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PODCAST

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality

While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live.He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the

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All Episodes

39:11

Dream Yoga

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/12/14

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping and yet the question of why we sleep and dream has remained a mystery for much of human existence. But recently scientists have developed the tools to begin to reveal some astonishing insights into lucid dreaming and its uses. In this episode, we'll talk to neuroscientist Ken Paller about the science of Lucid dreaming. Whether it's something any of us can learn to do and what benefits it might offer. And while the science of lucid dreaming and

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40:59

Shamanism

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/11/30

When life feels uncertain, who do you turn to? Across cultures and throughout history, many of us have looked to people who seemed to have a special set of abilities and knowledge… shamans.On this episode, we’ll talk to anthropologist Manvir Singh about what shamanism actually is, how it works, and why its appeal is both timeless and universal. From a remote island in Indonesia to American Pentecostal churches, we’ll explore how shamans harness ritual, empathy, and performance to help

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34:02

Give Us This Day Our Daily Kale

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/11/16

For most of human history, religion guided people’s choices about health and food. Then with the rise of modern nutritional science in the 19th century, people began to favor scientific advice over religious ideas about how to eat. But lately, a new generation of Christian diet influencers are putting the God back in nutritional guidance, sometimes at the expense of science altogether. And this messaging might not be creating healthier or holier people. We'll talk to New York Times writer

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38:42

Becoming Wise

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/11/02

We often think of wisdom as something that comes with age, or as a gift reserved for a chosen few. But what if wisdom is more like a muscle… one that becomes stronger with practice?On this episode, we’re exploring the true meaning of wisdom. We’ll talk to psychologist Igor Grossmann and Jesuit priest Barton Geger about how science and spirituality have come to many of the same conclusions about what wisdom looks like in practice and what we can all do to train our hearts and minds to see

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27:45

Seeking the Spiritual Life

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/10/19

If you want to grow spiritually, should you go to a monastery and withdraw from the world, or look for greater meaning, connection, and purpose in the loud messiness of life? In other words, do you heal the world by working in it or praying for it? Philosophers and spiritual thinkers have debated it for centuries, but perhaps finding the right balance is the answer. On this episode of How God Works, we’ll talk with journalist Sigal Samuel, about the centuries old debate over the spiritual

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40:53

The Friendship Cure

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/10/05

We say friends are what make life worth living. But if that’s true, why are so many of us struggling to find and keep them these days? And what can we do to cultivate better friendships?Join us as we talk to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger about the importance of friendship to our health and happiness, and to philosopher Samuel Kimbriel about the keys to forming meaningful friendships and the helpful advice spiritual traditions offer. Along the way, we’ll also ask what it means to be a good

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01:45

Season 9 Trailer

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/09/28

Join us for Season 9 of How God Works, starting next week!

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35:54

Healing Rituals: There's Power in Belief (From the...

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/09/14

We will be back with a whole new season of How God Works on October 5th. In the meantime, we wanted to share some of our favorite episodes from the archives. A majority of people in the US believe that faith can heal. And while there isn’t any strong scientific data backing the idea of faith healing by divine intervention, there is a growing recognition that faith in the power of a person, religious ritual, or even medicine to heal can play a role in recovery via the placebo effect. Join

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36:27

Midlife: Leaning Into the Change (From the Archive)

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/09/02

We'll be back with a whole new season of How God Works on October 5th. But in the meantime, we wanted to share some of our favorite episodes from the archives.Data shows that for many people, happiness takes a big dip around 50. But aging doesn’t have to be a crisis if we can figure out how to embrace who we’re becoming rather than hanging on to who we used to be. If done right, midlife can actually be a time of deepening joy and satisfaction. Join Dave as he talks to The Atlantic columnist

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27:17

HGW Presents: How Rituals Help Us Process Grief (The...

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/08/17

How God Works will be back with all new episodes this fall. In the meantime, we're taking the opportunity to share episodes from some of our favorite shows with you, our listeners. Today, we're excited to feature an episode from our friends at The Science of Happiness podcast, hosted by Dacher Keltner.Summary: We investigate how Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, rituals strengthen family ties and cultural identity, and learn about its evolution from a 3,000 year old practice to a

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49:25

HGW Presents: Kelly Corrigan Wonders (with Rainn Wilson)

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/08/03

How God Works will be back with all new episodes this fall. In the meantime, we're taking the opportunity to share episodes from some of our favorite shows with you, our listeners. Today, we're excited to feature a conversation from the podcast Kelly Corrigan Wonders, featuring Rainn Wilson, creator of the book and podcast Soul Boom. "Going Deep with Rainn Wilson on Spirituality"Rainn Wilson (who you might know as Dwight Schrute) is making a serious call for a spiritual revolution based on

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45:11

Losing Our Religion or Finding What Matters?

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/07/20

As more Americans move away from organized religion, the moral and emotional needs once met by faith communities remain. What can secular society borrow from spiritual traditions — ritual, meaning, belonging and moral imagination — to nourish the human spirit and strengthen our shared civic life? In this conversation, recorded live at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, Dave explores how sacred wisdom can still guide character, compassion, and community in a post-religious age with Krista

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34:16

Speaking in Tongues

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/06/29

The spiritual practice of speaking in tongues –a form of communication with the divine through speaking words in an unknown or unrecognizable language– has invited a lot of speculation and skepticism over the years. To many, it seems like the stuff of horror movies, or old-timey religious revivals. But charismatic Christianity, for which speaking in tongues is a central practice, is one of the fastest growing Christian movements in modern history. So why has it not only persisted, but

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41:03

The Soul and Science of Prayer

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/06/15

What is prayer? And why do it? People pray for all kinds of reasons, and in all kinds of ways: alone, together, aloud, in silence, from memory, or from instinct. But whatever form it takes, there’s a reason prayer has been part of just about every spiritual tradition out there: its effects run deep. On this episode, we’re digging into the science and spirit of prayer. We’ll talk to neuroscientist Andrew Newberg about what prayer does to our minds and bodies, and how it helps shape us as

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51:23

Of God and Men

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/06/01

There's a lot of talk these days about a crisis of masculinity. But is it a genuine problem or just another culture war talking point? In this special episode, we’ll talk to writer and researcher Richard Reeves about the real and worrying data around the male struggle for meaning and purpose, and what role community and ritual can play in helping men find answers. We’ll also hear from Dr. Russell Moore and Pastor Rasool Berry about how and why religion can help support men, but also the

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34:59

Adolescence: How to Build an Adult (From the Archive)

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/05/18

Hey listeners, we'll be back in two weeks with a special episode looking at the multiple challenges facing men in America today. But while you wait, we wanted to share an episode from Season 2 of our show that feels especially relevant to that conversation. Think of it as a prequel or primer, because part of the problem, and possibly part of the solution, may have to do with how boys become men in the first place. We hope you enjoy!When you’re a teenager, you’re kind of between two worlds

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40:25

The Conscious Cosmos

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/05/04

For centuries, Western science and philosophy have struggled to explain what consciousness is and where it comes from. What if the answer to both those questions is: everything?On this episode, we dive into panpsychism: the idea that consciousness may not be limited to humans, or even living beings, but could be a basic property of reality itself. We’ll talk to philosopher Philip Goff about why this idea is gaining attention in academic circles, and to theologian Joanna Leidenhag about how

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35:12

Found By Faith

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/04/20

People find faith or change faiths for many reasons: marriage, raising a family, dealing with grief or crisis. But sometimes it happens the other way around… faith finds you. A believing takes hold, a sense that something divine is there. And maybe not in the way or role that you might have expected. It’s not uncommon. Data show that these types of experiences happen to about 30% of people. On this episode we’ll talk to one of these people –New York Times columnist and best selling author

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31:05

Fasting for the Soul

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/04/06

Many would agree there are few things better than sharing a delicious meal with the people you love, which is one reason why breaking bread together is a cornerstone of religions the world over. But so too is the opposite - going without food. From Ramadan to Yom Kippur to Lent, fasting is an important ritual in many faiths. But why do so many religions periodically take away the very thing that nourishes our bodies and souls? On this episode we'll talk with Khalil-Abdur Rashid about the

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35:22

Origins of Belief

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality ·

2025/03/23

We often think of belief as a religious or cultural idea that is a hallmark of modern humans. But what if the early sparks of belief burned in our ancestors’ minds long before modern humans walked the earth? What if beliefs about some of the biggest questions out there, like what happens after death, weren’t just pondered by Homo sapiens?On this episode, evolutionary anthropologist Agustín Fuentes takes us on a journey spanning millions of years, from our primate relatives in the deep past

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