiction, but will it ever be possible to upload our consciousness to an external host –  or even a robot? Will there be a day when we can upload the very essence of our being, the things that make us human, into some kind of machine? And if we could, what would it do to our humanity?  To find out, Emma Kennedy is joined by Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at the City University of New York, Queens College.   Buy Anil Seth’s Being You: A New Science of Consciousness [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780571337729] and Douglas Rushkoff’s Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9781915590244] through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org [http://bookshop.org/]’s fees help support independent bookshops too.    WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io [http://artlist.io/]. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.    Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/why_thepodcast] | X [https://twitter.com/why_thepodcast] | Threads [https://www.threads.net/@why_thepodcast?hl=en] | Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/whypodcast.bsky.social]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Space is fundamentally quite weird, and seldom as weird as the thousands of “exoplanets” that – we’ve fairly recently discovered – exist outside of our solar system. We’re all familiar with the likes of Tatooine from Star Wars and Krypton from Superman, but what are the REAL exoplanets like? And how do filmmakers turn these planets from figments of imagination into something immersive that look and feel real to audiences?    To find out, Emma Kennedy talks to Lisa Kaltenegger, world-leading astronomer and author of Alien Earths: The Search for Life in the Cosmos [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780241680988] and Paul Franklin, Oscar-winning Visual FX Supervisor and co-founder of the digital effects company DNEG [https://www.dneg.com/].     Buy Lisa Kaltenegger’s Alien Earths: The Search for Life in the Cosmos [https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9780241680988] through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org [http://bookshop.org/]’s fees help support independent bookshops too.    WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io [http://artlist.io/]. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.    Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/why_thepodcast] | X [https://twitter.com/why_thepodcast] | Threads [https://www.threads.net/@why_thepodcast?hl=en] | Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/whypodcast.bsky.social]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]