#human-factors
89 episodes
#5192: Why Flying Fear Starts in Your Late Twenties
Sudden fear of flying in adulthood is common — and it's usually not about the plane at all. What the research says, and what actually helps.
#5164: Reading the Child Who Can't Say What Hurts
How pediatric emergency specialists assess and sort children who can't describe their own symptoms — and what their observational discipline teache...
#5151: Why Dry Heat Is a Different Animal
Dry heat at 45°C can be survivable while humid 35°C kills. The physics of sweat, the limits of acclimatization, and what Bedouin trackers see in sand.
#5135: When Reluctant Travelers Make the Best TV
What An Idiot Abroad gets right about comedy, travel, and authenticity — and the rare shows that pull off the same trick.
#5129: Reality TV's Strangest Shows: Nasubi, Fishtank & Total Surveillance
From a naked man in a room to live-streamed god-mode surveillance — the strangest reality formats ever made.
#5126: The Volunteers Who Let Science Shock Them
Charles Dalziel's volunteers endured muscle-locking shocks to create the safety standards we rely on today. What do we owe them?
#5088: What Does a Pilot's Gray Hair Actually Buy You?
Is flight seniority about skill or something harder to measure? We dig into what experience really buys in the cockpit.
#4986: How to Weaponize Small Talk (Anti-Guide)
Turn "How are you?" into a weapon. An escalatory ladder from honest answers to full conversational catastrophe.
#4961: Can You Learn to Be Good at Small Talk?
Why "just be curious" fails anxious people — and what actually works for better conversations.
#4922: The Strangest Corporate Team-Building Exercises That Actually Happened
Trust falls, human knots, and apology rituals — the documented exercises that companies actually run on their employees.
#4921: The Breakfast Detective and Other Cringe Icebreakers
Why do some icebreakers create connection while others produce cringe? A three-factor model explains it all.
#4917: Goats, Coffins, and Cuddle Corners: 10 Real Conference Gimmicks
From goat yoga keynotes to rent-a-mourner funerals — ten documented conference engagement stunts ranked by weirdness.
#4914: Why Aviation's Fatigue Rules Work
How aviation built a system that treats exhaustion as a design problem — and what other industries can learn from it.
#4911: How Airline SOPs Vary Between Operators
Why the same plane type can fly differently depending on which airline's procedures the crew follows.
#4909: Why Aviation Fatigue Rules Should Apply to Your Desk Job
Aviation's strict fatigue rules exist because exhausted pilots crashed planes. Here's why your office job needs the same protections.
#4894: How Diplomats Stay in Touch (and You Can Too)
Friendship maintenance is a learnable skill. Here's what diplomats know about keeping weak ties alive.
#4890: When Conference Choreography Backfires
What a prank about running a diplomatic summit at a bar reveals about real conference design failures.
#4852: The Airport That Feels Like a Mall — But Isn't
Why airports feel normal but aren't — and the engineered calm that hides invisible surveillance.
#4848: Can You Train Yourself to Notice Everything?
The napkin test, three levels of SA, and whether awareness is born or built.
#4845: What Aviation Teaches Us About Attention
How pilots manage hours of boredom without burning out — and what we can steal from their approach.
#4843: Can a Marketplace Strip All the Marketing Copy?
What if a B2C marketplace forced sellers to use purely factual descriptions? We explore why it hasn't worked.
#4828: How to Buy Shorts That Actually Fit
Inseam, rise, vanity sizing — the clothing terms nobody teaches you and why buying shorts online feels impossible.
#4823: How to Disappear in Plain Sight in Conversation
Why grey rocking backfires and how beige rocking lets you set the agenda without anyone noticing.
#4819: The Precision Vacuum: Why Your Motor Isn't the Problem
Why a $50 shop vac with the right accessories can outperform a $800 premium vacuum on detail work.