Best Carl Zimmer Podcasts (2024)

1
David Badre, "On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done" (Princeton UP, 2020) 42:29

2h ago42:29

42:29

On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (Princeton UP, 2020) is a look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives. Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake? Why does staring at a tax form feel mentally exhausting? Why can your chi…

1
Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE 1:12:58

2h ago1:12:58

1:12:58

Numerous Iron-Age nomadic alliances flourished along the 5000-mile Eurasian steppe route. From Crimea to the Mongolian grassland, nomadic image-making was rooted in metonymically conveyed zoomorphic designs, creating an alternative ecological reality. The nomadic elite nucleus embraced this elaborate image system to construct collective memory in r…

1
Monika Krause, "Model Cases: On Canonical Research Objects and Sites" (U Chicago Press, 2021) 34:07

3d ago34:07

34:07

In Model Cases: On Canonical Research Objects and Sites (University of Chicago Press, 2021), Dr. Monika Krause asks about the concrete material research objects behind shared conversations about classes of objects, periods, and regions in the social sciences and humanities. It is well known that biologists focus on particular organisms, such as mic…

1
Kathryn Hughes, "Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024) 59:44

6d ago59:44

59:44

In 1900, Britain and America were in the grip of a cat craze. An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had now become an object of pride and deep affection. From presidential and royal families who imported exotic breeds to working-class men competing for cash prizes for the fattest tabby, people became en…

1
MHC #181 Dot and Bubble 1.6 1:59:58

7d ago1:59:58

1:59:58

BUBBLES: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Eight featuring Carl, Caleb, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the sixth episode of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor, in Dot and Bubble. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com @…

1
Timothy Barnard, "Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City" (NUS Press, 2024) 31:44

7d ago31:44

31:44

In Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City (NUS Press, 2024), historian Tim Barnard and his colleagues offer an edited volume of historical and ecological analysis, in which various institutions, perspectives and events involving animals provide insight into the development of Singapore as a modern, urban nat…

1
Patti Miller on the newly revised version of Writing True Stories 35:39

10d ago35:39

35:39

Patti Miller joins us to read from and talk about her book Writing True Stories which has just been extensively updated and extended. She talks about what has changed in the 30+ years since she started teaching Life Writing, the impact of technology, her best tip, her own work in progress, and lots more. Find out more about Patti and Writing True S…

1
John Soluri, "Creatures of Fashion: Animals, Global Markets, and the Transformation of Patagonia" (UNC Press, 2024) 1:19:25

10d ago1:19:25

1:19:25

Today, the mention of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego conjures images of idyllic landscapes untouched by globalisation. Creatures of Fashion: Animals, Global Markets, and the Transformation of Patagonia (University of North Carolina Press, 2024) by Dr. John Soluri upends this, revealing how the exploitation of animals—terrestrial and marine, domesti…

1
Samuel Dolbee, "Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 55:53

10d ago55:53

55:53

In this episode, I talk to Samuel Dolbee, Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His book, Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2023). In this highly original environmental history, Samuel Dolbee sheds new light on borders and state formation by following locusts…

1
Wendy Van Camp, Speculative Fiction Writer and Poet 29:14

15d ago29:14

29:14

Show notes: Wendy van Camp The Planets SFWA - Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association The Curate’s Brother: A Jane Austen Variation of Persuasion NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Stuart Horwitz: Blueprint Your Bestseller Learn more about Scrivener, and check out the ebook Take Control of Scrivener. If you like the podcast, please foll…

1
Animal Control 38:42

14d ago38:42

38:42

This week, we examine the sounds humans make in order to monitor, repel, and control beasts. Author Mandy-Suzanne Wong’s Listen, We All Bleed is a creative nonfiction monograph that explores the human-animal relationship through animal-centered sound art. We’ll hear works by Robbie Judkins, Claude Matthews, and Colleen Plumb, interwoven with Wong’s…

1
MHC #180 73 Yards 1.5 1:51:49

15d ago1:51:49

1:51:49

MAGIC: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Eight featuring Carl, Caleb, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the fifth episode of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor, in 73 Yards. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com @StarTrek…

1
Joshua Schuster, "What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals" (Fordham UP, 2023) 57:11

1M ago57:11

57:11

Life on Earth is facing a mass extinction event of our own making. Human activity is changing the biology and the meaning of extinction. What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals (Fordham UP, 2023) examines several key moments that have come to define the terms of extinction over the past two centuries, exploring instances…

1
Christina M. García, "Corporeal Readings of Cuban Literature and Art: The Body, the Inhuman, and Ecological Thinking" (U Florida Press, 2024) 1:06:34

