Philosophy of Science podcasts

Sarah Crespi and Katie Langin examine assisted migration: replanting forests after wildfire with trees suited to the warmer conditions expected in coming decades. Susana Monsó, associate professor in logic, history and philosophy of science at Spain’s National University of Distance Education, then discusses how philosophical analysis contributes to scientific work, from defining concepts to formulating research questions. Produced with help from Podigy; published 17 September 2026, with a running time of 37 minutes and 28 seconds.

Hosted by Sarah Crespi

Theoretical physicist Jonathan Halliwell joins Steven Strogatz and Janna Levin to discuss how quantum decoherence helps explain the transition from wave-like quantum systems to the classical macroscopic world. The conversation covers quantum cosmology, decoherent histories, the measurement problem, macroscopic realism and why the quantum-to-classical transition does not require a conscious observer.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin

Andrea Gambarotto examines agency and intrinsic purpose in biological cognition, drawing on Hegel and contemporary theoretical biology. The conversation connects these ideas to enactivism and asks how living intelligence differs from artificial systems, including language models.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Recorded live at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia, this episode brings hosts Janna Levin and Steven Strogatz together with Akshay Venkatesh, Ravi Vakil and Alex Kontorovich. They examine what recent AI-generated proofs demonstrate, how machine assistance may change mathematical research, and what proof, creativity, understanding and storytelling contribute to the discipline. The recording took place on 26 July 2026; Quanta published the episode on 3 September 2026.

Hosted by Janna Levin, Steven Strogatz

Marco Facchin discusses how neuroscience and philosophy explain cognition, including embodied and enactive approaches, the importance of biological detail, and limits of computational accounts. The conversation also examines predictive processing, representation and the role of AI in understanding brains and minds.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Stuart Firestein examines why productive science depends on ignorance, unsuccessful experiments and uncertainty as well as established knowledge. The conversation considers research at the boundary of what is understood, the role of conjecture and testing, and the absence of a guaranteed method for making discoveries. It also asks how public understanding and science education can better represent the process of investigation.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Kathryn Nave discusses how living systems acquire meaning and intelligence through organization, constraints, and active inference. The conversation connects the free-energy principle and organizational closure to questions about brains, cognition, agency, and the boundaries of intelligent life.

Science writer Matt Kaplan discusses researchers whose ideas met institutional resistance, including Ignaz Semmelweis and Katalin Karikó. Drawing on his book I Told You So!, he considers how scientific incentives and organizational structures shape acceptance of new findings, and what reforms might better support high-risk research.

Hosted by Marty Martin, Cameron Ghalambor

Oded Rechavi discusses scientific peer review, grant assessment and the possibilities and limitations of AI-assisted research validation. Drawing on his work with C. elegans, he explains research into how experiences can influence descendants through RNA-mediated inheritance. The conversation also covers ancient DNA and the Dead Sea Scrolls, automation in biology and the distinction between supporting researchers and replacing scientific judgment.

Nedah Nemati examines how neuroscience defines behavior and why freely moving animals and naturalistic experiments matter. She discusses how tools, historical assumptions and researchers' own experience influence scientific questions, including what studies of sleep reveal about the relationship between observation and explanation.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Sean Carroll examines quantum mechanics on its own terms and asks how the familiar everyday world emerges from its formalism. The episode explores the tension between quantum theory and classical intuition, including how competing interpretations approach measurement and physical reality.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Romain Brette questions familiar computational and information-processing metaphors for the brain. Starting from behavior in organisms such as paramecia, he considers cognition as an activity of living systems, the autonomy of interacting cells, and the distinction between anticipation and prediction, with implications for artificial intelligence.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Juan Gallego discusses whether neural manifolds are real explanatory structures and how population activity relates to behaviour. Topics include causal interpretations, evolutionary claims, motor control and the limits of low-dimensional descriptions, along with work on restoring movement after spinal-cord injury.

Matthieu de Wit, Luis Favela and Vicente Raja examine how neuroscience can use ecological psychology without losing its theoretical commitments. Topics include perception and action, organism–environment relations, affordances, dynamics and the challenges of explaining naturalistic neural data within a field dominated by computational and mechanistic approaches.

Henk de Regt examines scientific understanding as the ability to use a theory productively, rather than merely possessing facts or a feeling of insight. The conversation considers explanation, scientific skills, realism and metaphors, and how the account applies to understanding in humans and machines.

Dan Nicholson re-examines Erwin Schrödinger's What Is Life? and its influence on molecular biology and the metaphor of organisms as machines. The conversation considers deterministic physics, genetic coding, development and negentropy, then asks how that intellectual history continues to shape explanations in neuroscience and artificial intelligence.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Jess Enright, Chris Skinner and Erica Thompson explore role-playing and board-game approaches to understanding mathematical models. Examples connect climate, disease spread and water movement with the limitations of simplified representations. The conversation asks how entering a model’s imagined world can communicate research and help researchers reflect on what their assumptions include or leave out.

Mazviita Chirimuuta and Terrence Sejnowski discuss how researchers choose appropriate simplifications when constructing explanations of brain function.

Gaute Einevoll reflects on scientific practice, trust in research and the relationship between researchers and society. Solo episode in Norwegian.

Terence Tao and Steven Strogatz revisit Tao’s essay on what makes mathematical research valuable. Their conversation examines proof, elegance, usefulness, problem solving, and connections between fields, showing why no single criterion captures all worthwhile mathematics. They also consider how mathematical communities develop judgment and how technological tools affect research.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz