Deeply Human
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Deeply Human
Why you do what you do! Exploring our loves, our fears, our habits and hopes, Dessa takes a deeply personal look at what lies behind our thoughts and behavior. Can a better understanding of human nature help us be more generous with other people’s weird behavior and even our own?Deeply Human is a BB...
Recent Episodes
27 episodesSleep
Is insomnia really a problem of modern life... or is the struggle for sleep older than you think?
It's a common lament: this new world of smartp...
Born With It
Why are we so judgemental about how others beautify themselves?
Do you wear eyeliner? Dye your hair? Ever gone under a laser, needle, or knife?...
Hate
Why do we hate one another - and how can we stop?
How and when does conflict metastasize into hatred? Dessa picks apart the science of hostility...
Stuff
Why do you have all that stuff?
What drives us to get and keep so much stuff - even objects that we rarely, if ever, use? Psychologists working...
Pulling Rank
Why do we form social hierarchies?
From corporate ladders to military chains of command, formal caste systems to playground pecking orders, huma...
Divisible Love
Why do you love the way you do?
We're expected to love only one romantic partner at a time. But we can love more than one parent, sibling, and f...
Faded
Why do we use intoxicants?
Whether it’s booze, weed, opiates, or even caffeine, the drive to catch a buzz seems almost universal for members of...
Faded
Why do we use intoxicants?
Whether it’s booze, weed, opiates, or even caffeine, the drive to catch a buzz seems almost universal for members of...
Crowds
Why do crowds move us?
Being part of a crowd can embolden us: we might raise our voices in protest at a march, or snort-laugh more at a sold-out...
Dress Codes
Why do we care so much about what people wear?
An etiquette adviser, a civil rights lawyer, and an Iranian activist walk into a podcast studio…<...
Nakedness
Why aren’t you naked?
Unless you’re reading this in the shower, sunbathing on a progressive beach, or as a fresh born babe, you’re probably wear...
Dance
Why do our bodies react to rhythm?
From rain dances to raves, dance has been a social tool for sexual selection and community cohesion. Dessa ex...
Accents
Heyo, why do you talk like that?
Do French babies cry in French? Our accents may start to take shape well before we learn our first words. Dessa...
Trailer: Season Two
Monogamy, sleep deprivation, high fashion, and avant-garde Japanese dance—that’s right Deeply Human is coming back with a bang. In season 2, Dessa, sp...
Death
It’s time to talk. It is never too late for a rigorous conversation about death activism, the guillotine and the ferocity of human love — unless, of c...
Deja Vu
What if everything you experienced felt like you had already lived it before? Meet the people for whom déjà vu is every day.
It’s...
Teenage Brain
The experiences of being a teenager are deep and lasting — first break-ups, fierce arguments with parents, that time a friend tried to skateboard off...
Sad Music
Listening to sad songs is a weird, counterintuitive thing to do. Why listen to something that moves you to tears?
As someone who’s...
Menopause
If you think you’re too young to learn about menopause, you’re wrong. Prepare to be both surprised and entertained — and maybe even become a kinder so...
Spooked
Why, when we’re alone, do we sometimes feel like we’re not? Why are we eager to find signs of life in our surroundings — to see faces in clouds, or to...
Mirror Mirror
Our ideas of what’s beautiful are tied to symmetry. Symmetry attracts. Why? What’s so compelling about faces that are the same on both sides of that n...
Standing Line
Budging. Cutting in line. Skipping. Butting. Doesn’t it make your blood boil? The standing line evokes strong feelings about justice — breaking what w...
Sex
Most female mammals schedule their sex life into just the couple of days in their cycle when they’re fertile. So why do humans do it whenever the mood...
Lying
High-stakes lies have all sorts of consequences: perjurers are imprisoned and slanderers are sued. But when your coworker asks your opinion on his new...
Pain
Hurting, pain and suffering might just be some of the most important things that make you who you are. That pain, though, may be almost invisible to t...
Dating
We spend a lot of time looking for love — but have we got that wrong? Is love something you discover, or something you’d be better off growing into? I...
Introducing: Deeply Human
Musician, writer and science fiend Dessa explores the hidden motors that drive human experience and behavior. Why do we get déjà vu? Why are we attrac...