Shankar Vedantam

Defeated

While everyone is focused on the Olympic winners in Rio, we’re zooming in on loss. We have the story of how a world-champion judo player reacted to a devastating defeat, plus a Stopwatch Science on how losing affects us all.

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Lonely Hearts

Jesse always wanted to fall in love. So when the perfect woman started writing him letters, it seemed too good to be true. Because it was. This week, a story about a con — with a twist. When the con was exposed, its victims defended the con artists. They still wanted to believe the lie

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Vacations

Summer vacations often take time, energy and money to plan. Expectations can run unreasonably high. This week in Stopwatch Science, we dive into what research says about how to have a better getaway.

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Me, Me, Me

It doesn’t take a psychologist to see narcissism in our culture of selfies. But we decided to talk to one anyway. Jean Twenge is a researcher and author of the books The Narcissism Epidemic, and Generation Me.

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Smoke & Mirrors

Six months ago, Hidden Brain’s Max Nesterak made a resolution to quit smoking. But as we all know… resolutions are made to be broken. This week, we check in with Max to find out how he’s fared, and give you social science insight to help you quit your bad habits too.

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Terrorism

In the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, we explore how groups such as the Islamic State explicitly try to capitalize on the grievances and individual frustrations of potential “recruits.”

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Google at Work

This week on Hidden Brain, Shankar talks to Google’s Laszlo Bock for insider tips and insights about what works — and what doesn’t work — in recruiting, motivating, and retaining a talented workforce.

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Food for Thought

What do large tables, large breakfasts, and large servers have in common? They all affect how much you eat. This week on Hidden Brain, we look at the hidden forces that drive our diets.

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