It’s one of the oldest and most vexing questions in science and philosophy: Do we have free will? In this episode of BookLab, we take a close look at two books by two scientists who have considered the question at length -- and have been led to

BookLab 033: The Book of Minds; The Darkness Manifesto; Existential Physics

Aug 3rd, 2023 1h 16m

The human mind is quite something. We can use it to reason; to envision past and future events; to ponder abstractions. But what other minds are out there? In Philip Ball’s The Book of Minds, we’re invited to explore the space of possible minds

BookLab 032: The One; Sounds Wild and Broken; What We Owe the Future

Feb 27th, 2023 1h 15m

The world around us seems incredibly diverse -- but what if beneath that diversity there was a unifying sameness? That’s the idea behind “monism” -- an ancient idea that physicist Heinrich Pas believes is due for a comeback. He explores the ide

BookLab 031: Reality+; Well, Doc, You’re In; and As Gods

Dec 16th, 2022 1h 9m

Virtual reality has taken off in recent years. But what if the virtual worlds of VR are real -- just as real, perhaps, as the physical world we see around us? And... is it possible we’re living in a simulation right now? Philosopher David Chalm

BookLab 030: Being You, The Monster’s Bones, and Quantum Legacies

Sep 15th, 2022 58m 4s

Featured book: Being You, by Anil Seth. A lot has been written on the subject of consciousness, but few are positioned to tackle the problem better than neuroscientist Anil Seth, whose new book examines how we experience “life in the first pers

BookLab 029: Hawking Hawking, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, and When We Cease to Understand the World

Dec 26th, 2021 57m 9s

Featured book: Hawking Hawking, by Charles Seife. Charles Seife’s new biography of Stephen Hawking takes an unflinching look at the good and bad sides of the famous physicist. And on the nightstand: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Arik

BookLab 028: Life’s Edge, by Carl Zimmer; and The Genesis Quest, by Michael Marshall

Oct 16th, 2021 49m 40s

What is life? As Carl Zimmer shows in Life’s Edge, the more we try to pin it down, the more elusive an answer becomes. And in The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall examines the age-old puzzle of how life began on our planet.

BookLab 027: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, Why Fish Don’t Exist, and The Precipice

Mar 30th, 2021 1h 2m

Featured Book: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett take a deep dive into our most remarkable organ – and explains why the brain is for much more than just thinking. And on the n

BookLab 026: The End of Everything, and Black Hole Survival Guide

Dec 30th, 2020 51m 39s

We double up on the physics in this episode: First, Katie Mack looks at the universe’s end-game in The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). Then we explore the universe’s most exotic objects in Janna Levin’s new book, Black Hole Surviv

BookLab 025: COVID-19, by Debora MacKenzie

Oct 27th, 2020 46m 26s

In this special episode of BookLab, we focus on COVID-19 by journalist Debora MacKenzie. Her book examines how this pandemic happened, how it might have been prevented – or at least mitigated – and what can be done to make sure a similar catast

BookLab 024: Until the End of Time, Superior, and Moral Tribes

Jun 26th, 2020 1h 5m

Featured book: Until the End of Time, by Brian Greene. Where exactly do human beings fit in, in this vast cosmos? Brian Greene tackles the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in an ambitious new book. And on the nightstand: Superio

BookLab 023: The Feeling of Life Itself, Supernavigators, and The Math of Life & Death

May 17th, 2020 53m 5s

Featured book: The Feeling of Life Itself, by Christof Koch. A neuroscientist who’s spent decades studying the puzzle of consciousness explores the problem of how the brain gives rise to the mind. And on the nightstand: Supernavigators, by Davi

BookLab 022: The Number of the Heavens, and Something Deeply Hidden

Feb 12th, 2020 1h 2m

It’s one of the most provocative ideas in all of science – the notion that our universe might just an infinitesimal part of a much larger reality. In this episode, we look at two new books that take us deep into the multiverse: The Number of t

