
Invisibilia
Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. Invisibilia—Latin for invisible things—fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently.
Latest episodes

May 13, 2021 • 47min
The Chaos Machine: A Looping Revolt
Is 209 Times helping or hurting the community it claims to serve? What does the site mean for the future of local news in America? And what can be done about it? In the final installment of "The Chaos Machine" series , Yowei finds herself in the middle of a long-standing tug of war over who owns the truth.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

May 6, 2021 • 49min
The Chaos Machine: Wrathful Lord
The man behind 209 Times is not who you'd expect. In Part 2, co-host Yowei Shaw discovers the website's surprising origin story, and ends up at the frontlines of a revolt against the mainstream media and a fight over who gets to own the truth.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Apr 29, 2021 • 38min
The Chaos Machine: An Endless Hole
Yowei gets a tip about Russian trolls in Stockton, California and falls down a hole of swirling conspiracy theories. At the center is a scrappy, controversial website that has become one of the most popular sources of local news in town. Some say it's doing important investigative journalism while others say it's spreading hateful lies about progressive leaders. In part 1 of The Chaos Machine series, what happens when traditional local news runs out of resources and reporting the narrative of a community is anybody's game?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Apr 22, 2021 • 51min
Eat The Rich
Invisibilia explores a social experiment with money, focused around a contentious topic: reparations. What happens when you demand white people give up their wealth?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Apr 19, 2021 • 4min
Season 7: New Stories. New Hosts.
Invisibilia is back! Stories that help you see the world differently, with new hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jun 13, 2020 • 48min
Trust Fall
Hacking, phishing, surveillance, disinformation... these are tools used to silence dissidents and influence elections. But what happens when these same methods are used against an ordinary citizen? The story of a man fighting an enemy he can't see and becoming increasingly paranoid.Which makes him a lot like the rest of us. What happens when you no longer know how to trust?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Apr 10, 2020 • 1h 6min
Two Heartbeats A Minute
The strange story of an unlikely crew of people who band together to take on one of our largest problems using nothing but whale sounds, machine learning, and a willingness to think outside the box. Even stranger, several of the world's most accomplished scientists seem to think they might have a good idea. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Apr 3, 2020 • 1h 1min
White v. White?
A city council candidate says he's black. But his opponent accuses him of being a white man pretending to be black. If race is simply a social construct and not a biological reality, how do we determine someone's race? And who gets to decide? We tell the story of a man whose racial identity was fiercely contested... and the consequences this had on an entire city. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Mar 27, 2020 • 51min
An Unlikely Superpower
What if you had a superpower that allowed you to see part of the world that was to come? At the age of 60, a Scottish woman named Joy Milne discovers she has a biological gift that allows her to see things that will happen in the future that no one else can see. A look at how we think about the future, and the important ways the future shapes the present. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Mar 22, 2020 • 52min
The Confrontation
Welcome to what is possibly the most tense and uncomfortable summer program in America! The Boston-based program aims to teach the next generation the real truth about race, and may provide some ideas for the rest of us about the right way to confront someone to their face. | To learn more about this episode, subscribe to our newsletter. Click here to learn more about NPR sponsors.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy