Smarty Pants

Melanie Kiechle introduces us to the 19th-century world of smell detectives, where the nose reigned supreme and cities mapped their stench patterns;  Sam Kean tells how gases can have a profound effect on us—from knocking us out to making us laugh, and even causing the French Revolution. Plus, top off our exploration into the sensory world of invisible forces with an excerpt from a new book on all the light we cannot see.Go beyond the episode:Melanie Kiechle’s Smell Detectives: An Olfactory History of Nineteenth-Century Urban AmericaSam Kean’s Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around UsCheck out a modern-day smell map of the City of Light (and Odor), from graphic designer Kate McCleanLive in Pittsburgh? Download Smell PGH, the app that tracks pollution odors (read more here)Read more about the volcanic eruption that led to the French RevolutionFlip through the scanned pages of Humprhy Davy’s book on his laughing gas experiments, which could use a funnier title: Researches, chemical and philosophical chiefly concerning nitrous oxide, or diphlogisticated nitrous air, and its respirationTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Psychologist Alexander Todorov tells us how we’ve got it all wrong on the science of first impressions—and warns of physiognomy’s dangerous return—while Elizabeth Wilson gives us a glimpse into the secret, sexy history of tennis, just in time for the Wimbledon finals.Go beyond the episode:Alexander Todorov’s Face Value: The Irresistible Influence of First Impressions Explore the Social Perception Lab at Princeton, where you can watch videos of how our visual stereotypes map onto facesWatch how bias shapes photographic portraits in this experiment from Canon AustraliaElizabeth Wilson’s Love Game: A History of Tennis from Victorian Pastime to Global PhenomenonAnd, of course: live updates from WimbledonTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet the experimental archaeologist and the master brewer who are resurrecting beverages of the past. Dr. Patrick McGovern, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, discuss what it takes to turn millennia-old booze samples at the bottom of a jug into mead fit for a king; our editors give us a sneak peek at their favorite fictional food scenes; and we honor Brian Doyle, who died last month.Go beyond the episode:Read “Joyas Voladoras,” Brian Doyle’s ode to the capacity of the heartExplore Dr. Pat’s work on the intoxicating science of alcoholWatch Patrick McGovern and Sam Calagione work on a recipe for a new ancient aleAdd your favorite food scene to our list of top fictional feastsTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

True tales of horse historians, mad bombers, and infinite jam jarsSusanna Forrest takes us down the bridle path of our long relationship with horses; Michael Cannell tells the story of New York’s mad bomber and the invention of criminal profiling; and Eugenia Cheng shares her infinite enthusiasm for the link between mathematics and art.Go beyond the episode:• Susanna Forrest’s The Age of the Horse, and her blog about horse history and news• Michael Cannell’s Incendiary• Track the mad bomber through New York City on this map• Eugenia Cheng’s Beyond Infinity, and her attempt to teach Stephen Colbert how to make puff pastry• Natalie Angier’s review of How to Bake Pi (delicious!)Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Williams Goldhagen takes us on a tour of New York’s High Line—and the insides of our brains—and Judith Matloff talks about traveling 72,000 miles, across nearly a dozen mountain ranges, as she investigated why the world’s highlands harbor so much violence.Go beyond the episode:• Sarah Williams Goldhagen’s Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives• Judith Matloff’s No Friends But the Mountains: Dispatches from the World’s Violent Highlands• Plan your own trip to New York’s High Line parkTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast@theamericanscholar.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lee Alan Dugatkin on the world’s cutest science experiment, which transformed wild foxes into cuddlebugs; Ellen Lagemann makes the case for college in prisons; and an underground poetry reading promoting this weekend’s March for Science.Go beyond the episode:• The Science Stanzas curated by Jane Hirshfield for the March for Science• Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut’s How to Tame a Fox• Ellen Lagemann’s Liberating Minds and the Bard Prison Initiative• Read more about Stalin’s geneticist henchman, Trofim Lysenko, in our review of Stalin and the Scientists• Our first subterranean segment, from our third (!) episodeTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoffrey R. Stone tells the epic story of how sex came to be legislated in America; Linda Heywood introduces us to an African queen cooler than Cleopatra; and John Dvorak gives us a lesson in the total eclipse of the heart. Er, sun.Mentioned in this episode:• Geoffrey R. Stone’s Sex and the Constitution• Linda M. Heywood’s Njinga of Angola• The upcoming solar eclipse on August 21st, with an interactive map from NASATune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pankaj Mishra goes back to the Enlightenment to explain our age of anger; Ronald Rael imagines how architecture might dismantle a wall rather than construct it; and our editors offer up their favorite tales from the Emerald Isle. Sláinte!Episode extras:• Our St. Patrick’s Day Reading list• Martha McPhee on Edna O’BrienTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

André Aciman gives us a primer on W. G. Sebald, who blurred the line between memory and fiction; Rowan Ricardo Phillips talks about the biomechanics of poetry; and Julian Gewirtz unveils the travel itinerary of the least likely visitor to communist China you’d expect: Milton Friedman.Mentioned in this episode:• André Aciman on W. G. Sebald and “The Life Unlived”• “Halo,” a poem by Rowan Ricardo Phillips and Langdon Hammer’s introduction• Julian Gewirtz’s essay, “Milton Friedman’s Misadventures in China”Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julia Lichtblau takes us to an elite secondary school in Abidjan that’s changing the lives of African girls; Steve Early shows how Richmond, California, became a progressive beacon; and Phillip Lopate tells us what he thinks about confiding your darkest secrets.Mentioned in this episode:• Julia Lichtblau on the smart girls of Côte d’Ivoire• Phillip Lopate’s collection of essays for us on his blog, Full Disclosure• Emily Fox Gordon’s essay on the central conflict of the memoir, whether to confess or confideTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.