Big Think

The 28-day cycle, and other myths of menstruation | Jen Gunter: Full Interview

11 sept 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-gunter-gVars5PNOMg Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The evolution of laziness: Why humans resist the gym | Daniel Lieberman: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLY0TNm67hY OB-GYN and author Dr. Jen Gunter explains what's actually happening inside the body during menstruation and menopause, why so much of what we've been told is wrong, and why that information gap has been weaponized against half the population. 0:00 Chapter 1: The science of menstruation 9:00 How the menstrual cycle actually works 21:16 Period pain is real (and treatment options) 31:56 Cycle tracking apps, data privacy and advocacy 41:30 Chapter 2: The science of menopause 45:45 The menopause timeline, explained 51:50 Treating menopause, minus the hype 1:03:32 Sorting snake oil from science 1:08:03 Chapter 3: Are supplements safe? 1:12:03 How to pick a supplement safely Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/science-menopause-menstruation/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-gunter-gVars5PNOMg ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jen Gunter: Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN and a pain medicine physician who writes about sex, science, and social media. She's been called the Internet’s OB/GYN, and is one of the fiercest advocates for women’s health, devoting her professional life to caring for women and building a better medical internet.

The rule of 20%: How to find the sweet spot for improved performance | Daniel Coyle: Full Interview

4 sept 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-coyle-arte3arYBrU Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The blueprint for becoming an emotionally mature adult, in 68 minutes | Mark Manson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Swxy4tUE3s&vl=en Talent isn’t a gift we're born with – it’s a signal we’ve been reading completely wrong. Author Daniel Coyle breaks down the common traits shared by successful people, and why environment, not innate ability, is the variable that ties them all together. Daniel Coyle's latest book, Flourish, is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Flourish-Art-Building-Meaning-Fulfillment-ebook/dp/B0F7FX8PWP 0:00 Chapter 1: Where talent actually comes from 4:30 Mistakes are the fastest way to learn 16:03 The spark that ignites motivation 22:29 Chapter 2: How great cultures are built 26:57 Why kindergartners beat CEOs 37:00 Vulnerability builds trust, not the other way around 52:08 Flourishing and human connection 57:29 The Paris table that built a village 1:09:52 Beautiful messes and the rule of surprise Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/science-of-talent/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-coyle-arte3arYBrU ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Daniel Coyle: Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code, which was named Best Business Book of the Year by Bloomberg, BookPal, and Business Insider. Coyle has served as an advisor to many high-performing organizations, including the Navy SEALs, Microsoft, Google, and the Cleveland Guardians. His other books include The Talent Code, The Secret Race, The Little Book of Talent, and Hardball: A Season in the Projects, which was made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves. Coyle was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and now lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during the school year and in Homer, Alaska, during the summer with his wife, Jenny, and their four children.

One of the world's greatest mathematicians explains 6 essential concepts of math | Terence Tao

28 ago 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-tao-OOMx2BHHWtE Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Sean Carroll explains the biggest ideas in the universe | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBNJyztai0 Terence Tao has spent decades solving problems most people can't even state, and he says he's never had a single eureka moment. In this conversation, the UCLA mathematician and Fields Medalist breaks math down to six essential ideas: numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, and dynamics. 0:00 Chapter 1: The 6 essential elements of mathematics 1:14 Numbers: The oldest invention still in use 5:56 Algebra: the rules behind the rules 11:39 Geometry: How the Greeks measured the moon 13:30 Probability: Betting on uncertainty 17:00 Analysis: Taming infinity 24:07 Dynamics: The math of change 32:12 Chapter 2: How math solves the problems of science 34:30 Three discoveries that changed the world 48:17 Why math works and how it’s really done 54:29 Chapter 3: How AI is changing math and science forever 1:07:38 Why faster isn’t always better 1:15:18 What AI can do now and what’s at stake Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/6-essential-mathematical-concepts/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Terence Tao: Terence Tao was born in Adelaide, Australia, where he excelled at university-level math by age nine and became, at 13, the youngest-ever gold medalist at the International Mathematical Olympiad. He earned his PhD from Princeton at 20 and joined UCLA's mathematics faculty, becoming the university's youngest-ever tenured professor at 24. In 2006 he won the Fields Medal for contributions spanning partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory, and he remains a UCLA professor today, known for prolific, wide-ranging work including the Green–Tao theorem on prime number progressions.

The 5:1 ratio that separates happy couples from divorced ones | John & Julie Gottman: Full Interview

