Joining the podcast is Reto Schneider, veteran science journalist who has dealt with everything from the science of opinion formation to the origins of land ownership and seemingly everything in between.

We talk about a variety of things that have become mild obsessions for him over the years including things like his decades long monthly column on obscure science experiments, data scientists trying to predict the future, and the arbitrariness of prison sentences.

For more, check out:

Reto's website

Reto's Wikipedia page

Making sense of a series of graphic representations is not simple, but our brains manage to do it with little effort.

Our conversation with Neil Cohn starts out with a rethinking of language, moving from an understanding built solely on spoken language to the ability to express meaning across a range of modalities. This moves us into Neil's work on how we develop the ability to understand visual narratives and what this means for our understanding of language as a whole.

We chat about emojis, comics, children's books, and a bunch of other fun stuff.

Guest: Neil Cohn (personal website)

Co-Host: Xueyi Yao

Links to everything on the Monkey Dance website:

https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-26

And how can complexity science help us understand them?

We sit down with network scientist Gabriela Juncosa to discuss how political discourse unfolds in online spaces and whether toxic interactions shut conversations down or keep them going. We chat about the structure of online discussions, how social media algorithms influence engagement, and whether the way we talk online differs from in-person interactions.

This takes us to the role of network structures in polarization, the ways AI might intervene in online discourse, and whether we can design digital spaces that foster both engagement and constructive dialogue.

Joining us as a cohost is philosopher Phyllis Pearson (our guest from Episode 24).

Guest: Gabriela Juncosa Co-host: Phyllis Pearson

Show notes on the Monkey Dance website

We use the terms open mindedness and gaslighting a lot, but do we really understand what they mean?

We sit down with Phyllis Pearson to discuss what it means to engage honestly with information and with others. We chat about curiosity and agency, empathy and perspective taking, and the blurry line between being open to the beliefs of others versus maintaining skepticism and asking for justification.

This takes us to what honest dialogue looks like, whether gaslighting is always malicious, and what it means to have epistemic agency and to ascribe that agency to others.

Guest: Phyllis Pearson

Co-host: Juliette Vazard (our guest on Episode 20)

As always, show notes on the Monkey Dance website.

What is the function of emotional displays?

We sit down with Thomas Ganzetti and discuss the role emotions serve in social contexts and how we use the displays of others to gather information about our realities. We chat about the evolutionary trajectory of emotional displays, how they help us navigate our environments, and what we learn about ourselves and those around us as we observe each other (whether we intend to or not).

Guest: Thomas Ganzetti

Co-Host: Xueyi Yao (to hear more from Xueyi, check out Episode 18!)

Show notes on the monkey dance website!

Also, we've now been going for a full year! Thank you to everyone who has been listening and reaching out.

How does the brain process music and how has the perception of music changed over time? We sit down with cognitive neuroscientist Anja-Xiaoxing Cui to chat about how we relate to music, music's role in social interactions, and how music might be used as a tool for regulating emotions. We cover theories of the emergence of music in human history, the relationship between music and other art forms, and whether reading sheet music is at all similar to hearing it.

My co-host this episode is Arianna Curioni (who was also our guest on Episode 13).

Show notes on the monkey dance website!