BookLab 021: The Goodness Paradox; The Overstory; The Trouble with Gravity

Nov 5th, 2019 48m 2s

Featured book: The Goodness Paradox, by Richard Wrangham. Our species, Homo sapiens, is less violent than any of our primate cousins -- but how did we get that way? A Harvard anthropologist suggests an answer. And on the nightstand: The Overst

BookLab 020: What is Real? and Beyond Weird

Apr 15th, 2019 44m 48s

Featured Books:What is Real? by Adam Becker; and Beyond Weird by Philip Ball. Quantum physics has been with us for more than 100 years – but what is it actually telling us about the world?

BookLab 019: Adventures in Memory; Outside Color; The Invention of Nature

Jan 2nd, 2019 52m 13s

Featured Book: Adventures in Memory, by Hilde Østby and Ylva Østby Few things are as fundamental to the human experience as memory. But what exactly is memory? How do memories actually work, in our brains? And why did we evolve to have memor

BookLab 018: Lost in Math; Through Two Doors at Once; The Order of Time

Oct 25th, 2018 55m 6s

Featured Book:Lost in Math, by Sabine Hossenfelder Physics made enormous progress in the 20th century – but Sabine Hossenfelder says we’ve reached a dead-end in the 21st, because today’s physicists take their equations too seriously. And on the

BookLab 017: The Strange Order of Things; Internal Time; The Last Man Who Knew Everything

May 28th, 2018 38m 15s

Featured Book:The Strange Order of Things, by Antonio Damasio How did emotions and feelings – and conscious awareness in general – come into existence? Neuroscientist and philosopher Antonio Damasio weighs in. And on the nightstand: Internal Ti

BookLab 016: A special episode – Why Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time still matters, 30 years later

Apr 2nd, 2018 44m 53s

Stephen Hawking’s first book aimed at a popular audience, A Brief History of Time, became a surprise bestseller and turned the world of popular science writing upside down. We look back at this remarkable book, 30 years after its publication.

BookLab 015: Life 3.0; Prehension; The Social Conquest of Earth

Feb 8th, 2018 55m 9s

Featured Book: Life 3.0, by Max Tegmark Artificial intelligence is set to change the world. Will humanity have what it takes to survive, in the age of intelligent machines? And on the nightstand: Prehension, by Colin McGinn; and The Social Con

BookLab 014: The Big Picture; You Belong to the Universe; Time Travel

Jan 1st, 2017 53m 33s

Featured Book: The Big Picture, by Sean Carroll. Do our lives have any significance in a universe of impersonal particles and forces and physical laws? That’s a big question – but a physicist with an eye on the big picture takes a shot at answe

BookLab 013: The Gene; Surfing Uncertainty; Black Hole Blues

Sep 17th, 2016 54m 30s

Featured Book: The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. The gene shapes who we are. While the science of genetics is still fairly young, it’s advancing at a breakneck speed. What will we do with this new knowledge? And on the nightstand: Surfing Unc

BookLab 012: Spooky Action at a Distance; Why Information Grows; Inventology

Jun 22nd, 2016 38m 15s

Featured Book: Spooky Action at a Distance, by George Musser. Quantum entanglement is one of the strangest ideas in modern physics – and could end up changing the way we think about space and time. And on the nightstand: Why Information Grows,

BookLab 011: Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs; The Brain; Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Apr 14th, 2016 41m 10s

Featured Book: Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, by Lisa Randall.A physicist puts forward a bold idea about how the dinosaurs met their demise – and the role that an exotic kind of matter may have played.And on the nightstand: The Brain, by Dav

BookLab 010: Ada’s Algorithm and It Began with Babbage

Jan 31st, 2016 46m 11s

Featured Books: Ada’s Algorithm, by James Essinger; and It Began with Babbage, by Subrata Dasgupta.Two new books look at the history of the computer – the invention that would usher in the modern age.