Relationships
297 episodes
#6122: Explaining Misophonia to the People You Love
18.4% of adults meet the threshold for misophonia. Only 13.6% have ever heard the word. Here's how to bridge that gap.
#6116: Why Noise Makes You Snap at Your Kid
The drill stops, but the anger doesn't. What Glass and Singer found about noise, control, and the tantrum two hours later.
#6057: Why Your Recorded Voice Sounds Like a Stranger
Bone conduction, brain prediction, and identity — why hearing your own voice on tape makes you cringe, and what changes when AI can speak for you.
#6031: Why Two Parents Alone Can't Carry a Toddler
Daycare didn't fix it. The research says the problem isn't hours — it's fragmented hours, portable mental load, and a village that isn't there.
#5976: What North of North Assumes You Know About Inuit
A crash course in Inuit history, language, and modern life — the context the show assumes you already have.
#5928: Believing Without Belonging: The Religion of One
A growing crowd believes in God but belongs to no tradition. The research has a name for them — and the numbers are messier than you'd think.
#5916: Grey Rocking Meets OPSEC: A Family Firewall
Grey rocking has no clinical trials—just a 2012 blog post. What happens when you rebuild it on need-to-know and OPSEC?
#5879: Why Experts Don't Follow Their Own Advice
Doctors eat worse, dentists drink more soda, and physicians skip the screenings they prescribe. The data behind the "do as I say" gap.
#5867: Toddler Meltdowns After Daycare, Explained
Why your toddler is cheerful at daycare and falls apart the second you walk in — and what the cortisol data actually says.
#5863: What Shabbat Does to Your Brain That Sleep Can't
Shabbat's real power isn't sleep — it's psychological detachment. And the data says a vacation day doesn't do the same thing.
#5862: One Show, Eighteen Feeds: Apple's Duplicate Content Rules
One show, eighteen topic feeds. Apple's duplicate content rules have a specific answer — and it isn't the one you'd hope for.
#5855: Spaghetti Hands: The Science of First Steps
What the research actually says about helping a toddler walk — and why holding both hands may do nothing at all.
#5834: Dead Man's Switches: Alerts vs. Final Notices
Same mechanism, opposite goals: hardware that fires in two seconds when you fall, and services that wait sixty days to confirm you're gone.
#5810: Standoffs, Anchors, and the Outlet Behind the Whiteboard
A missing whiteboard, a metal-stud surprise, and the thread mismatch that turns one fastener into two.
#5808: Ninety Percent of Cries Answered in 25 Seconds
Forager infants get nine hours of attentive care a day from up to 15 people. What would daycare look like if we copied that?
#5791: How to Become an Honorary Consul for a Tiny Nation
A retired consultant in Wales represents Kiribati from his house. Can you engineer that on purpose? The playbook, the vetoes, and the plaque.
#5789: Build First, Ask Later: Hermits Who Dug Cathedrals
No permits, no blueprints, no training. Two categories of builders who did the unreasonable — and what they share.
#5785: The Worst Mascots Ever Made
From a clown selling sugar cereal to a blue blob Atlanta couldn't name, we count down the mascots that should never have left the sketch.
#5780: Why Keyhole Slots Never Line Up
Keyhole slots are on everything and standardized on nothing. Here's why the spacing never matches and which screw actually works.
#5762: Why 8 PM Bedtime Feels Wrong for Night Owls
A night-owl dad asks if 8 PM bedtime is "for old people" — and the circadian science on wake maintenance zones says his instinct is right.
#5688: Can We Normalize Breaking Into Song in Public?
Daniel wants to sing in the sandwich line. Here's what the science says about group singing, embarrassment, and why we don't.
#5667: Can Your Kid Inherit the Way You Sleep?
A dad noticed his toddler sleeps with one arm raised — just like him. Is that genes, imitation, or a story we tell ourselves?
#5650: Electricians, Rentals, and the Skill That Waits
A day of wiring a rental sparks three threads: skills that return, a guild older than its technology, and spaces you can't touch.
#5618: When Quitting TV Isn't a Decision
Daniel never chose to give up TV — the move did it for him. What happens when habits break by accident instead of willpower?