16d ago1:06:34

1:06:34

Christina M. García’s book, Corporeal Readings of Cuban Literature and Art: The Body, the Inhuman, and Ecological Thinking (University Press of Florida, 2024), looks at Cuban literature and art that challenge traditional assumptions about the body. García examines how writers and artists have depicted racial, gender, and species differences through…

1
Joshua Schuster, "What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals" (Fordham UP, 2023) 57:11

16d ago57:11

57:11

Life on Earth is facing a mass extinction event of our own making. Human activity is changing the biology and the meaning of extinction. What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals (Fordham UP, 2023) examines several key moments that have come to define the terms of extinction over the past two centuries, exploring instances…

1
Julia Levitina on The girl From Moscow 35:23

20d ago35:23

35:23

Julia Levitina reads from and talks about her new book The Girl From Moscow including such things as how the book came about, why fiction, how the book follows her own departure from the Soviet Union, the importance of 1983 as her setting, inherited trauma and her protagonists, antisemitism, the theatre, her work-in-progress and lots more. Find out…

1
Tessa Hill and Eric Simons, "At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans" (Columbia UP, 2024) 53:01

29d ago53:01

53:01

At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans (Columbia UP, 2024) takes readers on a journey from California tidepools to Antarctic poles, showcasing myriad efforts to research and protect marine environments. Through insightful interviews, oceanographer Tessa Hill and science journalist Eric Simons offer a compelling exploration of …

1
Duana Fullwiley, "Tabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science" (U California Press, 2024) 1:16:20

1M ago1:16:20

1:16:20

In Tabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science (University of California Press, 2024), Duana Fullwiley has penned an intimate chronicle of laboratory life in the genomic age. She presents many of the influential scientists at the forefront of genetics who have redefined how we practice medicine and law and understand an…

1
Judith Lewis Herman, "Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice" (Basic Books, 2023) 32:44

1M ago32:44

32:44

Judith Herman is renowned for her groundbreaking work with survivors of trauma, including sexual trauma. Her earlier books include Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (Basic Books, 2022) and Father-Daughter Incest (Harvard UP, 2000) The #MeToo movement brought worldwide attention to sexual violen…

1
Episode 39: Kate Heartfield, Historical Fantasy Author 31:06

1M ago31:06

31:06

Kate Heartfield writes historical fantasy novels, games, and stories. Show notes: Kate Heartfield The Embroidered Book The Valkyrie John Gardner, Grendel Aeon Timeline Vajra Chandrasekera, The Saint of Bright Doors Learn more about Scrivener, and check out the ebook Take Control of Scrivener. If you like the podcast, please follow it in Apple Podca…

1
MHC #179 Boom 1.4 1:23:19

1M ago1:23:19

1:23:19

BOOM: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Eight featuring Carl, Caleb, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the fourth episode of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor, in Boom. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com @StarTrekRBG:…

1
Thomas Sparr, "German Jerusalem: The Remarkable Life of a German-Jewish Neighbourhood in the Holy City" (Haus Publishers, 2021) 25:59

1M ago25:59

25:59

In the 1920s, before the establishment of the state of Israel, a group of German Jews settled in a garden city on the outskirts of Jerusalem. During World War II, their quiet community, nicknamed Grunewald on the Orient, emerged as both an immigrant safe haven and a lively expatriate hotspot, welcoming many famous residents including poet-playwrigh…

1
MHC #178.5 Carl & Caleb's Thoughts On Space Babies & The Devil's Chord 29:34

2M ago29:34

29:34

MAESTRO BABIES? Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Eight.B featuring Carl, Caleb, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into (semi?) NEW Doctor Who stories, catching up with Caleb & Carl on the second and third episodes of Ncuti Gatwa's first season, with Space Babies & The Devil's Chord. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipa…

1
MHC #?35 Hans Zimmer and Doctor in Distress 5:57

2M ago5:57

5:57

CUTBITS: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway Question Mark Three Five featuring Sean, Cat, and Eric. Join us as we discuss Han Zimmer's career defining work on Doctor in Distress. WARNING: This discussion contains miscellaneous K-9 and Company, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Sherlock, Class, new WHO, and/or classic SPOILERS pertaining to Doctor W…

1
MHC #178 The Devils Chord 1.3 1:15:48

2M ago1:15:48

1:15:48

MAESTRO: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Eight featuring Cat, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the third episode of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor, in The Devil's Chord. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com @StarT…

1
Jane Hamlett and Julie-Marie Strange, "Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life" (Reaktion Books, 2023) 43:23

2M ago43:23

43:23

Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life (Reaktion, 2023) by Dr. Jane Hamlett & Dr. Julie-Marie Strange tracks the British love affair with pets over the last two centuries, showing how the kinds of pets we keep, as well as how we relate to and care for them, has changed radically. The book describes the growth of pet foods and…

1
MHC #177 Space Babies 1.2 1:07:27

2M ago1:07:27

1:07:27

BABIES? Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Seven Seven featuring Cat, Sean, and Eric. Join us as we dive into a NEW Doctor Who story, discussing the first (or apparently second?) episode of Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor, in Space Babies. Let the banter begin! LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative…

1
At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans 49:35

2M ago49:35

49:35

Today’s book is: At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans (Columbia UP, 2024), by Tessa Hill and Eric Simons, which takes readers beneath the waves and along the coasts, to explore how climate change and environmental degradation have spurred the most radical transformations in human history. The world’s oceans are changing at a…

1
Omar Musa on The Fullness 33:54

2M ago33:54

33:54

Omar Musa joins us to perform from and talk about his new album The Fullness. We talk about collaboration and his amazing collaborators, pushing into liminal spaces of multiple identities, leaning into grief and joy ("our lives given shape by shadows"), ego deflation, how some of the songs on The Fullness were created, the percussiveness of rap and…

1
MHC #120 Last Christmas 8.14 [Lost Episode] 1:11:51

3M ago1:11:51

1:11:51

CHRISTMAS: Welcome to Mostly Harmless Cutaway One Two Zero featuring Cat, Chris, Josh and Eric. Join us as we dive into our thoughts on the 2014 Christmas Special, Last Christmas. Let the banter begin! This is a Lost MHC recorded in 2015. LINKS: @SciFiPartyLine: scifipartyline.com @ProgNeg: prognosisnegative.libsyn.com @StarTrekRBG: startrekrbg.lib…

1
Carl Zimmer, "Life's Edge: The Search For What it Means to be Alive" (Dutton, 2022) 36:28

3M ago36:28

36:28

Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien li…

1
Carl Zimmer, "Life's Edge: The Search For What it Means to be Alive" (Dutton, 2022) 36:28

2M ago36:28

36:28

Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien li…

1
Carl Zimmer, "Life's Edge: The Search For What it Means to be Alive" (Dutton, 2022) 36:28

2M ago36:28

36:28

Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien li…

1
David Tal, "The Making of an Alliance: The Origins and Development of the US-Israel Relationship" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 36:16

2M ago36:16

36:16

Laying the foundation for an understanding of US-Israeli relations, this lively and accessible book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States. Questioning the usual neo-realist approach to understanding this relationship, David Tal instead suggests that the relations …

1
Episode 38: Veronica G. Henry, Fantasy and Mystery Author 30:51

3M ago30:51

30:51

Veronica G. Henry writes fantasy, mystery, and speculative fiction novels. Show notes: Veronica G. Henry The Canopy Keepers Shinrin-yoku - forest bathing How to Store Handwritten Notes and Texts in Scrivener Projects 47North Tracy Clark: Hide Learn more about Scrivener, and check out the ebook Take Control of Scrivener. If you like the podcast, ple…

1
Christian Hansel, "Memory Makes the Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains" (World Scientific, 2021) 1:10:41

2M ago1:10:41

1:10:41

If you're interested in memory, you'll find a lot in Memory Makes the Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains (World Scientific, 2021), from cellular processes to unique and interesting perspectives on autism. Detailed descriptions of cellular processes involved in forming a memory. Connecting those cellular…

1
Kenneth R. Valpey, "Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) 58:00

3M ago58:00

58:00

What does cow care in India have to offer modern Western discourse animal ethics? Why are cows treated with such reverence in the Indian context? Join us as we speak to Kenneth R. Valpey about his new book Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Valpey discusses his methodological odyssey looking at ancient Hindu scriptural acco…

1
Andil Gosine, "Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean" (Duke UP, 2021) 1:06:22

3M ago1:06:22

1:06:22

In Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean (Duke UP, 2021), Andil Gosine engages with questions of humanism, queer theory, and animality to examine and revise understandings of queer desire in the Caribbean. Surveying colonial law, visual art practices, and contemporary activism, Gosine shows how the very concept of homosexuality in the …

1
Charan Ranganath, "Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters" (Doubleday, 2024) 1:02:11

3M ago1:02:11

1:02:11

A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters (Doubleday, 2024), pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-ed…

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