Episode's summary
“If only I could talk with them again.” It’s a common refrain for anyone who is grieving someone they love. Now, we can access technology like deadbots, or AI replicas of a lost loved one, to simulate those conversations, but at what cost? Maybe we’ve always had the capacity — within our own voices — to deepen conversations with the people we’re missing, even after they’re gone. GUESTS: University of Cambridge assistant professors Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska and Tomasz Hollanek, writer and psycholinguist Julie Sedivy. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help. Text CRISIS to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling, or you can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us!…
“If only I could talk with them again.” It’s a common refrain for anyone who is grieving someone they love. Now, we can access technology like deadbots, or AI replicas of a lost loved one, to simulate those conversations, but at what cost? Maybe we’ve always had the capacity — within our own voices — to deepen conversations with the people we’re missing, even after they’re gone. GUESTS: University of Cambridge assistant professors Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska and Tomasz Hollanek, writer and psycholinguist Julie Sedivy. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help. Text CRISIS to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling, or you can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us!…
Episodes
Talking with the dead
Listened“If only I could talk with them again.” It’s a common refrain for anyone who is grieving someone they love. Now, we can access technology like deadbots, or AI replicas of a lost loved one, to simulate those conversations, but at what cost? Maybe we’ve always had the capacity — within our own voices — to deepen conversations with the people we’re missing, even after they’re gone. GUESTS: University of Cambridge assistant professors Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska and Tomasz Hollanek, writer and psycholinguist Julie Sedivy. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help. Text CRISIS to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling, or you can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us!…
What’s cooler than being cool?
ListenedThe future of quantum computing depends on getting way colder than ice cold — down to some of the coldest temperatures in the universe. The quest to build these super refrigerators takes us to nuclear bomb stockpiles, the moon, and … Party City? Guest: Zack Savitsky, science journalist, author of Cold Rush To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix! For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.comWe read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How does music move us? (feat. Sylvan Esso's Amelia Meath)
ListenedMusic can give us goosebumps. It can make us cry. It can make us move. How? Guests: Amelia Meath, songwriter and singer in Sylvan Esso; Elizabeth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University and author of On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.comWe read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/membersThank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What color is a tennis ball?
ListenedIs it yellow? Is it green? Or what if, as one scientist argues, “there’s no such thing as a color?” Guest: Bevil Conway, visual artist and neuroscientist at the National Eye Institute To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix! For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The bodies buried in the bog
ListenedWhen things fall into bogs, they sometimes wind up being beautifully preserved. This includes bodies, sometimes dating back thousands of years. We’re still trying to understand who was buried in the bogs and why. Guest: Anna North, journalist and author of Bog Queen To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix! For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices