

Scientific Sense ®
Gill Eapen
Scientific Sense ® is an invigorating podcast that delves into the intricate tapestry of Science and Economics, serving as a nexus for intellectual exploration and fervor. This daily venture engages listeners by conversing with preeminent academics, unraveling their research, and unveiling emerging concepts across a diverse array of fields. Scientific Sense ® thoughtfully examines multifaceted themes such as the frameworks of worker rights and policy, the philosophical underpinnings of truth and its pursuit within academia, and constitutional discourse within divided societies.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 21, 2021 • 1h 27min
Prof. Ted Gibson, Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
How Efficiency Shapes Human Language, Color naming across languages reflects color use, Large-scale evidence of dependency length minimization in languages, and Information processing and cross-linguistic universals
Prof. Ted Gibson is a professor of Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prof. Gibson’s research examines how language is processed, and how language processing constraints constrain language structure (words and sentences).

Jan 20, 2021 • 1h 4min
Prof. Mark Schroeder, Professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California
Persons as Things, and Treating like a child : Philosophical treatment of people and relationships
Prof. Mark Schroeder is professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. He is interested in the ways in which rationality, reasons, value, and other 'evaluative' or 'normative' categories are related to the mundane, physical world in which we live, in which things are round, red, or left of one another.

Jan 19, 2021 • 1h 5min
Prof. Matthew Johnson, Assistant Professor of Economics at Duke University
Demand Conditions and Worker Safety: Evidence from Price Shocks in Mining, Regulation by Shaming: Deterrence Effects of Publicizing Violations of Workplace Safety and Health Laws, and The Labor Market Effects of Legal Restrictions on Worker Mobility
Prof. Matthew Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Duke University. Through his research, he seeks to understand how regulations, policies, and other institutions shape working conditions in the U.S.

Jan 18, 2021 • 1h 3min
Prof. Scott Huettal, Professor of Neuroscience at Duke University
Decision neuroscience: neuroeconomics, Linking the neural and social sciences via neuroeconomics, Cognitive Foundations of Voter Choice, and Indulgent Foods Can Paradoxically Promote Disciplined Dietary Choices
Prof. Scott Huettal is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Research in his lab investigates the brain mechanisms underlying economic and social decision-making.

Jan 15, 2021 • 1h
Prof. Christopher McKee, Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley
A theory of the interstellar medium: Three components regulated by supernova explosions in an inhomogeneous substrate, Theory of Star Formation, and Radioactive feedback processes and implications for the initial mass function.
Prof. Christopher McKee is emeritus professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on how stars form out of the diffuse interstellar medium of galaxies.

Jan 14, 2021 • 43min
Prof. Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University
Social networks, Influencers, On the origins of a good society, Artificial Intelligence in hybrid systems, and managing pandemics.
Prof. Nicholas Christakis is professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. He directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale. His current research is focused on the social, mathematical, and biological rules governing how social networks form (“connection”), and (2) the social and biological implications of how they operate to influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (“contagion”).

Jan 13, 2021 • 56min
Prof. Philip Cook, Professor of Public Policy & Economics at Duke University
The Great American Gun War: Notes from Four Decades in the Trenches, Understanding Gun Violence: Public Health v/s Public Policy, and Thinking about gun violence.
Prof. Philip Cook is Professor of Public Policy, Economics and Sociology at Duke University. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also co-director of the NBER Work Group on the Economics of Crime, and co-editor of a NBER volume on crime prevention.

Jan 12, 2021 • 1h 18min
Prof. Adriana Lleras-Muney, Professor of Economics at UCLA
Do Youth Employment Programs Work? Evidence from the New Deal, The association between educational attainment and longevity using individual-level data from the 1940 census, The Incentive Effects of Cash Transfers to the Poor, and A Unified Model of Cohort Mortality for Economic Analysis
Prof. Adriana Lleras-Muney is a Professor of Economics at UCLA. Her research examines the relationships between socio-economic status and health, with a particular focus on education and income. Her most recent work investigates the long term impact of government policies on children by analyzing the effects of programs like the Mother’s Pension program and the Civilian Conservation Corps, implemented during the first half of the 20th century.

Jan 11, 2021 • 1h 11min
Prof. Anil Gupta, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh
Outline of an Account of Experience, Conscious Experience: A Logical Inquiry, Experience and Its Rational Significance, and Principles and the Generalization Function of Truth
Prof. Anil Gupta is Professor of Philosophy, History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Fellow of the Center for Philosophy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also editor of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

Jan 8, 2021 • 1h 16min
Prof. Chris Blattman, Professor of political science at the University of Chicago
Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia, The Long-Term Impacts of Grants on Poverty: Nine-Year Evidence from Uganda’s Youth Opportunities Program, and Gang rule: Understanding and Countering Criminal Governance
Prof. Chris Blattman is an economist and political scientist at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.


