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  • Why are we obsessed with being special?

    Why are we obsessed with being special?
    Jun 25 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Why are we so obsessed with being special?Today, we’re diving into the strange modern urge to define ourselves at all costs. Online, in politics and beyond identity has become our currency. But as the world tilts into climate collapse, A.I. dread, and whatever mess Donald Trump’s cooking up, maybe it’s time to ask: who are we without all the labels? Emma Kennedy is joined by Alexander Douglas, philosopher and author of Against Identity, to explore why clinging to identity might be doing more harm than good. Buy Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    43 Min.
  • What happens if billionaires become immortal?

    What happens if billionaires become immortal?
    Jun 18 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Billionaires want to live forever – and they might just pull it off. From young blood transfusions to gene-hacking and basement labs chasing eternal youth, the ultra-rich are pouring fortunes into cheating death. But if Bezos, Thiel and co get to slow ageing, what happens to the rest of us? Emma Kennedy talks to Richard Faragher, Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Brighton, and Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University, to find out what could happen if billionaires unlock immortality. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 Min.
  • What is scrolling doing to our brains?

    What is scrolling doing to our brains?
    Jun 11 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got questions. Are you a doomscroller? Are you endlessly flicking through a feed of memes, photos of your coworker’s holidays and articles you’ll never read? It seems harmless at first – but what if it’s rewiring how we think? This week, Emma Kennedy talks to world leading cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Earl K. Miller, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, to find out what scrolling is doing to our brains. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    29 Min.
  • Why does medicine ignore women? with Naga Munchetty

    Why does medicine ignore women? with Naga Munchetty
    Jun 4 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got questions. From misdiagnosed heart attacks to the gaslighting of chronic pain, women’s health has been stuck in triage for far too long. Women are told to trust the system – but what if the system was never built for them in the first place? This week, Emma Kennedy talks to TV presenter and author of It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis, Naga Munchetty, to ask: why does modern medicine keep failing women? Buy It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? with Emma Kennedy by earning us a small commission for every sale. https://bookshop.org/’s fees help support independent bookshops too. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Image courtesy of the BBC Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    35 Min.
  • How could we talk to space aliens?

    How could we talk to space aliens?
    May 28 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got questions. We always imagine first contact with aliens as a conversation. But what if talking is the problem? How could we ever prepare for the awkward opening lines of interstellar diplomacy? Well, here on Earth, we might already have a clue: the octopus. They learn, play, and can even recognise human faces. So could our eight-tentacled friends help us understand intelligence beyond our own planet? Emma Kennedy talks to mollusc expert Dr. Tim Pearce, curator and the head of the Section of Mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to find out how we might one day communicate with life from the stars. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    34 Min.
  • Who do swingers swing?

    Who do swingers swing?
    May 21 2025
    We’re back and we’ve got some questions. The rules around sex are changing: what was once considered taboo is becoming the norm – and even The Guardian is dishing out kinky tips to their readers. Why are we now more honest about our sexual desires than ever before? Why are so many of us willing to engage in these non-traditional desires? Emma Kennedy talks to psychosexual therapist Dr Kate Moyle, author of The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered, to find out just why swingers swing? • Buy Kate’s book The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission from every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. ⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠X⁠ | ⁠Threads⁠ | ⁠Bluesky⁠ WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 Min.
  • A taster of CRIME SCENE, our new podcast – Episode 1: Guns of London

    A taster of CRIME SCENE, our new podcast – Episode 1: Guns of London
    May 6 2025
    There’s a new series of WHY? coming very soon… but in the meantime, try a bite-sized sample of our brand new CRIME SCENE. Every week ex-Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and former Mirror editor Alison Phillips lift the lid on how criminal investigations really work. In our debut episode: The horrific shooting of an innocent nine-year-old girl in Dalston in 2024 laid bare bitter rivalries between London’s armed gangs. Are police they fighting a losing battle against guns in the Capital? Want to know more? Hear the full show and subscribe tp CRIME SCENE for new episodes every Thursday. Presented by Bernard Hogan-Howe and Alison Phillips. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Music by Simon Williams. Produced by Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis and Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Executive Producer: Martin Bojtos. Thanks to Helen Purvis at Knight Ayton Management. CRIME SCENE is a Podmasters Production www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 Min.
  • Why do we have phobias?

    Why do we have phobias?
    Jan 23 2025
    Phobias are the most common anxiety disorder in the world. We’re very familiar with the likes of arachnophobia and claustrophobia, but some people suffer from more unconventional, even bizarre fears – say, a terror of buttons or even spoons. Where do they come from? What do they mean? And can they be treated? Emma Kennedy talks to Joseph E. LeDoux, Professor of Neuroscience at NYU, and clinical psychologist Dr Ali Mattu who has treated anxiety disorders in New York’s top hospitals. • Buy Joseph E. LeDoux’s Anxious: The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Check out Ali Mattu’s YouTube channel here. WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production and theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 Min.