Daniel Martinez discovered the unthinkable: a creature that breaks one of the most fundamental laws of life. In the wake of his discovery--which has been widely confirmed by the scientific community--all kinds of people have thrown themselves into trying to unlock the secrets of how this creature seems to cheat death. Cellular biologists, aging researchers, and the biotech industry all hold high hopes that there may be some application to slow human aging. Millions of dollars are being poured in...
Mar 16, 2020•44 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Bernie Krause was a successful musician as a young man, playing with rock stars like Jim Morrison and George Harrison in the 1960s and '70s. But then one day, Bernie heard a sound unlike anything he'd ever encountered and it completely overtook his life. He quit the music business to pursue it and has spent the last 50 years following it all over the earth. And what he's heard raises this question: what can we learn about ourselves and the world around us if we quiet down and listen? | To learn ...
Mar 08, 2020•44 min•Season 6Ep. 6
You hear the train barreling towards you and you're tied to the tracks. It's an impossible situation. Most people would panic, and then a tiny handful would think up improbable workarounds. This season on Invisibilia: inventors in desperate times. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Mar 02, 2020•2 min
What happens when you treat artificial intelligence with unconditional love? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Dec 17, 2019•29 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Producer B.A. Parker started recording her calls with her father because she was concerned about the care at his nursing home. But the recordings gave her a window into something very different: their relationship. So she started recording her calls with her grandmother as well. A story of relationships told through the small recorded calls between people who love each other. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 22, 2019•16 min•Season 5Ep. 10
As a parent, what do you do when your four-year-old starts telling you about memories that can't possibly be his? Memories that he says are from a past life? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Oct 25, 2019•19 min
A mysterious profile pops up on a dating app - leading to a bubble of chaos and confusion. A story about trying to sort fact versus fiction, how destabilizing that can be, and a very strange confrontation with the truth. NOTE: Since this story was originally published, we have added some background reporting and context to the episode. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Sep 20, 2019•22 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Richard Kraft was in a fog of grief when he bought his first Disney collectible at an auction. But once he started, he couldn't stop. In the first episode of our new fall season, we explore the role of positive distraction in the face of adversity. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Aug 23, 2019•26 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Invisibilia is a show that runs on empathy. We believe in it. But are we right? In this episode, we'll let you decide. We tell the same story twice in order to examine the questions: who deserves our empathy? And is there a wrong way to empathize? If you or somebody you know might need help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 or at suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 12, 2019•50 min•Season 5Ep. 6
A young woman discovers a pattern in her dating habits that disturbs her - a pattern that challenges her very conception of who she is and what she believes in. The realization sets her off on a quest to change her attractions. But is this even possible? And should we be hacking our desire to match our values? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 05, 2019•59 min•Season 5Ep. 5
What would it be like if you could control your mood with a hand held device? Literally turn the device to different settings and make yourself happier and sadder? Alix Spiegel talks to a woman who has that power. If you or somebody you know might need help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 or at suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 29, 2019•45 min•Season 5Ep. 4
In this episode of Invisibilia, we explore our relationship with uncertainty through the eyes of a chief meteorologist. We wonder: what do you do when you don't know what to do? And how do we handle it when that question has no answer? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Mar 22, 2019•41 min•Season 5Ep. 3
What is the relationship between the version of you that lives online and the one that walks around the earth? We think of our online selves as shadow versions of us which we can control. But in this age when facts are malleable, something strange is happening: our online selves are sometimes eclipsing our real ones, even when we don't want them to. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 15, 2019•50 min•Season 5Ep. 2
We look at how our culture's massive effort to address pain has paradoxically increased it. And we follow one young girl as she struggles through a bizarre and extreme treatment program. NOTE: The treatment in this episode is administered by trained professionals in a hospital setting (and should not be implemented without medical supervision). Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 08, 2019•59 min•Season 5Ep. 1
This moment in our culture can feel fraught. From 'fake news' to the opioid crisis, there's a lot of uncertainty about the future. So this season, Invisibilia helps you discern truth from fiction, cure your pain, and find your true love with conviction. It's your very own Emotional Survival Guide! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 04, 2019•1 min
Years ago, producer Yowei Shaw taught high school students how to make radio. And in one of her classes, something bizarre happened with one of her students, something that she's never been able to make sense of. In this episode, Yowei tracks down her former student and uncovers a story much stranger than she ever expected. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 21, 2018•31 min
Five years ago, Leena Sanzgiri was living her childhood dream... New York city apartment, job at Vogue, and a boyfriend she planned to marry. Until the July day she woke up in the hospital, and everything changed. Support for this episode provided by Charles Schwab: https://www.schwab.com/. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 07, 2018•14 min
An uncomfortable encounter with a stranger sets producer Abby Wendle on a quest to answer the question: who do you let in and who do you keep out? In her search for balance between openness and caution – she navigates the struggles of her long-distance relationship and chats up musician John Prine. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Oct 16, 2018•24 min
In this story, comedian Cord Jefferson tells a heartfelt personal story and offers up some illuminating science about the power of the human voice. Support for this episode was provided by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: https://afsp.org/. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Sep 14, 2018•11 min
Our first live event!! We explored the In Between with Alix, Hanna and several DC-based storytellers, who talked about charting their own path in a world of absolutes. We couldn't feature all the amazing storytellers in this bonus episode, but you can see videos of performances by Vijai Nathan, Mike Kane, Carly Ciarrocchi on our website: http://npr.org/invisibilia. The videos from Hanna's story are there too! For more information about Story District, visit their website: http://storydistrict.or...
Jun 14, 2018•47 min
A lot of communities today are taking a hard stand against sexual harassment and assault. Using social media shaming, ostracism, professional excommunication, whatever punishment is painful enough to shift the moral code by brute force. Through one incident in the Richmond Virginia hardcore music scene, we chronicle a social media callout and ask what pain can accomplish. CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains obscenities and descriptions of sex and violence. For resources on handling accountabi...
Apr 13, 2018•54 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Today we introduce you to Allie n Steve, who is one person. For half the day she can be Allie and the other half he is Steve. For many of us this would be a disorienting experience. But after a shattering experience in their life, Allie n Steve has learned to live comfortably in this in between space. And Allie n Steve has lessons to teach us about the beauty of not retreating to black and white. We also talk to a woman who suffers from a little known condition called "maladaptive daydreaming." ...
Apr 06, 2018•47 min•Season 4Ep. 5
A panel of judges sits to decide the fate of the young woman. She's the child of addicts and an ex-addict and ex-felon herself, and she's asking the court to trust her to become an attorney. The outcome of her case hinges on a question we all struggle with: are we destined to repeat our patterns, or do we generally stray in surprising directions? - a question increasingly relevant in an age when algorithms are trying to predict everything about our behavior. CONTENT WARNING: This episode contain...
Mar 30, 2018•55 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Your aging mother lives in another country. Then a tenant moves into her house – he's clean, polite, helpful. At first you are relieved, until you begin to suspect that man has sinister motives. That's the situation two brothers found themselves in, in Taiwan. Then something happened between the tenant and the mother that unsettled the brothers' lives even more. We examine how leaving things unsaid with our intimates can lead to misunderstandings and missed connections. Learn more about sponsor ...
Mar 22, 2018•46 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Reality TV may be popular around the world, but it's also roundly mocked as formulaic and contrived. So, can that kind of fragile fantasy world meaningfully influence reality? We look at the goals and impact of a UN-backed reality show called "Inspire Somalia," that attempted to model democracy and freedom in a country racked by decades of clan warfare and oppression by extremist groups like al-Shabab. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 16, 2018•48 min•Season 4Ep. 2
In this episode, we talk to a 74-year-old woman who decides the only way to get over her husband's death is to jump out of an airplane. And to a third generation beekeeper whose entire collection of hives has been stolen - he believes by Russian mobsters. After losing so much can they tell themselves new stories about themselves that allow them to function? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Mar 09, 2018•38 min•Season 4Ep. 1
We're living in a black and white world, where the stories we tell ourselves lock us into one side or the other. These stories define us – imprison or liberate us. In their fourth season, co-hosts Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel map the grey areas. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Feb 23, 2018•2 min
In this bonus episode, we catch up with a character from Season 3 of Invisibilia... Max Hawkins, a San Francisco-based computer programmer who initially built an app to help him break out of his predictable bubble. Recently, Max, and others he's inspired to "bubble-hop," have been led to confront situations they feel have crossed the line from uncomfortable...to morally repugnant. These experiences have meant grappling with when to shut down, and when to engage. Invisibilia is supported by GoToM...
Dec 22, 2017•12 min
In a special podcast bonus, co-host Hanna Rosin checks in with Bill Millar, who we met in Season 2's "Flip the Script." They talk about dating, cats, and how love can look different for everyone. Listen to the original episode here: http://apple.co/2x0aWE3. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Sep 12, 2017•11 min
A thief knocks down your door and you are flooded with fear. Your baby smiles up at you and you are filled with love. It feels like this is how emotions work: something happens, and we instinctively respond. How could it be any other way? Well, the latest research in psychology and neuroscience shows that's not in fact how emotions work. We offer you a truly mind-blowing alternative explanation for how an emotion gets made. And we do it through a bizarre lawsuit, in which a child dies in a car a...
Jun 22, 2017•54 min•Season 3Ep. 1
