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PODCAST

Sing for Science

Sing For Scienceis a science-and-music podcast where musicians sit down with scientists to explore the scientific ideas hidden in their most iconic songs. Listen to JD from Korn talk about“Dead Bodies Everywhere”with a mortuary-science expert, Sia explore one of her breakup ballads with an attachment-theory psychologist, and many, many more. Created and hosted by New York musician Matt Whyte, the show seeks to uncover connections wherever they may exist and build bridges between seemingly disparate

music music interviews

All Episodes

44:28

Blu DeTiger: Shock! (Music, Labor and Gender with...

Sing for Science ·

2026/10/01

Bass virtuoso, DJ, and producer Blu DeTiger joins Dr. Clara Latham, music scholar at The New School, for a conversation about groove, gender, and the work behind making music look effortless. Taking Blu’s “SHOCK!” as a starting point, we explore her fluency in disco and funk, the coordination involved in DJing while playing bass, and the blurry line between music as work and music as play. Along the way, we consider why labor-saving technologies sometimes create more work, what makes a turntable

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67:27

Kota The Friend: For Colored Boys (Black Aliveness...

Sing for Science ·

2026/09/18

Brooklyn rapper, producer, and singer-songwriter Kota the Friend joins Brown University professor and author Dr. Kevin Quashie for a conversation about Black life, language, world-building, and the possibilities of imagining a Black world beyond narratives defined by violence. Using Kota’s “For Colored Boys” alongside ideas from Quashie’s Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of Being, the conversation explores Black aliveness, Black pessimism, audience, self-love, conformity, spirituality, and the

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40:08

Jensen McRae: Massachusetts (Place Memory with...

Sing for Science ·

2026/09/03

How do the specific objects and places of our past shape our understanding of personal and collective history? In this episode of Sing for Science, singer-songwriter ⁨Jensen McRae sits down with Williams College historian Dr. Christine DeLucia to explore the intersections of songwriting, material culture, and historical memory. Starting with a deep dive into the specific imagery of Jensen’s song "Massachusetts"—specifically the lyric referencing a souvenir pilgrim ashtray—they examine how

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45:08

Sean Ono Lennon: The Golden Egg of Empathy (AI Ethics...

Sing for Science ·

2026/08/20

What happens when artificial intelligence is given a directive without a human conscience to constrain it?Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter Sean Ono Lennon joins AI ethics researchers Dr. Jason De Cruz and Dr. Anat Perry for a conversation inspired by The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, Sean's concept album and companion comic book co-created with Les Claypool. Using Nick Bostrom’s famous "paperclip maximizer" thought experiment as a jumping-off point, the

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45:54

Brantley Gilbert: Sins of the Father (Faith & Science...

Sing for Science ·

2026/08/06

Country star Brantley Gilbert joins us for a conversation about his song “Sins of the Father” with Texas Tech University Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. We talk about the relationship between faith and science, how to have conversations with people you disagree with, the truth about what’s causing our planet to warm and so much more.

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30:48

Debbii Dawson: Everybody’s Missing Their Medullas...

Sing for Science ·

2026/07/23

How does the brain transform the physical world into the rich inner experience we call reality? Singer-songwriter Debbii Dawson joins Caltech neuroscientist Dr. Daw-An Wu for a conversation inspired by her songs "Where Have All the Good Men Gone" and "Chemical Attraction." Together they explore psychophysics, the science of perception, asking how illusion, consciousness, free will, love, and even spirituality emerge from the brain's interpretation of the world around us. From medullas to

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47:49

Chaka Khan: Tell Me Something Good (Music as Medicine...

Sing for Science ·

2026/07/09

Can music transform the brain and body? Recorded live at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with 11-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan and MD Anderson neurosurgery assistant professor, concert pianist, and music medicine researcher Dr. Mei Rui for a conversation inspired by Rufus’s classic “Tell Me Something Good.” Together they explore the neuroscience of rhythm, music as medicine, Chaka’s early years in Chicago, the profound role music has played in connecting with her nonverbal nephew

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76:39

Special Highlight: Bryan Cranston and Alan Hart on...

Sing for Science ·

2026/06/25

Recorded live at London’s Natural History Museum on November 24, 2025. Breaking Bad fanatics, have a fresh pair of trousers at the ready—Bryan Cranston delivers an unforgettable conversation packed with behind-the-scenes stories from his years playing Walter White. He shares how DEA agents taught him the fundamentals of meth production, what he learned shadowing a USC chemistry professor to prepare for the role, and the surprising science details the show actually got right. A Hollywood legend

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52:53

Jena Malone: Set Your Sorrows Down (Polyamory Science...

Sing for Science ·

2026/06/11

Actor and musician Jena Malone joins Sing For Science to discuss “Set Your Sorrows Down” from her album Flowers for Men, a deeply personal record exploring identity, desire, transformation, and non-monogamy. The song’s central question — “Who am I to become now?” — opens a conversation about inherited relationship scripts and what it means to “take the society out of you.”Joining Jena is Chapman University psychologist and Kinsey Institute Research Fellow Dr. Amy Moors, whose work examines

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45:39

Rita Wilson: Sound of a Woman (Gender Studies with...

Sing for Science ·

2026/05/28

Singer, songwriter, actress, and producer Rita Wilson joins Sing For Science to discuss her song “Sound of a Woman” alongside NYU performance studies scholar and psychoanalyst Ann Pellegrini. Together they explore what it means to “find one’s voice” later in life, how gender is performed and culturally shaped, and the tension between identity as something deeply felt yet socially constructed. Drawing from Rita’s reflections on feeling “muted” by propriety and expectation, the conversation moves

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66:40

Encore: Hank Azaria/Moe The Bartender: Flaming Moe's...

Sing for Science ·

2026/05/14

Join Simpsons favorite, Moe The Bartender and his human counterpart Hank Azaria for a lively conversation with Social Neuroscientist, Dr. Kevin Ochsner. We talk about the legendary “Flaming Moe’s” Simpsons episode from both Moe’s and Hank’s perspectives, how and why our brains are wired to thrive in social contexts like Moe’s Tavern, Hank’s experience recovering from alcoholism, the neural underpinnings of practicing acceptance and more! Recorded live at the Forum Theater/Columbia University on

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41:38

Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit (Praying Mantis...

Sing for Science ·

2026/04/30

Australian songwriter Courtney Barnett joins entomologist Jessica Ware to explore the science and symbolism of the praying mantis. From ancient folklore to evolutionary behavior—including its infamous mating habits—they unpack what this strange, still creature is really doing… and why we can’t stop projecting meaning onto it.

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53:13

Debi Nova: Everything Can Become a Song

Sing for Science ·

2026/04/15

Costa Rican star Debi Nova joins field biologist and Re:wild’s Mesoamerica Director Esteban Brenes-Mora for our first-ever Central American taping. Recorded in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, the conversation centers on Debi’s album Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción (“Everything Can Become a Song”), exploring the challenges and gifts of rewilding, what drives Costa Rica’s remarkable biodiversity, Debi’s impression of the Judas bird—the Cristofué (“it was Christ”)—the bathroom habits of tapirs, and what it

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49:58

Dropkick Murphys: Citizen I.C.E (Public Safety...

Sing for Science ·

2026/04/01

What turns neighbors into enemies? What makes cruelty feel permissible? And how does music push back? In this episode, Dropkick Murphys founder Ken Casey and Yale psychologist Phillip Atiba Solomon use the band’s new song “Citizen I.C.E.” to explore identity, policing, propaganda, and the psychology of dehumanization. It’s a sharp, urgent conversation about punk, power, and the systems that teach people who belong—and who don’t.Read the full transcript of this episode:

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55:40

José González: Against the Dying of the Light...

Sing for Science ·

2026/03/18

Humanist Heavyweight Steven Pinker joins José González to unpack “Against the Dying of the Light,” a song inspired in part by Pinker’s book, Enlightenment Now. Together they explore Enlightenment values, human nature, progress, algorithms, anger, AI, and whether reason, science, and empathy can still help us push back against darkness.

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45:39

Encore: Cat Power: Cat Power Sings Dylan (Nostalgia...

Sing for Science ·

2026/03/04

Chanteuse Chan Marshall, best known as the artist Cat Power talks about her recreation of the historic 1966 Bob Dylan concert album at the Royal Albert Hall with Cornell University neuroscientist and nostalgia expert, Hetvi Doshi. We cover the origins of nostalgia study, the growing body of scientific evidence that suggests nostalgia has health benefits and improves social cohesion with one another. We also talk about the dynamics of food nostalgia and Hetvi’s community nostalgia initiative. For

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55:28

Miguel: Slow It Down (Time Perception with Jimena...

Sing for Science ·

2026/02/18

Grammy-winning artist Miguel joins science historian Jimena Canales for a live taping centered on his song “Nearsight [SID]” from CAOS. What begins as a conversation about a lyric — “slow it down for me” — opens into a wide-ranging exploration of time itself: how it feels to speed up as we age, how music can stretch or compress our experience of the present, and why certain moments seem impossible to hold onto. Drawing on her work on Einstein and Bergson's philosophy of time, Canales helps unpack

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50:58

rum.gold: Is it Something I Said (Attachment...

Sing for Science ·

2026/02/04

Alt-R&B artist rum.gold joins host Matt Whyte with Dr. Nim Tottenham, Chair of Psychology at Columbia University, for a live taping centered on his song and video “Is It Something I Said.” What begins as a conversation about a music video portraying a mother and son living with anxiety, grief, and hoarding becomes a striking window into Dr. Tottenham’s research on how early caregiving and stress shape the developing brain — and how those early emotional environments can echo into adulthood as

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52:30

Lucius: Ice Cream (Multisensory Perception with Ladan...

Sing for Science ·

2026/01/21

Taped live at Japan House LA on January 10, 2026. Matt chats with Lucius front women Jess Wolfe and Holly Lessig—and Dr. Ladan Shams, UCLA professor of psychology, bioengineering, and neuroscience, to explore the science behind the band’s song “Ice Cream.” Starting from the lyric “time melts away like ice cream in the sun,” the conversation moves between metaphor, memory, and the fleeting nature of love, and into the brain’s remarkable ability to blend sound, sight, taste, and touch into a single

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61:55

Public Service Broadcasting: The Last Flight...

Sing for Science ·

2026/01/07

A century-old vanishing act meets modern investigation in a conversation where art and archaeology follow the same pursuit. J. Willgoose, Esq.—founder of the British band Public Service Broadcasting—and archaeologist Dr. Rick Pettigrew, Executive Director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, go for a deep dive into one of the most enduring mysteries of the 20th century: Amelia Earhart’s final flight. Willgoose unpacks the research and craft behind The Last Flight, PSB’s album built from primary

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