HB Hidden Brain

Podcast

Hidden Brain

Why do I feel stuck? How can I become more creative? What can I do to improve my relationships? If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, you’re not alone. On Hidden Brain, we help you understand your own mind — and the minds of the people around you. (We're routinely rated the #1 science podcast in the United States.) Hosted by veteran science journalist Shankar Vedantam.

Website ↗ Last published 2 November 2026 633 posts collected by Sputnik

Said on Hidden Brain

“When speed dating, men were saying, yeah, I'd like to go on a second date to about 50% of the women that they would meet. And women were saying yes to about 35% of the men. … When you look at online dating, it's still 50-50 for the men, and the women are at 95% no and only 5% yes. That is a gargantuan gender difference in selectivity that wouldn't be happening if people were meeting face to face.” — Paul Eastwick, Hidden Brain
Paul Eastwick · 2 Nov 2026 Listen →
“When it comes to compatibility, we could predict exactly 0% of what makes two people compatible. … It is not possible to do with troves of self-reported information about who you are. … Some people really liked each other and some people really didn't. But thus far, we have been completely unable to explain ahead of time why two people end up being compatible.” — Paul Eastwick, Hidden Brain
Paul Eastwick · 2 Nov 2026 Listen →
“You might think of conspiracy theories as an error of overexplaining. Many conspiracy theories have the characteristic that they take lots of observations that might all have independent explanations that might sometimes be partially due to chance, and they connect them all to one underlying individual or group that has a particular intention and is carrying out that intention.” — Tania Lombrozo, Hidden Brain
Tania Lombrozo · 26 Oct 2026 Listen →
“There's sort of two paths to status gain by bragging about your sleep deprivation. One path is that your colleagues might see you as strong. Like you're so strong that not even sleep deprivation can hold you down… The other path is self-sacrifice… there's a gender wrinkle here where the strength path is most visible for men… And it's the opposite for women.” — Chris Barnes, Hidden Brain
Chris Barnes · 19 Oct 2026 Listen →
“For every pair of emotions that exist, of positive and negative emotions, the negative emotion is invariably stronger and more lasting than the positive counterpart. And as I said, many negative emotions don't really have a positive counterpart. For example, dread. Dread is a hugely important negative emotion. And we don't even have a word in the English language for the positive counterpart.” — George Loewenstein, Hidden Brain
George Loewenstein · 12 Oct 2026 Listen →
“Any sentence starting with at least is typically a minimizer. At least you're at a good hospital. … I always wanted to push back of like, at least it's not stage five cancer. Like, when do I graduate into your compassion?” — Kate Bowler, Hidden Brain
Kate Bowler · 5 Oct 2026 Listen →
“I had a neighbor stop by, and she told my husband, well, everything happens for a reason. And he immediately just said, I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear the reason my wife is dying.” — Kate Bowler, Hidden Brain
Kate Bowler · 5 Oct 2026 Listen →
“…it is often a hellscape when everyone is honest with everyone else.” — Steven Pinker, Hidden Brain
Steven Pinker · 31 Aug 2026 Listen →

Hosts

Hidden Brain is hosted by Shankar Vedantam and Max Nesterak .

Recent Episodes

  1. 2 Nov 2026

    How Love Really Works

    With Paul Eastwick and Ed LeMay

  2. 26 Oct 2026

    The Story of Stories

    With Tania Lombrozo and Jonathan Rottenberg

  3. 19 Oct 2026

    Do You Have Trouble Sleeping?

    With Chris Barnes

  4. 12 Oct 2026

    Why Am I Unhappy?

    With George Loewenstein

  5. 5 Oct 2026

    When Bad Things Happen to Good People

    With Kate Bowler

  6. 28 Sep 2026

    How to Make a Difference: Part 2

    With Martin Seligman

  7. 21 Sep 2026

    How to Make a Difference: Part 1

    With Martin Seligman

  8. 14 Sep 2026

    Why Conversations Go Wrong

    With Deborah Tannen

  9. 7 Sep 2026

    Blowing Up Your Life

    With Anthony Klotz

  10. 31 Aug 2026

    The Things We Don't Say

    With Steven Pinker

  11. 24 Aug 2026

    What Art Does For Your Brain

    With Daisy Fancourt

  12. 17 Aug 2026

    How to Be A Better Partner

    With Edward LeMay

Guests

Maya Shankar (5 episodes), Adam Grant (5 episodes), Anna Lembke (4 episodes), Tali Sharot (4 episodes), Cal Newport (4 episodes), Dave Evans (4 episodes), Richard Thaler (4 episodes), Dan Pink (4 episodes), Leslie John (4 episodes), Jamil Zaki (4 episodes), Amy Wrzesniewski (3 episodes), Alison Wood Brooks (3 episodes), and 283 more.