Latest Episodes
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Eyes Like a Hawk, Blind Like a Bat, and... Ears Like a Fish?
September 3, 2026On the day of the Ig Nobel prize ceremony (which recently moved from Boston to Zürich, Switzerland), Edgar talks with 2025 winner Dr. Julie Mennella & Ig Nobel organizer Richard Baguley. Mennella won for her research into whether babies can sense when their mothers have been eating garlic. In Singapore, two thirds of buildings are certified green – with goals to hit 80% in coming years. Edgar talks with MIT architect John Fernández about how they pulled it off and what it would take to replicate their model in the U.S. Author Amorina Kingdon joins to talk about her new book Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water. -
Why Can't George Santos Use Kalshi?
September 2, 2026Joan Donovan from the Critical Internet Studies Institute guests hosts. MS NOW Senior Reporter Brandy Zadrozny about an industry of conspiracy theory peddling that’s emerged around Charlie Kirk's death, fracturing MAGA circles & creating George Santos just got banned from the betting market Kalshi, for placing wagers on his attendance of the State of the Union. Still, ethical issues abound within the industry. Joan checks in on that story and more – including how seriously we ought to be taking their political predictions – with NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn. Since 2003, the restaurant review show Phantom Gourmet has been a mainstay on local TV networks in Boston. Joan meets host Dan Andelman to learn about the show’s secret recipe for success & why it’s helped to distance themselves from the “foodie” labels. -
What's The Consensus On Political Polling?
September 1, 2026This primary election day, Edgar talks with Stanford social psychologist Jon Krosnick about the state of political polling in the U.S., how the industry has changed in recent years & how the average person ought to consider polls. We’re welcoming back Gal Tziperman Lotan for her weekly Four Things to Know segment. We’re ending the show opening phone & text lines for “Ask the Remodeler,” with Mark Philben from Charlie Allen Renovations. This month, Mark joins with realtor Lauren Holleran to take listener questions about home buying & selling, and which renovations are worth the investment. -
What's Eating The Soft-Shell Clam?
August 31st, 2026We open with GBH’s Esteban Bustillos & reporter Cliff Corcoran from The IX Sports for a check-in on this inaugural season of the Women’s Professional Baseball League. Afterwards, Edgar meets Boston Hunters Captain Alli Schroder, whose background as a firefighter with the BC Wildfire Service was the focus of recent reporting from Esteban.Then, Edgar talks with Curiosity Desk Producer Hannah Loss and researcher David Kimbro on the fate of the soft-shell Ipswich clam – and researchers racing to protect them, in part, so we can continue eating them.And to close, Edgar welcomes back Sean Cash from Tufts Friedman and Northeastern food security expert Gabriela Garcia for a conversation about coffee bean sourcing and how climate change puts the industry at risk. -
How Do You Race With Kinetic Sculptures? (Chaotically)
August 28, 2026 First up, it's our misfit news panel In Case You Missed It. Guests are Rooted EP Tyree Rush and standup comic Jason Cordova. They’ll talk about the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, a Maine meteorologist’s on-air laughing fit, and a world record attempt in Chicago this weekend around the bask liqueur Malört. Then, the ICYMI panel meets Southern Illinois University researcher Lahiru Jayakody over Zoom to talk briefly about developing an edible plastic cookie. Also, On Sunday, NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope a million miles into space. Joining live from the launch site in Florida, Edgar talks with NASA astrophysicist and exoplanet ambassador Anjali Tripathi. We round out by discussing the event few weeks from now the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race. Contestants build & race wacky machines throughout the city on streets, massive mud puddles & across the Merrimack River. Edgar is a judge at the competition. Ahead of the madness, he talks with co-founder Michael Roundy and competitor Tom Calorie. -
Did Meta Really Lose?
August 27, 2026 First, it's another round of the Glitch Report, with misinformation researcher Joan Donovan. Today she’s joined by tech reporter and CNN contributor Jacob Ward for analysis of the $17.1 billion dollar Meta settlement over social media addiction. Then, MIT economist Jon Gruber joins with Nathaniel Hendren, founder and co-director of the group Policy Impacts. They’ll talk about what makes effective government policy, and why policy makers are so quick to get in their own way. Lastly, it's National Peach Day today. We’re celebrating with Dan Souza from America’s Test Kitchen, who'll teach Edgar his not-yet-patented "Rubik’s Technique" for perfect slicing. -
Are We On The Cusp Of Nuclear Fusion?
August 26, 2026First up, we open with a conversation about – what else? – data centers, and the question of how much strain they put on energy grids. We’ll also look at lessons in large-scale data center growth from Virginia & Texas, with Rachel Mural from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. We're moving from data centers to general electricity usage, and how things like vehicle charging and heating & cooling put a more urgent strain on infrastructure. Edgar talks with MIT’s Christopher Knittel & Barbara Kates-Garnick from Tufts about how we can address the issue.We’ll air a field interview about nuclear fission, taped on-site at MIT’s Nuclear Reactor Lab, with managing co-director Gordon Kohse and Sukesh Aghara. NOVA senior producer Caitlin Saks explains how close we are to a future powered by clean, safe nuclear fusion. And how a local fusion expert came to lead the U.K.’s Atomic Energy Authority earlier this month. -
Too Much True Crime?
August 25, 2026 We're hosting a panel conversation around the use of AI in K-12 curriculums. Edgar talks with MTA President and longtime Andover history teacher Matt Bach, edX’s Nina Huntemann, and emerging industries lawyer-slash-activist Shaleen Title. It’s another round of Four Things to Know with Gal Tziperman Lotan from GBH Daily. B.U. researcher Kathryn Coduto reflects on the psychological impact of our cultural obsession with true-crime, in the case of Lindsay Clancy and others. -
How Is AI Playing Ping-Pong?
August 26, 2026 While everyone hums and haws about AI consciousness, Colombia College Philosophy professor Stephen Asthma has been reflecting on the seemingly-conscious & potentially horrifying implications of “wetware biocomputers,” small collections of human stem cells that can be taught to, among other things, play pong. He’ll join to discuss. Tufts nutritionist Lynne Asuman helps decode the dense, confusing, multi-syllabic world of nutrition labels.There’s a feature on the Merriam-Webster website called “Time Traveler,” that lets you search word origins by year. Edgar talks with editor at large Peter Sokolowski about how our words are born and evolve with time, and how understanding their origin expands our understanding of the language we use. -
Why Does Craig LeMoult Have So Many Butterflies?
August 21, 2026 First up, it's the latest edition of ICYMI, our menagerie of misfit news. Joining today are GBH’s Paris Alston & Jeremy Siegel. They’ll talk about Duxbury beachgoers frustrated by bird protections, a massive squid spillage in Rhode Island, and a Guinea Pig sanctuary up in Salisbury that’s housing 350 - 400 guinea pigs at any given time. Then, we chat briefly with Kimie Smothermon and Jacquline Ranger from that Salisbury Guinea Pig Sanctuary. Afterwards, we celebrate of Trans History Month, Edgar talks with Joan Ilacqua from Queer History Boston about the life and legacy of explorer and Harvard lichenologist Dr. Elke Mackenzie. We round out the show talking about the thousands of monarch butterflies in New England that are gearing up for their great migration to Mexico. Edgar talks about what makes them remarkable with lepidopterist Abby Robinson and GBH Reporter Craig LeMoult, who’s been rearing monarchs at his home for years.
