When we think of imagination, we assume it’s reserved for creatives: painters and poets, actors and musicians. But the truth is, we use our imagination almost constantly: anytime we reminisce, anticipate, plan, or daydream. Research suggests we spend between a quarter and half of our waking hours with our minds wandering elsewhere, away from what’s right in front of us. But why? And what’s actually happening in our brains when we drift?

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Adam Zeman, author of The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination, about how imagination shapes every aspect of human experience, from memory and planning to creativity and perception itself. Dr. Zeman is a UK-based neurologist whose book blends neuroscience with the humanities and the arts, drawing on evolutionary biology, child development, literature, and music to paint a picture of the imaginative mind. He examines William Blake’s visionary poetry, Mozart’s ability to hear entire concertos in his head, and the creative insights behind scientific breakthroughs like the discovery of benzene.

But Dr. Zeman also reveals imagination’s darker side. A wandering mind can be an unhappy mind—excessive rumination contributes to depression, and our ability to simulate future scenarios can trap us in anxiety. From psychosomatic illness to the placebo effect, imagination operates at every level of human consciousness, for better and worse.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why we spend between 25-50% of our waking hours with our minds wandering

• What happens in the brain when we daydream, reminisce, or imagine the future

• Aphantasia—the inability to visualize images—and what it reveals about imagination

• How some people experience vivid mental imagery while others have none

• Why perception might be a form of controlled hallucination shaped by expectation

• The creative process of writers and artists, from William Blake to Mozart

• How imagination contributes to scientific breakthroughs and problem-solving

• The darker side of imagination: rumination, anxiety, and depression

• The mysteries of psychosomatic illness and the placebo effect

• Why understanding imagination might be the key to understanding consciousness itself

When it comes to sleep, most of us know what to do, we just don’t do it. We know we should put our phones down, create a bedtime routine, and skip the late-day caffeine. Yet one in eight Americans has chronic insomnia, and over half report frequent sleep difficulties. So what’s the disconnect?

In this episode, I sit down with Morgan Adams, a certified sleep coach who spent years battling insomnia herself. After two breast cancer diagnoses forced her to take her health seriously, Morgan cracked the science of sleep and created her SleepEasy Method™, an approach that’s helped countless people escape the insomnia trap.

Together, we explore what’s really getting in the way of good sleep, the misconceptions that keep us stuck, and the practical, sustainable solutions that actually work, beyond the advice we’ve all heard a thousand times.

Learn more about Morgan Adams at https://www.morganadamswellness.com.

What can the dying teach us about living well? In this episode, I sit down with Micaelah Morrill, a death doula who helps people and families navigate the final chapter of life with grace and meaning. We met at a Death Café, an open forum where strangers talk honestly about mortality, loss, and what it means to make peace with death.

Our conversation explores what it’s like to sit beside the dying, the lessons we can learn from their most common regrets, and how confronting mortality can bring clarity to the way we live. If you’ve ever wondered how to live more intentionally—or how to find peace after loss—this one’s for you.

☕ Find a Death Café near you at https://deathcafe.com.

Beer has been part of the human story for millennia. It helped fuel debates in revolutionary taverns, followed soldiers to war, brought strangers together in colonial alehouses and modern taprooms. From the Founding Fathers’ home brews to today’s experimental IPAs, beer has been a constant companion to our species. But why? What is it about this fermented beverage that’s kept us coming back for ten thousand years?

In this episode, I step inside Boston’s Aeronaut Brewing Co. with head brewer Mark Bowers for a behind-the-scenes look at how great craft beer comes to life. Mark’s journey is fascinating. He’s a former PhD chemist who was in San Francisco during the mid-1960s birth of the craft brewing movement. He’s been brewing his own beer since he was a teenager, and after years working in R&D labs, he jumped at the chance to start brewing for Aeronaut in 2014, a brewery whose philosophy is “brewed with curiosity and backed by science.”

The spark for this episode came back in March when I visited The Alchemist Brewery in Vermont to drink Heady Topper, a legendary IPA that’s hard to come by in Boston. Sitting there, soaking it all in, I started thinking about the craft behind my favorite beers. That’s when I realized I needed to get a brewer on the show. I’ve been a fan of Aeronaut for years, so I reached out and Mark said yes immediately.

We had a wide-ranging conversation about the evolution of craft beer, the brewing process, the equipment and ingredients, prototype beers and wild experiments. And then we tasted everything, from lagers and IPAs to seltzers and sours.

