My guest today is Michaeleen Doucleff, correspondent for NPR radio and author of the bestselling book 'Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans.' We spoke about the ways in which Western parenting radically diverges from the human norm, why parenting books are a product of atomis…

My guest today is Joshua Dale, professor at Chuo University in Tokyo and author of 'Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Changed the World'. We spoke about the historical roots of the Japanese passion for cuteness, the differences in pre-modern attitudes towards children in Japan and Europe, the role of domestication syndrome in the developme…

My guest today is Roanne van Voorst – anthropologist, futurist, assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam, and author of 'Six in a Bed: The Future of Love.'

We spoke about sex robots, including Roanne's chilling encounter at a sex robot brothel in Vienna. We also spoke about other kinds of romantic virtual relationships with AI that are becomin…

I'll be re-releasing six episodes from the early days of the podcast over the course of my maternity leave. This month, my archived interview is with Dr Abigail Favale, a writer and professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. She has an academic background in feminist literary criticism, and now writes and teaches…

My guest today is David Goodhart, founder of Prospect magazine and Head of Demography, Immigration & Integration at Policy Exchange. David's new book, 'The Care Dilemma: Caring Enough in the Age of Sex Equality,' is the final instalment of a trilogy of books on class, economics, and the family that began with 'The Road to Somewhere' and 'Head Hand Heart…

My guest today is Mike Israetel, bodybuilding and fitness consultant, former Professor of Nutrition and Sport Science, and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization. We spoke about why women benefit from lifting heavy weights even more than men do in terms of metabolic health, longevity, bone density, and day-to-day living. Will you risk getting bulky? Is…

My guest today is Tracing Woodgrains, writer on Substack and (until recently) producer for the Blocked & Reported podcast. We spoke about Trace's life as an ex-Mormon. His family have been Mormons for seven generations and he was born and brought up in Utah. But he left the church as an adult, came out as gay, and is now married to a man. We discussed t…

My guest today is Ray Blanchard, sexologist and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, particularly renowned for developing Blanchard's transsexualism typology and for his work on the fraternal birth order effect on male homosexuality. We spoke about the various possible causes of homosexuality for both men and women, whether or not the '…