21 ago 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-gottman-hqa06hmCayo Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Love is a skill, not a feeling | Alain de Botton: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRMcimuuk0Q&vl=en Every marriage’s disintegration is marked by the same four warning signs that researchers John and Julie Gottman can spot before a couple even finishes their first sentence. The founders of the Gottman Institute break down decades of lab research on why relationships collapse, and what to look for in a partner so they can make it 50 years by your side. 0:00 Chapter 1: Why relationships fall apart 7:06 The four relationship killers 12:52 Betrayal, trust, and bids for connection 20:09 Is it ever too late? 25:01 Chapter 2: How couples successfully repair a relationship 27:30 The four stages of healing betrayal 36:21 The one thing great couples do 43:23 Chapter 3: Defining love 48:53 The secret to a great sex life 54:24 Love myths, busted 58:06 Reasons to not give up on love Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/save-your-relationship/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About John Gottman: World-renowned for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction, John Gottman has conducted 50 years of breakthrough research with thousands of couples. In addition to being named one of Psychotherapy Networker’s Top 10 Most Influential Therapists of the past quarter-century. Dr. Gottman is the author or co-author of over 250 published academic articles and more than 50 books, including best-sellers Fight Right, The Love Prescription, and Eight Dates, and The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, as well as The New Marriage Clinic, What Makes Love Last, The Science of Trust, The Relationship Cure, Why Marriages Succeed or Fail, and Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child. About Julie Gottman: Co-founder of The Gottman Institute and Affective Software, Inc., Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman is co-creator of Loving Couples Loving Children – a curriculum for couples struggling with poverty, co-creator of the immensely popular Art & Science of Love weekend workshops for couples, and co-designed the national clinical training program in Gottman Couples Therapy. A highly respected licensed clinical psychologist and educator, she is sought internationally as an expert advisor on marriage, the treatment of trauma and affairs, sexual harassment and rape, domestic violence, same-sex marriage, and gay and lesbian parenting. Dr. Schwartz Gottman has been honored as the Washington State Psychologist of the Year and is the recipient of the Psychotherapy Networker Lifetime Achievement Award. She is author or co-author of many books, including best-sellers Fight Right, The Love Prescription, and Eight Dates, as well as The New Marriage Clinic, and The Marriage Clinic Casebook, Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage, The Man’s Guide To Women, and And Baby Makes Three. Dr. Schwartz Gottman has received wide recognition for her clinical psychotherapy treatment, with specialization in distressed couples, abuse and trauma survivors, substance abusers and their partners, and cancer patients and their families.

The hidden cost of talking about it too much | Lisa Damour: Full Interview

14 ago 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-damour-yahyL3ABjjo Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The blueprint for becoming an emotionally mature adult, in 68 minutes | Mark Manson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Swxy4tUE3s Stress has a branding problem. Clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour argues that most of us have the wrong relationship with discomfort entirely, treating stress like a malfunction instead of what it actually is: a signal that we're growing. 0:00 Chapter 1: How to cope with stress 5:54 Train stress like a muscle 11:42 Recover like you mean it 22:13 Chapter 2: Developing a better relationship with your emotions 29:39 Express it or tame it 37:25 Empathy isn’t free 40:00 Chapter 3: The psychology of teenagers 44:41 Struggling AND thriving 54:08 Just listen 59:18 The seven transitions that turn kids into adults Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/healthy-emotional-regulation/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Lisa Damour: Dr. Lisa Damour is the author of three New York Times best sellers: Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, which have been translated into twenty-three languages. Her forthcoming book, The Emotional Lives of Parents, publishes on February 9, 2027 and is available for pre-order now. Dr. Damour hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, works in collaboration with UNICEF, and is recognized as a thought leader by the American Psychological Association. She authored the monthly Adolescence column for The New York Times, is a regular contributor to national news outlets, and created Untangling 10to20, a digital library of premium content to support teens and those who care for them. Dr. Damour serves as a Senior Advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University and has written numerous academic papers, chapters, and books related to education and child development. She maintains a clinical practice and also speaks to schools, professional organizations, and corporate groups around the world on the topics of child and adolescent development, family mental health, and adult well-being. Dr. Damour also works with industry leaders on topics related to adolescent mental health and was a consultant to Pixar on the film Inside Out 2. Dr. Damour graduated with honors from Yale University and worked for the Yale Child Study Center before earning her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Michigan. She and her husband are the proud parents of two daughters.

The hidden cost of never being bored | Arthur Brooks: Full Interview

7 ago 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-brooks-WP3wl1rsXjg Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The blueprint for becoming an emotionally mature adult, in 68 minutes | Mark Manson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Swxy4tUE3s Arthur Brooks studies happiness for a living, and he says the epidemic of depression and anxiety among young adults comes down to one culprit: a meaning crisis. Brooks walks through the biology of falling in love, the real formula behind human suffering, and why a Harvard study spanning 85 years found deep relationships to be the single strongest predictor of a happy old age. 0:00 Chapter 1: Why life feels meaningless 7:20 Our 250,000-year-old wiring vs. complicated tech 16:17 The meaning recession 25:54 Don't throw your phone in the ocean 27:55 Chapter 2: The 5 essential elements of happiness 39:32 Love: Your brain on love 48:43 Transcendence: The cure for me, me, me 55:54 Calling: What am I meant to do? 1:02:29 Beauty: The beauty deficit 1:09:42 Suffering: Suffering is sacred 1:20:25 Chapter 3: How to overcome your addiction to technology 1:31:13 Get mad, detox, live differently 1:38:42 The detox playbook 1:49:48 A boring life vs. a real life Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/meaning-crisis-brooks/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-brooks-WP3wl1rsXjg ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-brooks-WP3wl1rsXjg ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-brooks-WP3wl1rsXjg ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Arthur Brooks: Arthur Brooks is one of the world’s leading experts on the science of human happiness, appearing in the media and traveling the world to teach people in private companies, universities, public agencies, and faith communities how they can live happier lives and bring greater well-being to others. Brooks is a professor at Vanderbilt University and a senior fellow at the Harvard Business School. He is a CBS News contributor, columnist with The Free Press, and host of the weekly podcast "Office Hours with Arthur Brooks." He is the author of 16 books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, Build the Life You Want (co-authored with Oprah Winfrey), and From Strength to Strength.

I finally outgrew the character that made my career | Jaleel White

6 ago 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 From 50 commercials as a kid to nine seasons as one of the most recognizable characters on television, Jaleel White has always performed for an audience. Growing up on set, he learned that giving people what they wanted got you somewhere. So he kept doing it — with fans, with his mother, with anyone who had an expectation of him. After Family Matters ended, the work slowed and the identity he had built around it started to crack. He spent years as a single father taking whatever roles came. Now, looking back, he understands how much of his life he spent performing a version of himself, and what it finally took to feel like the real one. As humans, we’re shaped by our genetics, as well as our life experiences. They influence how we see the world — and how we engage with the people around us. That unique lens is called a Perception Box™, and each of us lives inside our own. We can’t escape it. But we can expand it by questioning assumptions and challenging our perceptions. At Big Think, we’ve partnered with Unlikely Collaborators to ask better questions. Perception Box™ is a content series grounded in science that explores what becomes possible when we let go of our limiting beliefs and open our minds to a new reality. Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/jaleel-white-on-the-greatest-perspective-shift-of-his-life/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb

This hidden wisdom will change how you treat your body forever | Giulia Enders: Full Interview

31 jul 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-enders-ZAbHQ1qAa0I Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, How trauma stays in the body and how to remove it with Bessel van der Kolk | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MI6Z_NlE8A Physician Giulia Enders spent years studying the gut before realizing no organ works alone. Here, she walks through 5 body parts — the lung, the immune system, the skin, the muscles, and the brain — and what each one reveals about how we work, heal, and recover. 0:00 Intro to the body systems 0:48 The lungs: Softness as superpower 13:42 The immune system beyond war metaphors 32:08 Skin and learning to heal 44:16 Muscles: Strength beyond simple force 59:54: The brain and our complexity Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/body-intelligence-enders/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Giulia Enders: Giulia Enders is a physician and acclaimed author with a background in microbiology research and clinical experience in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. She is dedicated to making complex scientific topics accessible to a wide audience. Her first book, Gut, is a global multimillion bestseller. Her newest book, Organ Speak, walks through our inner bodily architecture and what it can teach us about happiness, healing, and recovery.

Comedian Margaret Cho meets the person she used to be

30 jul 2026

Trigger Warning: Graphic mentions of self-harm and suicide. We made this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-seg-cho-SlKZx1YYNkY Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Born in the U.S. and taken to Korea after her father’s deportation, comedian Margaret Cho grew up between cultures, experienced sexual assault at a young age, and came of age in her parents’ gay bookstore during the AIDS crisis, where loss and public rhetoric left a lasting mark. Cho’s comedy career started at age 15, and she later became the star of the ’90s sitcom All-American Girl, where she faced intense industry pressure around her body and public image. Years later, she began confronting the belief she had carried since childhood: that she was unwanted and not enough. As humans, we’re shaped by our genetics, as well as our life experiences. They influence how we see the world — and how we engage with the people around us. That unique lens is called a Perception Box™, and each of us lives inside our own. We can’t escape it. But we can expand it by questioning assumptions and challenging our perceptions. At Big Think, we’ve partnered with Unlikely Collaborators to ask better questions. Perception Box™ is a content series grounded in science that explores what becomes possible when we let go of our limiting beliefs and open our minds to a new reality. Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/comedian-margaret-cho-meets-the-person-she-used-to-be/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb

The 3 elements of stupidity, according to philosophy | Jonny Thomson: Full Interview

24 jul 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-thomson-HbQ-t8GXYTA Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, A philosopher’s argument against the cult of achievement | Zena Hitz: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD4Fhh6GDcY Philosopher Jonny Thomson walks through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 3 conditions for the kind of stupidity that destroys societies: Outsourcing your thinking to an authority, willful ignorance, and conformity. Thomson shows how each one appears today, from AI answering our moral questions to political parties enforcing loyalty over conviction. 0:00 Introduction to philosophical concepts 0:26 Dietrich Bonhoeffer 3:22 3 defining elements of stupidity 9:14 Why stupidity outweighs explicit evil 15:03 Epistemic trespassing and intellectual pride 22:06 Resolving personal and institutional stupidity 27:36 How power structures cultivate stupidity 32:30 Language, bullshitting, and social media 37:44 Cultivating intellectual skepticism and reflection Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/philosophy-of-stupidity/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a columnist at Big Think and is the award-winning, bestselling author of three books that have been translated into 22 languages. Jonny is also the founder of Mini Philosophy, a social network of around two million curious, intelligent minds. He's known all over the world for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and fun.

How I evolved out of ‘survival mode’ | Ice-T

23 jul 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Ice-T lost everything early in life. Decades later, he says that not knowing what came next became his reason to keep going. Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-seg-icet-uqT1DGIeyzw Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 From writing ‘Cop Killer’ to playing a cop on SVU, ICE-T is no stranger to personal evolution. After losing both parents by seventh grade, he was sent to Los Angeles, where he learned to survive without a family. Here, he hustled for money and respect until rap gave him another route. Eventually, acting opened another path, forcing him to step outside the persona he built to protect himself. Now, in his late 60s, he understands that the chaos of his early life existed to propel him forward, and that there is more to life than just survival. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/how-ice-t-evolved-out-of-survival-mode/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description As humans, we’re shaped by our genetics, as well as our life experiences. They influence how we see the world — and how we engage with the people around us. That unique lens is called a Perception Box™, and each of us lives inside our own. We can’t escape it. But we can expand it by questioning assumptions and challenging our perceptions. At Big Think, we’ve partnered with Unlikely Collaborators to ask better questions. Perception Box™ is a content series grounded in science that explores what becomes possible when we let go of our limiting beliefs and open our minds to a new reality. Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb

The psychology of morality, perversion, and revenge, in 67 minutes | Paul Bloom: Full Interview

17 jul 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-bloom-rsE_kFE_ZHE Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The blueprint for becoming an emotionally mature adult, in 68 minutes | Mark Manson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Swxy4tUE3s&vl=en Psychologist Paul Bloom has spent his career studying the parts of human nature we often feel uncomfortable examining: why loneliness feels like starvation, why people are drawn to behaving poorly, why revenge feels righteous until it destroys everything. Bloom argues that the US doesn't actually have a loneliness epidemic, it has a solitude epidemic, one being accelerated by AI companionship. 0:00 Chapter 1: The promise and peril of AI companions 8:29 Two concerns: addiction & yes-men 16:00 The case for AI companions 23:50 The compulsion to behave badly 48:26 Understanding the morality of revenge Read the video transcript ► [Link to site article]?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Paul Bloom: Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. An internationally recognized expert on the psychology of child development, social reasoning, and morality, he has won numerous awards for his research, writing, and teaching. Bloom’s previous books include Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, and he has written for Science, Nature, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

Carnie Wilson’s most beautiful epiphany

16 jul 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Growing up as Brian Wilson's daughter meant music everywhere, and very little peace. In the first episode of The Me I Used to Be, Carnie Wilson opens up about what she was really looking for all those years, and how she finally found it. Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-seg-wilson-IOmQrv7GLvU Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Carnie Wilson — best known as one-third of Wilson Phillips and daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson — revisits some of the most defining moments of her public and private life. From a childhood spent in the chaos of rock-and-roll royalty, to her rise as one of the best-selling artists of the early 90s, to her very public weight-loss journey and the road to sobriety and motherhood that followed, Carnie shares what she sees when she looks back, and what it's taken to finally feel like she belongs. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/the-harmony-carnie-wilson-spent-her-whole-life-trying-to-find/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description As humans, we’re shaped by our genetics, as well as our life experiences. They influence how we see the world — and how we engage with the people around us. That unique lens is called a Perception Box™, and each of us lives inside our own. We can’t escape it. But we can expand it by questioning assumptions and challenging our perceptions. At Big Think, we’ve partnered with Unlikely Collaborators to ask better questions. Perception Box™ is a content series grounded in science that explores what becomes possible when we let go of our limiting beliefs and open our minds to a new reality. Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A philosopher’s argument against the cult of achievement | Zena Hitz: Full Interview

10 jul 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-hitz-JD4Fhh6GDcY Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Love, sex, and happiness, explained by philosophy | Jonny Thomson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esneN8HQKeY A philosopher who walked away from an elite academic career to spend 3 years washing dishes in a monastery says that intellectual life has nothing to do with degrees. Zena Hitz argues that the real philosophers are taxi drivers, office clerks, prisoners: Everyday people who exist outside the cult of academia. 0:00 The journey of a disillusioned academic 8:52 What is an intellectual life 14:54 Aristotle and human flourishing 27:30 The philosophy of washing dishes 29:19 Unlikely intellectuals, from Einstein to MC Hammer Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/myth-of-genius/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Zena Hitz: Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland and the author of "Lost In Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life." She has a PhD in ancient philosophy from Princeton University and studies and teaches across the liberal arts.

Dan Carlin: What happens when a nation’s truth splinters into 1,000 versions | Kmele Foster

