What happens when imagination meets perception, and ordinary objects come alive? We explore the science of pareidolia.Summary: Our minds are wired to find meaning, even in randomness— which is why sometimes we can see faces and patterns in everyday objects. In this episode of The Science of Happiness, we explore how this phenomenon, called pareidolia, can shift how we experience our surroundings and open ourselves to more creativity, connection, and calm.How To Do This Practice:Pause and

Steve Haynes (negotiator, mediator and trustee at the Reach charity) talks to Alastair about how his lived experience shaped his approach to negotiation. He discusses how growing up with an upper-limb difference and within multi-generational communities, shaped his perspectives that would prove to be an asset in his work. The conversation moves from practical negotiation tools (BATNA, push vs pull, value-trades and a cheeky “ask for the mats” tactic) to dealing with unconscious generational

AI is changing democracy. We still get to decide how.AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press, 2025), security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders

Legal Knowledge in Organizations: A Source of Strategic and Competitive Advantage (Cambridge UP, 2025) offers a step-by-step guide on how to utilize the law as a source of value in organizations. Robert C. Bird demonstrates how legal knowledge can be a valuable asset for firms, providing them with a sustainable competitive advantage that is difficult for rivals to imitate. Bird presents a five-part framework that outlines how firms can use legal knowledge in competitive markets and how they can

Matthew D. Nelsen, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, has a new book out that focuses on the content of civic education in the United States, and how we learn about the diverse and varied history of the United States. There is an ongoing and contemporary conversation about civic education in the United States, and what should and should not be taught in explaining the United States, how it works, who is part of it, and how it has evolved over four centuries

AI is changing democracy. We still get to decide how.AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press, 2025), security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders

Matthew D. Nelsen, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, has a new book out that focuses on the content of civic education in the United States, and how we learn about the diverse and varied history of the United States. There is an ongoing and contemporary conversation about civic education in the United States, and what should and should not be taught in explaining the United States, how it works, who is part of it, and how it has evolved over four centuries

Tilly is back to full health and so our three hosts are reunited in part two of their discussion about the October book club theme of “The Bare Bones”. Together, they chat about their own likes and dislikes of reading in this theme, and general popular understanding of bones in relation to history and archaeology. They also share their recommended books from their own library, including a medieval fan favourite, a book all about sects, and a travelogue going back in time.Monthly Book: Mort by Terry

What does it mean to be an artist? In Artists At Work: Rethinking Policy for Artistic Careers (Stanford UP, 2025) Joanna Woronkowicz, the co-founder of the Center for Cultural Affairs and co-director of the Arts, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Lab at Indiana University Bloomington and currently based at Copenhagen Business School, tells the story of cultural work and cultural policy in the USA. Offering a broad definition of artists and creatives, the book offers a deep dive into the demographics

When you ask someone to recall something from deep in their memory, watch their face — they’ll probably do something that actually helps them remember. You might do it too without realizing it. Listen as I reveal what it is and why it works. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ulterior-motives/201110/why-do-you-close-your-eyes-rememberHave you heard of the winner’s curse or the sunk cost theory? These are strange but predictable ways our brains can trick us when we take risks — especially with

This week, Scott speaks with RaQuel Hopkins, a certified coach with a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. RaQuel shares her personal and professional journey—from mastering the art of coping to discovering the transformative power of growth. Together, they explore how adults can expand their mental and emotional capacity, why many people feel stuck in “survival mode,” and what it really means to thrive. RaQuel opens up about her own evolution and how she now

Title: Languaging in Hampton RoadsEpisode 20: How to Talk Like a Revolutionary: Be polite!Hosts: Jill Winkowski and Prue SalaskyDate: Oct. 31, 2025Length: 43 minutesPublication Frequency: Fourth Friday (approx) of each monthColonial Williamsburg, the restored Colonial capital (until 1780) of Virginia lies at the northwestern edge of Hampton Roads, part of a historic triangle with Yorktown and Jamestown. Since it opened as “the world’s largest U.S. history museum” in the 1930s, it has been telling

This episode explores how truth loses ground when appearance becomes the measure of power. From the Renaissance to the age of Fox News, it traces how performance, fear, and repetition reshape public belief. It follows the evolution of persuasion—and the way our minds impose coherence on chaos, binding whole societies to the theater of their own illusions.

Mini podcast a radical history on this date.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/on-this-day-in-working-class-history--6070772/support.Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories

The latest podcast with DR Justin Morgenstern. We look at all the latest evidence and a few older pieces from the world of Emergency care. this month we tackle: AI bots for OMIs, paracentesis plumbing, antiplatelet pharma, facial fractures and a sublingual anaphylaxis agent!  Its a lot!  #FOAMed

Noam Chomsky Biography Flash a weekly Biography.Noam Chomsky, at age 96, remains a towering intellectual figure, although his voice has been largely absent from public life over the past year. According to Media Lens and directly echoed in the Associated Press, Chomsky suffered a significant medical event—a stroke—in June of last year. Updates from his longtime MIT assistant Bev Stohl, made public on Reddit and picked up by Time and The Independent, confirm that he is recovering in Brazil, where his

Welcome back to TheAwayGames_Podcast, Spook Diaries, our sub-series walking through the work history of our host, Ron Corley. On this episode, we introduce REVGEN as a workplace and the characters within it that give D'Jango Unchained plantation like vibes; from Big Daddy to the Brittle Brothers to Betina. All of these characters play a role, both in the movie....and in REVGEN.This season, we'll explore REVGEN as an organization, its leadership (or lack thereof) as it compares to this current Trump

What if life doesn’t fight decay, but feeds on it?In this episode, I exploremetabolic ontology, a way of seeing being, learning, and ethics as continual re-organization. Entropy, loss, and transformation aren’t problems to fix; they’re the medium through which life keeps composing itself.Drawing from my work in regenerative education, I look at how this shift from stability to metabolism changes everything: how we understand learning&doing, assessment, and the role of institutions. Regeneration

Which parts of life are serious, and which are a game? In Critical Games: On Play and Seriousness in Academia, Literature and Life (Manchester UP, 2025) Tim Beasley-Murray, an Associate Professor of European Thought and Culture and Vice-Dean (Innovation and Enterprise) for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at University College London, offers a series of reflections on literature, culture, universities and society as both playful and serious. The book combines close reading of key figures in

R. Jisung Park is assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds appointments in the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Wharton School of Business.It’s hard not to feel anxious about the problem of climate change, especially if we think of it as an impending planetary catastrophe. In Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World (Princeton UP, 2025), R. Jisung Park encourages us to view climate change through a different lens: one that focuses less on the