What struck me most was a theme that kept bubbling up: beer is really about bringing people together. It’s about being social, having fun, discovering new flavors, and sometimes even sparking ideas and getting things done. As Edward Slingerland wrote in Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, alcohol “helps us be more creative. It helps us to be more communal. It helps us to cooperate on a large scale. So it solved a bunch of adaptive problems that we uniquely face as a species.”

Now, I know some younger drinkers are moving away from beer toward cannabis and other alternatives. And there’s nothing wrong with that; plenty of people report better sleep, more energy, and lower health risks when they cut back on alcohol. But I want to make a little case for enjoying beer, responsibly and in moderation, because it’s been part of our story since the beginning.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Mark’s journey from PhD chemist to brewmaster and how science shapes great beer

• The evolution of IPAs and why they’ve dominated craft brewing

• What happens behind the scenes at a modern brewery: equipment, techniques, experiments

• Aeronaut’s philosophy: “brewed with curiosity and backed by science”

• Why we sampled lagers, IPAs, seltzers, and sours (and what I learned)

• How beer has brought people together for ten thousand years

• The role of beer in American history, from colonial taverns to revolutionary debates

• Why alcohol may have helped us build civilization by making us more creative and communal

• The shift away from beer among younger drinkers and why moderation still matters

• What makes a great craft beer, and how to appreciate it beyond just the buzz

💡 Learn more about Aeronaut Brewing Co.: https://www.aeronautbrewing.com/about/our-story/

💡 Read Mark’s story from PhD to brewmaster: https://www.aeronautbrewing.com/meet-the-aeronauts-mark/

💡 About Curiously: https://www.curiouslypod.com/

I’ve always believed that the questions we ask reveal as much about us as the answers we give. So when I had the chance to set up a booth at the MIT Museum’s 2025 Cambridge Science Carnival, I brought one question with me: “If science could solve one problem for humanity in the next 50 years, what would you choose—and why?”

The carnival buzzed with over a hundred booths celebrating curiosity. Families roamed the grounds, kids wide-eyed at hands-on experiments. I was there representing my own small corner of the world: science fiction with heart. I’d brought copies of my books, The Empathy Academy and The Healing Book, and by the end of the day, every single one had found a new home. But more than selling books, I wanted to listen.

Fourteen people, ranging from an 11-year-old boy to adults in their sixties, stepped up to my podcast microphone. Their answers were as varied as they were revealing. Some wanted to eliminate waste, others dreamed of world peace or clean water for everyone. One kid just wanted dinosaurs back. There was talk of a human satisfaction index, of solutions that felt urgent and others that felt aspirational. Listening back, I kept thinking: some of these can’t wait 50 years.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Fourteen voices answering one big question about science and humanity’s future

• Why clean water, waste elimination, and world peace topped the list

• An 11-year-old’s passionate case for bringing back dinosaurs

• The idea of a human satisfaction index and what it would measure

• Perspectives across generations, from kids to adults in their sixties

• My own answer to the question I asked everyone else

• What these responses reveal about our hopes, fears, and priorities

• Why some scientific breakthroughs feel too urgent to wait 50 years

• The spirit of curiosity alive at the MIT Museum’s Cambridge Science Carnival

• How asking the right question can open up unexpected conversations

There’s something both terrifying and oddly comforting about knowing we have four billion years left. The sun will expand, swallow Earth, and explode. We need to leave. The question isn't whether we should go, but how we'll survive once we do.

I’ve always been drawn to stories about humanity’s future in space. Not the sanitized Hollywood versions, but the messy, complicated reality of what it would actually take. When I discovered Dr. Christopher Mason’s book, The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds, I knew I had to talk to him. Here’s a geneticist and computational biologist who’s been a Principal Investigator on 11 NASA missions, laying out an actual roadmap for reengineering ourselves to survive in space.

What followed was a conversation that moved from CRISPR gene editing to exowombs, from the ethics of human enhancement to what life might look like on Mars in 2151. We talked about splitting atoms and landing on moons, about the kind of imagination it takes to see beyond what seems impossible today. This conversation felt like a reminder that the bold ideas that seem like science fiction today become tomorrow’s reality.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The 500-year roadmap for humanity’s survival beyond Earth

• How CRISPR and genetic engineering could adapt us for life in space

• What exowombs are and why they might be necessary on distant worlds

• The ethics of reengineering ourselves and selecting for desirable traits

• Why we have a moral obligation to safeguard life by expanding into space

• What life could look like in 2151: Moon colonies, Mars stations, and beyond

• Dr. Mason’s work on 11 NASA missions and what he’s learned about space biology

• Whether humans are psychologically ready for the isolation of deep space

• How imagination and bold thinking drive scientific progress

• Why we can’t afford to be small-minded about humanity’s future

💡 Learn more about Dr. Christopher E. Mason: https://www.masonlab.net/

💡 Read Dr. Mason’s book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543842/the-next-500-years/

💡 About Curiously: https://www.curiouslypod.com/

Since starting the podcast in 2023, I’ve made a conscious effort to stay out of the way. I ask questions, I guide guests through their stories, I stay detached. I never wanted to be one of those hosts who dominates their show with their own opinions. But staying detached comes at a cost: listeners don’t really get to know me. And in podcasting, that connection matters. People want to feel like they know the person behind the mic.

One morning over breakfast, I had the TV on and caught an episode of Jenna & Friends. Jenna Bush and her guest were casually discussing whether it’s weird to share your phone location with friends and family. The guest wanted to track her kids; her husband wasn’t on board. It was simple, relatable, and somehow compelling. I realized: people love hearing familiar voices they trust weigh in on everyday topics and current events, even when they don’t always agree. There’s something engaging about watching two people wrestle with a relatable idea in real time.

So I decided to try something new: a “Talk of the Table” format, inspired by CBS Mornings, where hosts bring topics or news stories that grabbed their attention and just talk them over. For my first attempt, I brought back a past guest as co-host: Katie Concannon, who joined me to discuss her work in Ayurveda and her wellness business, Frost and Float Wellness Collective. After that episode aired, people told Katie their favorite parts were when we went off-script—when we digressed into something funny or personal. That’s why she felt like the perfect person to experiment with.

We each brought a handful of topics that caught our attention recently—current events, headlines, cultural moments—and we just went back and forth: reacting, sharing takes, trading stories, letting the conversation flow wherever it wanted. No structure. No scripted transitions. Just two people talking about what’s happening right now.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Headlines and cultural moments that made us stop scrolling

• Hot takes, honest reactions, and unfiltered opinions on what’s happening now

• Stories that made us laugh, cringe, or rethink something

• The balance between staying informed and getting overwhelmed by the news

• What it’s like trying a new podcast format in real time

• Why letting more personality show might matter more than perfect preparation

💡 Learn more about Katie Concannon’s work

Ayurveda with Katie: https://www.ayurvedawithkatie.com/

Frost and Float Spa: https://www.frostandfloatspa.com/

💡 About Curiously: https://www.podpage.com/curiously/

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by space. As a kid, I had a poster of the Eagle Nebula on my bedroom wall and a telescope I used to study the moon. My favorite movie is Contact, based on Carl Sagan’s novel about searching for extraterrestrial life.

Thinking about the cosmos gives us perspective. Not just on our own lives and problems, but on our entire species. Sagan reminded us of this in his iconic Pale Blue Dot speech. When you see how small and fragile our planet is in the vastness of the universe, it humbles you. It makes you feel insignificant, but also, paradoxically, special.

So when I had a trip planned to Baltimore, I reached out to Dr. Dan Coe, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins’ Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the operational home of both the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. To my surprise and excitement, he said yes. Not only that, he invited me to see where the magic happens, where scientists and engineers operate humanity’s most powerful eyes on the universe.

What followed was a 2.5-hour conversation that moved from mission control to Dan’s office overlooking a bright green forest, and finally to a local pub for lunch and beers. We covered everything: the origins of the universe, the search for extraterrestrial life, what dark matter might actually be, the role of AI in astronomy, and perhaps most importantly: how to find meaning in a universe so vast where we seem so small.

This is a conversation about looking up at the stars and finding perspective, humility, and maybe even kindness in the vastness of space.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The origins of the universe and what the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed

• The search for extraterrestrial life: microbes, intelligent beings, or something we can’t comprehend

• What dark matter might actually be and the best current theories

• How AI is transforming astronomy and space science

• The role of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes in unlocking cosmic mysteries

• What it’s like working at mission control for humanity’s most powerful telescopes

• How to find meaning in a universe where we seem cosmically insignificant

• Why kindness matters in science, collaboration, and how we approach the unknown

• Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot perspective and what it teaches us about ourselves

• Whether any meaning exists in the cosmos, or if we create it ourselves

💡 Learn more about Dr. Dan Coe: https://www.stsci.edu/stsci-research/research-directory/dan-coe

💡 Learn more about Cosmic Spring: https://cosmic-spring.github.io/

💡 About Curiously: https://www.podpage.com/curiously/about/