Unexplainable

Lost on the road to enlightenment

So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark side. What’s going on? Guests: Willoughby Britton [https://vivo.brown.edu/display/wbritton], associate professor at Brown University; Richard Davidson [https://www.psychiatry.wisc.edu/staff/davidson-richard/], professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Pierce Salguero [https://www.abington.psu.edu/person/pierce-salguero], professor at the Abington College of Pennsylvania State University This episode was made in partnership with Vox’s ⁠Future Perfect⁠ [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect] team. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠vox.com/members⁠ [http://vox.com/members]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Is animal grief real?

A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies. These behaviors in animals may look like human mourning, but should scientists call them "grief"? (First published in 2023) Guests: Jennifer Vonk [https://www.oakland.edu/psychology/faculty-and-staff/vonk/], comparative/cognitive psychologist at Oakland University; Jessica Pierce [https://www.jessicapierce.net/], bioethicist and author of several books [https://www.jessicapierce.net/books] about animals; Susana Monsó [https://susanamonso.com/acerca-de], animal ethicist and a philosopher and author of Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691260761/playing-possum] For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠vox.com/members⁠ [http://vox.com/members]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Sound Barrier #4: Listen to the universe

When Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to listen to space instead. Wanda is one of several pioneering scientists listening to space. For this episode, we also spoke to Robert Wilson, who used sound to help him discover the first direct evidence of the Big Bang, and Kim Arcand, who plays us what the center of the Milky Way sounds like. This is the fourth episode in our of our new four-part series, ⁠⁠The Sound Barrier⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/podcasts/467048/unexplainable-hearing-audio-podcast-brain]. Guests: ⁠Wanda Diáz-Merced⁠ [https://www.ted.com/talks/wanda_diaz_merced_how_a_blind_astronomer_found_a_way_to_hear_the_stars], astronomer; ⁠Robert Wilson⁠ [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/wilson/biographical/], Nobel laureate and senior scientist at at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; ⁠Kim Arcand⁠ [https://www.kimarcand.com/about], emerging tech lead at NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory You can find Kim’s sonification of the center of the Milky Way (with visuals) here: ⁠https://chandra.si.edu/sound/gcenter.html⁠ [https://chandra.si.edu/sound/gcenter.html]  For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠vox.com/members⁠ [http://vox.com/members]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Sound Barrier #3: What does silence sound like?

A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes. Almost half of them decided to give themselves a painful electric shock instead. What is it about our brains that makes our relationship with silence so strange? And should we learn how to listen to it? This is the third episode of our new four-part series, ⁠The Sound Barrier⁠ [https://www.vox.com/podcasts/467048/unexplainable-hearing-audio-podcast-brain]. Guests: ⁠Erin Westgate⁠ [https://www.erinwestgate.com/erin-westgate.html], assistant professor at the University of Florida; ⁠Rui Zhe Goh⁠ [https://philpeople.org/profiles/rui-zhe-goh], doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University; ⁠Melody Baglione⁠ [https://cooper.edu/academics/people/melody-baglione], professor at Cooper Union For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠ [http://vox.com/members]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Sound Barrier #2: The noise that isn't there

Almost 15% of adults suffer from a persistent, often intolerable sound... that is literally just in their heads. Why does the brain do this to us? We help one of our listeners get some answers. This is the second episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier [https://www.vox.com/podcasts/467048/unexplainable-hearing-audio-podcast-brain]. Guests: Stéphane Maison [https://doctors.masseyeandear.org/details/66], director of the tinnitus clinic at Mass Eye and Ear; Susan Shore [https://medschool.umich.edu/profile/1367/susan-e-shore], professor emerita at the University of Michigan, and Dan Polley [https://oto.hms.harvard.edu/people/daniel-polley], tinnitus researcher at Mass Eye and Ear For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts] ⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠vox.com/members⁠ [http://vox.com/members]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]