9 jul 2026

Read Dan Carlin, in print. An excerpt from this interview is in 'The Opt-Out Nation' — our quarterly magazine just for Big Think members: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-carlin-nXzrmkFj1u0 Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Hollywood lied to you about Ancient Rome. Here’s the truth | Mary Beard: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yP8C7uo3Y Dan Carlin has spent decades explaining history's collapses. Now he's watching one happen in real time. In conversation with Kmele Foster, Carlin unpacks the state of societal collapse, the erosion of our nation's shared truth, and the sharp comparison between the 80’s’ Xeroxed flyers on windshields and the present day flooding of information. He explains why the Constitution was designed to prevent tyranny, not efficiency, how that tradeoff is finally being tested, and why Congress's refusal to declare war for decades has altered the rules of executive power. 0:00 10,000 realities, zero shared facts 2:35 Today’s chaos was seeded 50 years ago 6:17 How the internet killed the gatekeepers 8:45 Bury the truth in a pile of garbage 12:05 Can society build an immune system for lies? 17:48 Congress chose to go powerless 31:15 Trump dropped the pretending 39:15 Every movement creates its own backlash 1:11:42 Stop calling AI a product when it’s a weapon Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/dan-carlin-myth-of-shared-reality/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Kmele Foster: Kmele Foster is a media entrepreneur, commentator, and regular contributor to various national publications. He is the co-founder and co-host of The Fifth Column, a popular media criticism podcast, and a partner at Freethink, a digital media company focused on the people and ideas changing our world. Kmele also serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). About Dan Carlin: Veteran journalist Dan Carlin's Generation X, non-partisan, “neo-prudentist” outlook provides a fresh look at the headlines in the newspapers and the stories in the history books. His two podcasts, “Hardcore History” and “Common Sense” are two of the leading independent podcasts in their respective genres. Both productions feature Carlin’s unique, contradictory broadcast style.

We know how the dinosaurs died. We don't know why they lived. | Steve Brusatte

3 jul 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-brusatte-Kk0VyaXjWXQ Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Hollywood lied to you about Ancient Rome. Here’s the truth | Mary Beard: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_yP8C7uo3Y Steve Brusatte, the paleontologist behind Jurassic World's science and author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and The Story of Birds, walks through what fossils actually prove versus what Hollywood invented. Brusatte traces dinosaurs back to footprints smaller than a house cat, found in Poland just after the worst mass extinction in Earth's history, and explains why those early survivors spent millions of years as background characters next to car-sized salamanders and armored crocodiles. 0:00 Chapter 1: The rise and fall of dinosaurs 3:17 The first true dinosaurs emerge 8:01 Spectacular giants 15:06 The last morning 19:16 Chapter 2: T. Rex: The king of dinosaurs 22:30 Everything Jurassic Park got wrong 25:12 The mystery of the tiny arms 31:13 A new dinosaur species found every week 32:02 Chapter 3: The rise and reign of mammals 40:19 How flowers changed everything 44:34 Mammals go dumb, then huge 1:05:44 Should we bring them back? 1:09:21 Chapter 4: How birds became the last dinosaurs 1:23:54 Flight was an accident 1:37:31 What did dinosaurs sound like? 1:40:30 The pigeon is a dinosaur Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/brusatte-history-of-dinosaurs/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Steve Brusatte: Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist who hunts and writes about dinosaurs. He is on the faculty of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but grew up in the Midwestern USA. Steve has traveled around the world digging up dinosaurs and, working with many international colleagues, has named more than 15 new species, including the tyrannosaur 'Pinocchio rex' (Qianzhousaurus) and the raptor Zhenyuanlong.

A neuroscientist’s guide to protecting your brain, in 58 minutes | Lisa Genova: Full Interview

26 jun 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-genova-LViE-cD_WJQ Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, What 85 years of research says is the real key to happiness | Robert Waldinger: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxmzkYPvsg A retired Japanese engineer once memorized pi to over 111,000 digits using nothing but storytelling and visualization. He also forgot his wife's birthday that same year. Neuroscientist Lisa Genova uses this contradiction to dispel a persistent collective fear: that ordinary forgetting is an early warning sign of Alzheimer's. 0:00 Chapter 1: How your memory works 3:15 What memory actually is 6:34 The 4 steps of making a memory 9:00 Why meaning, emotion, and repetition make memories stick 19:48 Chapter 2: 8 techniques to protect your memory 24:03 How to actually make memories stick 31:06 The imagination trick that beats forgetting 35:16 Is technology making your memory worse? 39:09 Chapter 3: How to protect your brain from Alzheimer’s 44:49 The lifestyle habits that protect your brain 51:21 Why chronic stress literally shrinks your memory 55:31 How learning new things builds an Alzheimer's-resistant brain Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/science-of-memory/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Lisa Genova: Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, “What You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s,” has been viewed more than five million times. The New York Times bestseller REMEMBER is her first work of nonfiction.

How some habits set off chain reactions | Charles Duhigg

19 jun 2026

How some habits set off chain reactions | Charles Duhigg

Gut Expert: Eating these 3 foods could improve your mental health | Tim Spector: Full Interview

19 jun 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-spector-A3_fG1h2a_g Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, What 85 years of research says is the real key to happiness | Robert Waldinger: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxmzkYPvsg Buy Tim Spector's most recent book, Ferment: The Life-Changing Power of Microbes, here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1529932327?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_5RH9KZJV94J4KJAFTK80&bestFormat=true Could depression, dementia, and poor oral health all have one uniting link? The gut microbiome contains 200 more genes than human cells, and research shows its strong impact on mental illness, brain health, and chronic inflammation. Professor of epidemiology at King's College London Tim Spector breaks down the science of how gut microbes produce the chemicals that shape your mood, your immune system, and your cognitive health, and why the standard Western diet has been systematically destroying them for 50 years. 0:00 Chapter 1: How the gut microbiome works 7:18 A sick gut = a sick brain 15:20 Why modern life is inflaming you 17:17 Chapter 2: An unhealthy gut leads to an unhealthy brain 20:44 Bad gut health is linked to dementia 25:58 What your teeth reveal about your inflammation levels 29:47 Chapter 3: 8 tips for maintaining a healthy gut ecosystem 33:18 Eat 30 plants a week (here’s how) 41:48 The ultra-processed food trap 46:21 Eat the rainbow, fast overnight 54:47 Chapter 4: Why the internet gets dieting all wrong 58:45 Why fad diets always fail long-term 1:01:02 Organic, salt, fish — what actually matters 1:07:53 Supplements won’t save you Correction: 33:18 The text card contains a typo. It says "Eat 30 plats a day" when it should say "Eat 30 plants a week" Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/tim-spector-gut-microbiome/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Tim Spector: Tim Spector is a Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London, director of the Twins UK study, scientific co-founder at ZOE, and one of the world’s most-cited scientists. He's also the author of the bestsellers, Spoon-Fed, The Diet Myth, Food for Life, and Ferment.

The bizarre science of enlightenment

18 jun 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. We often ask how to reach enlightenment, as if it’s a destination. A better question may be: how do we practice enlightened behavior in everyday life? And once we begin, how does our reality evolve? Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Watch the full Perception Box series ► https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5uULy4b0kV4iomWS7CzqCdOCwj0lFnLr&si=yCY6E e7m6bpj7E-y What if enlightenment is not a permanent state, but a habit we regularly return to? Andrew Newberg, MD, Robert Waldinger, MD, and Jim Al-Khalili, PhD, explore how moments of awe, unity, and insight can alter the brain and reshape our sense of reality. From neuroscience to Zen practice to the limits of scientific knowledge, they argue that enlightenment may be less about arriving somewhere and more about how we act once we feel connected. Read more from this interview ► https://bigthink.com/videos/what-science-reveals-about-the-magic-of-enlightenment/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

Willpower is the wrong tool for changing habits. Do this instead. | Charles Duhigg: Full Interview

12 jun 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The blueprint for becoming an emotionally mature adult, in 68 minutes | Mark Manson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Swxy4tUE3s&vl=en Buy Charles Duhigg's most recent book, Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, here: https://www.amazon.com/Supercommunicators-Unlock-Secret-Language-Connection/dp/0593243919 About 40% of everything you do today is a habit your brain automated, and the neural loop driving it doesn't distinguish between good and bad habits. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Supercommunicators, explains why trying to eliminate a bad habit is neurologically futile and why the habit that scares you most irrationally is probably the one change that rewires everything else. 0:00 Part 1: How your brain is running on habits 0:54 Chapter 1: The habit loop 13:05 Chapter 2: Identifying cravings 18:44 Chapter 3: Keystone habits 25:01 Chapter 4: How your beliefs and communities affect habits 32:00 Part 2: What makes conversations work 33:05 Chapter 5: How to become a supercommunicator 42:23 Chapter 6: The “Whats this really about?” conversation 51:51 Chapter 7: The “How do we feel?” conversation 1:07:35 Chapter 8: The “Who are we?” conversation Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/the-habit-loop-duhigg/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of The Power of Habit, which spent over three years on bestseller lists and has been translated into 40 languages, and Smarter Faster Better, also a bestseller. Mr. Duhigg writes for The New Yorker magazine and is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Business School. He has been a frequent contributor to CNBC, This American Life, NPR, The Colbert Report, NewsHour, and Frontline. He was also, for one terrifying day in 1999, a bike messenger in San Francisco.

Body language expert: 7 cues that make you instantly more likable | Full Interview

5 jun 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-vanedwards-d_YZWaSeHws Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The 3-step process to CIA training, revealed | Andrew Bustamante: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vHJiPRLSo Pre-order @Vvanedwards' new book, Conversation: How to be Instantly Likable in Any Interaction here: https://www.amazon.com/Conversation-How-Instantly-Likable-Interaction/dp/B0GS7YCNG9 You only have a few seconds to make a first impression, and the non-verbal cues you’re sending may be silently working against any kindness your words communicate. Charisma is learned, not innate, and even if you consider yourself an “awkward” person, you can still hack positive reception. Body language expert Vanessa van Edwards shares a genius formula to create a lasting first impression while debunking body-language myths and these mistakes you’re probably making in social situations. 0:00 Chapter 1: How to make a great first impression 1:24 The two things everyone judges you on 9:13 Body language moves that build instant trust 17:56 Chapter 2: How to understand and read people 24:04 How to read negative cues before it’s too late 28:42 Chapter 3: How to be conversationally present 34:03 The body language habits that kill your listening presence 41:00 How to know when it’s your turn to talk 42:34 Chapter 4: The psychology of power and engagement 49:51 How to stop sounding monotone (even if you know your stuff) 54:14 The finishing touches that make you unforgettable Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/body-language-first-impression/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Vanessa Van Edwards: Vanessa Van Edwards is a behavioral researcher, bestselling author, and founder of Science of People. For two decades she's turned the science of human behavior into practical tools that help people communicate with confidence. She's taught in Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education and authored the bestselling books Captivate and Cues in 18+ languages. Her work has reached 100+ million learners through videos, courses, and keynotes at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, SXSW, and with teams at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Comcast, and more.

David Epstein: Discipline sets creativity free | Full Interview

29 may 2026

Purchase @DavidEpsteinAuthor's latest book, Inside the Box: https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Box-Constraints-Make-Better/dp/B0FNDSKWMY Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-epstein-0barY2A6dpU Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, What 85 years of research says is the real key to happiness | Robert Waldinger: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxmzkYPvsg David Epstein, author of Range and Inside the Box, walks through decades of research exploring why constraints, not freedom, are the engine behind creativity, focus, and breakthrough. 0:00 Chapter 1: General Magic vs. Pixar: Why constraints are necessary. 8:02 The concept of “subtractive neglect bias” 11:12 Constraints as a creative superpower 16:08 Chapter 2: The dangers of too much freedom 18:15 Too much freedom and modern anxiety 22:05 The maximizing trap 25:03 Chapter 3: How to fix bottlenecks 28:13 Applying the bottleneck to real work 34:22 Chapter 4: Regaining our focus in an attention economy 35:28 Self-interruption & reclaiming focus 37:07 Discipline and ritual as creative liberation 41:37 Chapter 5: The myth of the lone genius 43:42 Three case studies: Mendeleev, Einstein, Darwin 51:34 The power of problem setters Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/creative-freedom-constraints/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About David Epstein: David Epstein is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene. He was the host of Slate’s popular How To! podcast and a science and investigative reporter at ProPublica. Prior, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, where he co-authored the story that revealed Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez had used steroids. His writing has been honored by many organizations, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Center on Disability and Journalism, and has been included in the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology. His story “Following the Trail of Broken Hearts,” on sudden cardiac death in athletes, was chosen as one of the top 100 stories of the last 100 years by Columbia Journalism alumni. Epstein has given talks about performance science and the uses (and misuses) of data globally; his TED Talks have been viewed more than 11 million times. Three of his stories have been optioned for films. Epstein has master’s degrees in environmental science and journalism and co-authored a paper in the journal of Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research while a writer at Sports Illustrated. He has worked as an ecology researcher in the Arctic, studied geology and astronomy while residing in the Sonoran Desert, and blithely signed up to work on the D-deck of a seismic research vessel shortly after it had been attacked by pirates. Epstein has enjoyed volunteering with the Pat Tillman Foundation and Classroom Champions, and he is currently on the board of directors of Jubilee JumpStart, an early-childhood education center focused on families with the least access. An avid runner, he was a Columbia University record holder and twice honored as NCAA All-East as an 800-meter runner.

Hakeem Oluseyi: Quantum physics breaks every human intuition | Full Interview

22 may 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-oluseyi-pyhB7B3JWts Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Sean Carroll explains the biggest ideas in the universe | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBNJyztai0 The atom you learned about in school with electrons orbiting a nucleus like planets around a sun is a useful fiction. Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi dismantles that picture entirely, replacing it with something far stranger. What he unveils is a universe built not from particles, but from quantum fields that permeate all of spacetime, vibrating constantly, with no source, no origin, and no off switch. You can find Hakeem's new book, Why Do We Exist?, here: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Do-We-Exist-Universe/dp/1984819127 and his previous book, My Quantum Life, here: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Life-Unlikely-Journey-Street/dp/B08V6J5F9D 0:00 Chapter 1: The strange world of quantum physics 6:25 Why quantum math defies intuition 13:31 Entanglement, spacetime, and the deepest unsolved questions in physics 21:12 Chapter 2: The cosmological realm 26:38 You’re moving at the speed of light right now 46:00 The universe Is disappearing 52:08 Chapter 3: The two multiverses we might live in 1:00:51 The evidence for the multiverse 1:07:08 Why the equations deserve our trust Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/multiverse-oluseyi/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Hakeem Oluseyi: Hakeem Oluseyi is an astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, STEM educator, and science communicator known for his work in "hacking stars" to understand the universe. Oluseyi's work has resulted in 11 patents and more than 100 publications covering contributions to astrophysics, cosmology, and plasma physics and the development of space missions, observatories, focal plane instruments, detectors, semiconductor manufacturing, and ion propulsion.

3 experts explain everything you need to know about loneliness

21 may 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. What does it really mean when you feel lonely? The answer depends on your perception. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 In this video, Robert Waldinger, MD, Kasley Killam, MPH, and Ethan Kross, PhD explore why loneliness has become so common and how it affects both the mind and the body. They explain why friendships are disappearing, how loneliness changes our health, and why being alone doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Instead of treating loneliness as a personal failure, they suggest seeing it as a signal that helps us understand what we need and how to reconnect. Read more from this interview ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/3-experts-explain-loneliness/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

The productivity advice that will actually improve your life | Chris Bailey: Full Interview

15 may 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-bailey-aOVHFavyN2s Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The lost art of accomplishment without burnout ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HMjTxKRbaI Most productivity advice costs more time than it returns. The fix isn't a better system. It's understanding why some goals feel effortless and others feel like homework, and learning to close that distance. Author Chris Bailey breaks down the "intention stack," and the underrated role of values alignment in follow-through. 00:00 Chapter 1: Intentionality and how it shapes our goals 02:17 The “Intention Stack” explained 08:46 Characteristics of intention 14:45 Chapter 2: Why values are essential to goal attainment 16:01 How to define your values and embrace them 24:09 Chapter 3: How to follow through on goals 25:35 Why SMART goals don’t work 27:06 The four steps to actually accomplishing your goals 33:15 What causes procrastination and how to combat it 41:36 How to maintain momentum on your goals 45:22 Chapter 4: Focus in the age of distraction 51:40 How to achieve hyperfocus 57:13 The benefit of letting your mind wander Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/productivity-goals-bailey/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Chris Bailey: Chris Bailey is an author and lecturer who explores the science behind living a more productive and intentional life. His books include The Productivity Project, Hyperfocus, and Intentional.

Why humans need fiction, according to neuroscience

14 may 2026

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. What if the voice in your head is less of a witness and more of an interpreter? Two neuroscientists discuss the brain’s drive to explain, narrate, and make everything add up. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Watch the full Perception Box series ► https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5uULy4b0kV4iomWS7CzqCdOCwj0lFnLr&si=yCY6E e7m6bpj7E-y Stories do not just entertain us; they may be one of the main ways our brains rehearse experience, assign meaning, and turn scattered moments into something that feels like a self. We are constantly sorting actions, memories and emotion into a version of events that feels coherent enough to live inside. Neuroscientists Michael Gazzaniga, PhD and Dean Buonomano, PhD draw on split-brain research to explain the left hemisphere’s “Interpreter”: the brain’s tendency to create explanations for behavior, even when it does not have the full picture.The instinct to create narratives likely shapes far more than self-understanding. It may underpin identity, belief, and the desire to belong in the world. Read more from this interview ► https://bigthink.com/videos/why-humans-need-stories/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

What Newton and Einstein agreed on that our society doesn’t | Sean Carroll

12 may 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-seg-carroll-68DgpdnjBEg Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Sean Carroll explains the biggest ideas in the universe | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBNJyztai0 Time feels like the most obvious, standard metric in our world – until you ask a physicist like Sean Carroll about it. Underneath our widely accepted perceptions of linearity lies a much more interesting and complex world. Beneath these assumptions lies the most complex, unsolved question in physics: Why does time have any direction at all? Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/sean-carroll-entropy/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sean Carroll: Dr. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy — in effect, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy — at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Most of his career has been spent doing research on cosmology, field theory, and gravitation, looking at topics such as dark matter and dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects, extra dimensions, and violations of fundamental symmetries. These days, his focus has shifted to more foundational questions, both in quantum mechanics (origin of probability, emergence of space and time) and statistical mechanics (entropy and the arrow of time, emergence and causation, dynamics of complexity), bringing a more philosophical dimension to his work.

How music rewires and impacts the human body I Michael Spitzer: Full Interview

11 may 2026

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-spitzer-aTL4qSLXlGE Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The mind-bending probability of our existence | Sean B. Carroll: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hOjpxNHgQc Music is at least a million years older than language, yet we still see it solely through the lens of entertainment. Professor Michael Spitzer argues it's something closer to a biological system, one that was shaping the human body long before we had words for what we were feeling. Why does a chord you've never heard before make you want to cry? Why do babies respond to rhythm before they've heard a single song? Why does the same part of your brain that processes mortal danger also process musical beauty? The answers reach back 4 million years, and forward into a future where music may be prescribed like medicine. 0:00 Chapter 1: The history of music 18:00 How civilization changed music 24:52 Chapter 2: The universality of music 37:00 How the west thinks about music all wrong 42:37 Chapter 3: Your brain on music 45:45 Why music gives you goosebumps 00:52:46 Chapter 4: The future of music Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/music-human-body/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Michael Spitzer: Michael Spitzer is the author of The Musical Human and professor of music at the University of Liverpool, where he leads the department’s work on classical music. A music theorist and musicologist, he is an authority on Beethoven, with interests in aesthetics and critical theory, cognitive metaphor, and music and affect. He organized the International Conferences on Music and Emotion and the International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music and currently chairs the editorial board of Music Analysis Journal.

The dangerous and addictive fantasy of “unlimited potential” | Kate Bowler

5 may 2026

This interview is an episode from ‪The Well‬, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪John Templeton Foundation‬. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch all of Bowler's interviews ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_B7bI1QVmJARVG8D6ywQ8TIbFglhl8eh Self-help tells us that we can fix anything with the right mindset, the right habits, the right 5-step plan. But what if that belief is doing more harm than good? Historian Kate Bowler traces the deep roots of America’s obsession with self-making — from prosperity gospel theology to the endless productivity hacks of optimization culture. She explains how self-help promises control over things that are fundamentally fragile: our health, our time, our relationships, our lives. The trouble is, we’re not machines to be upgraded. We’re human: breakable, dependent, and mortal. And any belief system that denies that will ultimately fail us. Read the video transcript ►https://bigthink.com/the-well/the-case-against-self-help/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Kate Bowler: Kate Bowler is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and Professor of Religious History at Duke University. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG