Skip to content
Melo Podcasts Home
CategoriesLanguagesFollowing

Episode notes

In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult who predicted the exact date and circumstances of the end of the world, and what happened when that date passed and the world did not end.

You Are Not So Smart

by You Are Not So Smart · English · Tech & Science

You Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.

More from You Are Not So Smart

  1. 24 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 19 min

    327 - The Trolley Solution - Joshua Greene

    Joshua Greene tells us how the brain generates morality, and how his research may have solved the infamous trolley problem and in so doing created a way to encourage people to contribute to charities that do the most good.

  2. 10 Nov 2025 · 46 min

    326 - The Origin of Language - Madeleine Beekman

    Biologist Madeleine Beekman, author of The Origin of Language, presents a completely new and fascinating theory for how language emerged in homo sapiens, in human beings, in you and me and the rest of us.

  3. 27 Oct 2025 · 58 min

    325 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two (rebroadcast)

    In this episode we welcome Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, a political scientist who studies how cognitive dissonance affects all sorts of political behavior.

  4. 29 Sep 2025 · 55 min

    323 - Job Therapy - Tessa West (rebroadcast)

    Are you unhappy at your job? Are you starting to consider a change of career because of how your current work makes you feel? Do you know why?

  5. 15 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    322 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter

    Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking? We explore all of this and then play an episode of How to Be A Better Human featuring psychologist Tenelle Porter telling comedian Chris Duffy how she is researching how to conduct better research into intellectual humility.

  6. 1 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 18 min

    321 - Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown (rebroadcast)

    This episode is about suicide prevention and awareness. Author Kelly Williams Brown tells us about her book, Easy Crafts for the Insane, in which she recounts how, after she gained fame and success as a NYT bestselling author, her world came apart. Then an anti-anxiety-drug-induced manic state nearly ended her life.

  7. 28 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 13 min

    349 - AI Risk - Jesse Richardson

    Jesse Richardson wants to improve our critical thinking about AI risk through the gamification of our rampant speculation. In this episode he explains AI safety isn't just one thing, there are a bunch of different risk profiles and each needs to be considered critically.

  8. 14 Sep 2026 · 44 min

    348 - The Dress - Decoder Ring

    We return to The Dress and the psychological lessons offered by one of the most viral moments in the history of the internet via an episode of Decoder Ring in which David McRaney shares some insights from his book, How Minds Change, with Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring.

  9. 31 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

    347 - Under Alien Skies - Phil Plait

    Astronomer Phil Plait joins us to discuss his book, Under Alien Skies, in which he describes what it would actually be like to travel to Saturn, Mars, asteroids, and distant stars.

  10. 17 Aug 2026 · 1 hr

    346 - No Nocebo Effect - Helen Pilcher

    The suffering is real, but the source may not be what you assume. That's the essence of the nocebo effect, the placebo effect's evil twin. As neuroscientist Dr. Helen Pilcher explains, illness is not simply a matter of biology. Our thoughts, conscious or otherwise, can make lead to symptoms in unexpected ways.

Every episode of You Are Not So Smart →

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.

Get it on Google Play