Best Origins OSU Podcasts (2025)

1
James Kimmel, Jr., "The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction—and How to Overcome It" (Random House, 2025) 52:29

5d ago52:29

52:29

There is a hidden addiction plaguing humanity right now: revenge. Researchers have identified retaliation in response to real and imagined grievances as the root cause of most forms of human aggression and violence. From vicious tweets to road rage, murder-suicide, and armed insurrection, perpetrators almost always see themselves as victims seeking…

1
Richard Mainwaring, "What the Ear Hears (And Doesn't): Inside the Extraordinary Everyday World of Frequency" (Sourcebooks, 2022) 1:10:37

6d ago1:10:37

1:10:37

What do the world's loneliest whale, a black hole, and twenty-three people doing Tae Bo all have in common? In 2011, a skyscraper in South Korea began to shake uncontrollably without warning and was immediately evacuated. Was it an earthquake? An attack? No one seemed quite sure. The actual cause emerged later and is utterly fascinating: Twenty-thr…

1
1066: The Normans Conquer England 5:59

8d ago5:59

5:59

The Battle of Hastings, which took place on October 14, 1066 was a pivotal moment in the invasion from across the English Channel that resulted in the conquest of Anglo-Saxon England by William, the French Duke of Normandy. Written by Wenxi Liu. In honor of Wenxi Liu, April 21, 1949 - October 30, 2023.Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video p…

1
Paul Thagard, "Bots and Beasts: What Makes Machines, Animals, and People Smart?" (MIT Press, 2021) 59:54

10d ago59:54

59:54

Octopuses can open jars to get food, and chimpanzees can plan for the future. An IBM computer named Watson won on Jeopardy! and Alexa knows our favorite songs. But do animals and smart machines really have intelligence comparable to that of humans? In Bots and Beasts: What Makes Machines, Animals, and People Smart? (MIT Press, 2021), Paul Thagard l…

1
Athena Aktipis, "The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer" (Princeton UP, 2020) 57:38

11d ago57:38

57:38

When we think of the forces driving cancer, we don’t necessarily think of evolution. But evolution and cancer are closely linked because the historical processes that created life also created cancer. The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand and Treat Cancer (Princeton UP, 2020) delves into this extraordinary relationship, and shows tha…

1
Emilio Elizalde, "The True Story of Modern Cosmology: Origins, Main Actors and Breakthroughs" (Springer, 2021) 1:28:20

11d ago1:28:20

1:28:20

This book tells the story of how, over the past century, dedicated observers and pioneering scientists achieved our current understanding of the universe. It was in antiquity that humankind first attempted to explain the universe often with the help of myths and legends. This book, however, focuses on the time when cosmology finally became a true s…

1
Liza Black, "Picturing Indians: Native Americans in Film, 1941-1960" (U Nebraska Press, 2020) 39:09

10d ago39:09

39:09

Behind the braided wigs, buckskins, and excess bronzer that typified the mid-century "filmic Indian" lies a far richer, deeper history of Indigenous labor, survival, and agency. This history takes center stage in historian Liza Black's new book, Picturing Indians: Native Americans in Film, 1941-1960 (University of Nebraska Press, 2020), which looks…

1
David J. Helfand, "The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom" (Columbia UP, 2023) 1:02:13

12d ago1:02:13

1:02:13

Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed—give or take a few billion. And there’s hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.9999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to peer into their internal states. In…

1
Kit W. Myers, "The Violence of Love: Race, Family, and Adoption in the United States"(U California Press, 2025) 1:17:50

11d ago1:17:50

1:17:50

This episode features Dr. Kit W. Myers, associate professor of History and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced, discussing his book The Violence of Love: Race, Family and Adoption in the United States, which was published by the University of California Press in January 2025. The Violence of Love challenges the …

1
War of the Pacific, 1879-1884: Chile vs. Peru & Bolivia 9:12

14d ago9:12

9:12

The War of the Pacific, which pitted Chile against the allied forces of Peru and Bolivia, had a profound, long-lasting impact on the geopolitical balance of South America.Written by Candela Marini. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Hannah Keller. A textual version is available a…

1
On Bullshit in AI 20:40

19d ago20:40

20:40

Today we’re continuing our series on Harry Frankfurt’s seminal work, On Bullshit. I have the privilege to speak with Arvind Narayanan co-author of the book AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What it Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference (Princeton University Press, 2024). Arvind is the perfect guest to explore the subject of bullshi…

1
Jennifer Bess, "Where the Red-Winged Blackbirds Sing: The Akimel O'odham and Cycles of Agricultural Transformation in the Phoenix Basin" (U Colorado Press, 2021) 1:00:22

19d ago1:00:22

1:00:22

Where the Red-Winged Blackbirds Sing: The Akimel O'odham and Cycles of Agricultural Transformation in the Phoenix Basin (UP of Colorado, 2021) is not a simple story of environmental decline and colonial imposion. In this brilliantly interdisciplinary book, Goucher College peace studies professor Jennifer Bess instead weaves a complicated narrative …

1
Anil Ananthaswamy, "Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Maths Behind Modern AI" (Dutton, 2024) 1:07:21

20d ago1:07:21

1:07:21

Machine learning systems are making life-altering decisions for us: approving mortgage loans, determining whether a tumor is cancerous, or deciding if someone gets bail. They now influence developments and discoveries in chemistry, biology, and physics—the study of genomes, extrasolar planets, even the intricacies of quantum systems. And all this b…

1
Book Talk 67 : The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science 1:07:01

21d ago1:07:01

1:07:01

What is reliable knowledge? Listen to philosopher Michael Strevens, author of The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science, to understand how science discovers the truth. At the current moment, when expertise is under attack and the idea of truth is contested from all sides, Strevens explains the remarkable success of science’s “…

1
Religion in the Lands That Became America 1:10:08

21d ago1:10:08

1:10:08

Until now, the standard narrative of American religious history has begun with English settlers in Jamestown or Plymouth and remained predominantly Protestant and Atlantic. Driven by his strong sense of the historical and moral shortcomings of the usual story, Thomas A. Tweed offers a very different narrative in this ambitious new history. He begin…

1
Kurt D. Fausch, "A Reverence for Rivers: Imagining an Ethic for Running Waters" (OSU Press, 2025) 35:28

22d ago35:28

35:28

In A Reverence for Rivers: Imagining an Ethic for Running Waters (OSU Press, 2025), Kurt Fausch draws on his experience as a stream ecologist, his interest in Indigenous cultures, and a thoughtful consideration of environmental ethics to explore human values surrounding freshwater ecosystems. Focusing on seven rivers across the globe—from the Salmo…

1
Kurt D. Fausch, "A Reverence for Rivers: Imagining an Ethic for Running Waters" (OSU Press, 2025) 33:28

22d ago33:28

33:28

In A Reverence for Rivers: Imagining an Ethic for Running Waters (OSU Press, 2025), Kurt Fausch draws on his experience as a stream ecologist, his interest in Indigenous cultures, and a thoughtful consideration of environmental ethics to explore human values surrounding freshwater ecosystems. Focusing on seven rivers across the globe—from the Salmo…

1
Rene Almeling, Lisa Campo-Engelstein, Brian T. Nguyen eds., "Seminal: On Sperm, Health, and Politics" (NYU Press, 2025) 40:01

28d ago40:01

40:01

In Seminal: On Sperm, Health, and Politics, Rene Almeling, Lisa Campo-Engelstein, and Brian T. Nguyen come together across disciplines to offer a kaleidoscopic view of the relationship between sperm, health, and the intersecting politics of gender, race, and reproduction. Always insightful and often provocative, the essays in this unprecedented col…

1
Robert N. Spengler, "Nature's Greatest Success: How Plants Evolved to Exploit Humanity" (Univ of California Press, 2025) 35:59

28d ago35:59

35:59

The 15,000-year story of how grass seduced humanity into being its unwitting labor force--and the science behind it. Domesticated crops were not human creations, and agriculture was not simply invented. As Robert N. Spengler shows, domestication was the result of an evolutionary process in which people played a role only unwittingly and as actors i…

1
Michael John Witgen, "Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America" (UNC Press, 2021) 59:32

30d ago59:32

59:32

Against long odds, the Anishinaabeg resisted removal, retaining much of their land in the Old Northwest—what’s now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Their success rested partly on their roles as sellers of natural resources and buyers of trade goods, which made them key players in the political economy of plunder that drove white settlement and U…

1
American Gothic Reimagined, an Interview with Barbara DuMetz 22:09

1M ago22:09

22:09

Barbara DuMetz reflects on her powerful photograph, titledAmerican Gothic. She shares how the image—capturing defiance and determination—became a revolutionary statement: "We’re here, we’re not going anywhere, doing stuff on our terms now."Discover more about her story and the book that explores these iconic moments in history:Order the book:⁠amzn.…

1
Paul Sen, "Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe" (Scribner, 2021) 1:14:50

1M ago1:14:50

1:14:50

Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe (Scribner, 2021) tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscien…

1
Michael Santiago, a Picturing Black History Interview 18:04

1M ago18:04

18:04

Michael Santiago, an award-winning photojournalist, shares his experience capturing history in real time. From documenting the final crossing of Civil Rights icon John Lewis to reflecting on the power of photography in shaping our understanding of the past, Santiago’s work is a testament to the impact of visual storytelling. In this exclusive inter…

1
Savannah Mandel on an Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration 1:02:35

1M ago1:02:35

1:02:35

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with space anthropologist, writer, and Virginia Tech doctoral candidate, Savannah Mandel, about her book, Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration (Chicago Review Press, 2025). The book uses history, ethnography, participant observation in policy-making, and other forms of evidence …

1
Kevin J. Tracey, "The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes" (Penguin, 2025) 30:55

1M ago30:55

30:55

The vagus nerve is fundamental to our health and vitality, coordinating critical functions from the precise heartbeat we need to exercise or rest to the balance of appetite and digestion. Made up of 200,000 fibers, the vagus nerve sends thousands of electrical signals every second between your brain and your most important organs. Yet despite its e…

1
Edward Tenner, "Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences" (APS Press, 2025) 57:20

1M ago57:20

57:20

How did the addition of lifeboats after the Titanic shipwreck contribute to another tragedy in Chicago harbor three years later? How efficient are wild animals as investors, and how do dog breeds become national symbols? Why have scientific breakthroughs so often originated in the study of shadows? How did the file card prepare scholarship and comm…

1
The Bhopal Chemical Gas Disaster 8:40

1M ago8:40

8:40

On the night of 2-3 December 1984, a Union Carbide chemical facility at Bhopal leaked over 27 tons of the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate, poisoning tens of thousands of people in the middle of the night, most of whom were sleeping in their homes nearby. Written by Madhumita Dutta. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Hann…

1
Pooja Agarwal, Cynthia Nebel, Veronica Yan, "Smart Teaching Stronger Learning: Practical Tips From 10 Cognitive Scientists" (Unleash Learning Press, 2025) 1:10:22

1M ago1:10:22

1:10:22

How can I help my students not only learn my course material but also retain and transfer that information? This is a question that has plagued and intrigued teachers for centuries. In Smart Teaching Stronger Learning: Practical Tips for 10 Cognitive Scientists, the authors provide their readers with evidence-based practices for immediate classroom…

1
Margaret Cook Andersen, "Fertile Expectations: The Politics of Involuntary Childlessness in Twentieth-Century France" (Manchester UP, 2025) 42:35

1M ago42:35

42:35

An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, Fertile expectations: The politics of involuntary childlessness in twentieth-century France (Manchester University Press, 2025) by Dr. Margaret Andersen explores fraught political and cultural meanings attached to the notion of an "ideal" family size. When s…

1
The Legacy of the Magna Carta 5:00

2M ago5:00

5:00

June 15, 1215, witnessed the signing of the landmark Magna Carta, the medieval English historic legal document that is seen as the origin of many modern-day legal rights and constitutional principles. At that time, England was in civil war as disaffected barons took up arms against King John, who reigned 1199-1216.Written by Rebecca Favorito. Narra…

1
Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper, "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins" (University of Chicago Press, 2025) 57:29

2M ago57:29

57:29

A thrilling exploration of competing cosmological origin stories, comparing new scientific ideas that upend our very notions of space, time, and reality. By most popular accounts, the universe started with a bang some 13.8 billion years ago. But what happened before the Big Bang? And how do we know it happened at all? Here prominent cosmologist Nia…

1
Char Miller, "Burn Scars: A Documentary History of Fire Suppression, from Colonial Origins to the Resurgence of Cultural Burning" (Oregon State UP, 2024) 1:20:58

2M ago1:20:58

1:20:58

Fire is a means of control and has been deployed or constrained to levy power over individuals, societies, and ecologies. In Burn Scars: A Documentary History of Fire Suppression, from Colonial Origins to the Resurgence of Cultural Burning (Oregon State UP, 2024), Pomona College professor Char Miller has edited a collection of documents and essays …

1
The Birth of Peronism 8:56

2M ago8:56

8:56

On October 17, 1945, hundreds of thousands of Juan Perón's supporters clogged the streets of Buenos Aires marking a consequential moment in Argentina’s history and the birth of Peronism.Written by Steven Hyland. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is…

1
Louis P. Masur, "A Journey North: Jefferson, Madison, and the Forging of a Friendship" (Oxford UP, 2025) 38:02

2M ago38:02

38:02

Between May 21 and June 16, 1791, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison went on a trip together through Upstate New York and parts of New England on horseback. This "northern journey" came at a moment of tension for the new nation, one in whose founding these Virginians and political allies had played key roles. The Constitution was ratified and Presi…

1
Liam Graham, "Molecular Storms: The Physics of Stars, Cells and the Origin of Life" (Springer Nature, 2023) 53:01

2M ago53:01

53:01

Why is the universe the way it is? Wherever we look, we find ordered structures: from stars to planets to living cells. Molecular Storms: The Physics of Stars, Cells and the Origin of Life (Springer Nature, 2023) shows that the same driving force is behind structure everywhere: the incessant random motion of the components of matter. Physicists cal…

1
Elliot Lichtman, "The Computer Always Wins: A Playful Introduction to Algorithms through Puzzles and Strategy Games" (MIT Press, 2025) 46:46

2M ago46:46

46:46

In The Computer Always Wins: A Playful Introduction to Algorithms through Puzzles and Strategy Games (MIT Press, 2025), Elliot Lichtman will teach you some of computer science’s most powerful concepts in a refreshingly accessible way: exploring them through word games, board games, and strategy games you already know. Learn recursion by playing tic…

1
Maggie M. Fink and Shahir S. Rizk, "The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life" (Belknap Press, 2025) 30:58

2M ago30:58

30:58

An awe-inspiring journey into the world of proteins--how they shape life, and their remarkable potential to heal our bodies and our planet. Each fall, a robin begins the long trek north from Gibraltar to her summer home in Central Europe. Nestled deep in her optic nerve, a tiny protein turns a lone electron into a compass, allowing her to see north…

1
L. Sasha Gora, "Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada" (University of Toronto Press, 2025) 1:00:20

2M ago1:00:20

1:00:20

Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2025) by Dr. L. Sasha Gora explores the complex relationships between wild plants and introduced animals, Indigenous foodways, and Canadian regulations. Blending food studies with environmental history, the book examines how cuisines reflect social and political…

1
Mary A. Armstrong and Susan L. Averett, "Disparate Measures: The Intersectional Economics of Women in STEM Work" (MIT Press, 2024) 42:47

2M ago42:47

42:47

An exploration of workplace participation and earnings patterns for diverse women in US STEM professions that upends the myth that STEM work benefits women economically. Seen as part economic driver, part social remedy, STEM work is commonly understood to benefit both the US economy and people—particularly women—from underrepresented groups. But wh…

1
Andrew Herscher, "Under the Campus, the Land: Anishinaabe Futuring, Colonial Non-Memory, and the Origin of the University of Michigan" (U Michigan Press, 2025) 42:33

2M ago42:33

42:33

In the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, Anishinaabe leaders granted land to a college where their children could be educated. At the time, the colonial settlement of Anishinaabe homelands hardly extended beyond Detroit in what settlers called the “Michigan Territory.” Four days after the Treaty of Fort Meigs was signed, the First College of Michigania wa…

1
Sladja Blažan, "Ghosts and Their Hosts: The Colonization of the Invisible World in Early America" (University of Virginia Press, 2025) 53:18

2M ago53:18

53:18

In Ghosts and Their Hosts: The Colonization of the Invisible World in Early America (University of Virginia Press, 2025), Dr. Sladja Blažan explains the foundational role of ghost stories in fostering the cultural imaginary, offering a medium for framing political ideologies, philosophical thought, racial anxieties, and social concerns. Ghosts and …

1
Fernando Pérez-Montesinos, "Landscaping Indigenous Mexico: The Liberal State and Capitalism in the Purépecha Highlands" (U Texas Press, 2025) 1:15:56

2M ago1:15:56

1:15:56

Fernando Pérez-Montesinos's first book, Landscaping Indigenous Mexico: The Liberal State and Capitalism in the Purépecha Highlands (University of Texas Press, 2025), focuses on the Purépecha people of Michoacán, Mexico, and examines why and how long-standing patterns of communal landholding changed in response to liberal policies, railroad expansio…

1
Alfonso Martinez Arias, "The Master Builder: How the New Science of the Cell Is Rewriting the Story of Life" (Basic Books, 2023) 58:56

3M ago58:56

58:56

What defines who we are? For decades, the answer has seemed obvious: our genes, the “blueprint of life.” In The Master Builder: How the New Science of the Cell Is Rewriting the Story of Life, biologist Alfonso Martinez Arias argues we’ve been missing the bigger picture. It’s not our genes that define who we are, but our cells. While genes are impor…

1
Coll Thrush, "Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific" (University of Washington Press, 2025) 32:13

3M ago32:13

32:13

The Northwest Coast of North America is a treacherous place. Unforgiving coastlines, powerful currents, unpredictable weather, and features such as the notorious Columbia River bar have resulted in more than two thousand shipwrecks, earning the coastal areas of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island the moniker “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Beginni…

1
Jack Ashby, "Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums" (Penguin, 2025) 55:12

3M ago55:12

55:12

In Nature's Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums (Penguin, 2025), zoologist Jack Ashby shares hidden stories behind the world’s iconic natural history museums, from enormous mounted whale skeletons to cabinets of impossibly tiny insects. Look closely and all is not as it seems: these museums are not as natural, Ashby sho…

1
Top 10 Popes Before 1500 12:02

3M ago12:02

12:02

Professor Kristina Sessa, an historian of Late Antiquity, presents her top 10 popes based on overall historical significance, appetite for intrigue, and messy electoral politics.Written and narrated by Dr. Kristina Sessa. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.…

1
Jaap de Roode, "Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves" (Princeton UP, 2025) 45:10

3M ago45:10

45:10

Ages before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature's pharmacy to heal themselves. Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves (Princeton University Press, 2025) reveals what researchers are now learning about the medical wonders of the animal world. In this visionary book, Jaap de Rood…

1
Mitchell Thomashow, "To Know the World: A New Vision for Environmental Learning" (MIT Press, 2020) 36:07

3M ago36:07

36:07

Why we must rethink our residency on the planet to understand the connected challenges of tribalism, inequity, climate justice, and democracy. How can we respond to the current planetary ecological emergency? In To Know the World: A New Vision for Environmental Learning (MIT Press, 2020), Mitchell Thomashow proposes that we revitalize, revisit, and…

1
Janine Schipper, "Conservation Is Not Enough: Rethinking Relationships with Water in the Arid Southwest" ((U Wyoming Press, 2025) 41:40

3M ago41:40

41:40

Conservation Is Not Enough: Rethinking Relationships with Water in the Arid Southwest (University of Wyoming Press, 2025) by Dr. Janine Schipper reconsiders the most basic assumptions about water issues in the Southwest, revealing why conservation alone will not lead to a sustainable water future. The book undertakes a thorough examination of the p…

1
Matthew Shindell, "Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps and Matter" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 1:09:09

3M ago1:09:09

1:09:09

The first book to combine exquisite cartographical charts of the Moon with a thorough exploration of the Moon’s role in popular culture, science, and myth. President John F. Kennedy’s rousing “We will go to the Moon” speech in 1961 before the US Congress catalyzed the celebrated Apollo program, spurring the US Geological Survey’s scientists to map …

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