Why We Do What We Do

Ectoplasm: Ghost Goo

What happens when you regurgitate items out of your esophagus for a magic trick? A lot of digestive juices on the stuff you just regurgitated. But, if you don't want your audience to know, you might tell them that it goo left over from a ghost! In...

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Mini: Traditions of Samhain

We did an episode about the history of halloween a while back. This mini explores more of the myths, legends, ideas, and traditions of the tradition that eventually became Halloween. This is all about the traditions of Samhain (no mention of St....

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Ghost Ships

We are kicking off this spooky season with a discussion about the spectres of the ocean: ghost ships! We tell a few of the both lesser and more well-known stories of ghost ships. We also talk about why they happen and how they influence our behavior....

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Mini: Centralia

We are kicking off this year's spooky seasons mini with a brief history of the town on fire. This is a real place in the United States that has become unlivable since the town accidentally set a gigantic, subterranean coal reserve. This inspired the...

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Happiness

One of the most enduring values, mottos, or goals is the pursuit of happiness. We strive for it implicitly or explicitly for much of our lives. So, what is happiness? How do we achieve it? Why can't you just be happy? Because it depends :D ...

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Mini: This is the End-ish

An important announce and brief explanation.

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How to Lie With Math

The title maybe a little misleading. This is about how we delude ourselves into adopting information as factual becuase it is presented using real math. Math is extremely important and valuable and a necessity for most sciences. However, like any...

Mini: Do We Need Privacy?

We have many mechanisms in place to protect our privacy. Some people care less about this and some people have taken this to tremendous extremes. Of course, many want unambiguous rules about privacy, but there is a lot of room for nuance. So, we ask...

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Writer's Block

Creating content can be very effortful. Particularly when that creating entails a lot of writing. And in pursuit of that endeavor, writers sometimes find themselves stuck and unable to produce ideas to further their writing task. What is going on...

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Mini: Snake Oil

We use the term snake oil to refer any fradulant product, service, or claim that is not what it says it is and lies or misconstrues what it does. You might already know that this comes from a real product that had those exact qualities. You might not...

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Diagnoses: More Harm Than Good? With Dr. Stu Law pt. 3

This is the final discussion in which we "break our silence" as the click-bait headlines like to call it, on our final thoughts about diagnoses and why we believe that they have caused more harm than good. Due to the nature of separating an entire...

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Mini: Life Expectancy

How we understand, talk about, and think about life expectancy is sometimes misunderstood by some flukes of math. Understanding how numbers work can illuminate a clearer picture of history and mortality. Long story short, (or short story shorter, this...

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Diagnoses: More Harm Than Good? With Dr. Stu Law pt. 2

This continues our discussion with Dr. Stu Law. We further elaborate on the issues with a diagnostic system for mental health and what the pitfalls are, including faulty underlying assumptions. After recording, we had enough content in this discussion...

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Mini: Talking With Myself

You've probably noticed people talking to themselves and had some thought or comment about that. Perhaps something along the lines of: "That person might be crazy." Well, turns out it is much more normal than you might think. What do you talk to...

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Diagnoses: More Harm Than Good? With Dr. Stu Law pt. 1

Diagnosing mental health has dramatically shaped how we think about and appraoch our thinking and treatment of mental health conditions. In some ways, this effect has had a profoundly helpful impact for many people. However, in many ways, this system...

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Mini: No Homework

There have been some advocates to reduce or eliminate homework altogether. It begs the question of what is the purpose of homework anyway? What would we lose by eliminating it? What do we gain by keeping it. We briefly explore the science and...

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Functional Analysis pt. 4

In the fourth and final installment of our series on Functional Analyses, we finally discuss some of the controversies and disagreements among practitioners. We also offer our own hot takes and personal opinions to bring further nuance, critique, and...

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Mini: The Weirdest Thing We Believe

In a totally unscripted, candid conversation, we ask one another: what is the weirdest thing you believe? It's a conversation bound to leave you a little surprised, confused, and maybe disappointed. Or maybe thinking about things a little differntly....

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Functional Analysis pt. 3

This is the third installment in what will turn out to be a four-part series on the functional anlaysis technology employed by behavior analysts to identify casues and motivations for challenging behavior, particularly among those with disabilities...

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Midlife Crisis

Are you already skeptical? Do you think you know? Are you a true believer? We take a scientific lens to the idea of the midlife crisis. Consider that this might be cultural, which would indicate that it is not inevitable or inherent. This further...

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