Subject of much sci-fi media and philosophy discussions, the "hive mind" is also a key element of Vince Gilligan's (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) new show, Pluribus. Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins the pod to walk us through examples that we have studied of hive mind behavior (in the insect world), and why we can reasonably assert that you could not maintain your individuality if our brains directly communicated with each other (in the human world). Wolman, D. (2012). A tale of two halves. Nature, 483, 260-263. Split brain patient video demonstration Wittlinger, M., Wehner, R., & Wolf, H. (2006). The ant odometer: Stepping on stilts and stumps. Science, 312, 1965-1967. Penick, C.A. & Smith, A.A. (2015). The true odor of the odorous house ant. American Entomologist, 61, 85-87. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
Brain pics, or they didn't happen? There's a recent study that demonstrates that some brain region activity might interact differently with oxygen than previously assumed. This could upend significant neuroscience research spanning decades. Thankfully SIO has Dr. Jenessa Seymour to come in and break it all down for us! We start with a primer on the science of neuroimaging tools and the images they produce. How in the WORLD can we get a picture of a brain while a person is still alive? What are the things we need to know when evaluating scholarly articles or popular media coverage about the brain that uses these brain "scans" in discussing their results? And what do we need to see next to support the findings of this study that could have incredible ramifications across our understanding of the brain? Epp, S.M., Castrillón, G., Yuan, B. et al. BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex. Nat Neurosci (2025). Example structural MRI (sMRI) of a human brain Güttler, F.V., Heinrich, A., Rump, J., de Bucourt, M., Schnackenburg, B., … Teichgräber, U.K. (2012). Magnetic resonance imaging of the active second stage of labour: Proof of principle. European Radiology, 22, 2020–2026 Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) example image Example functional MRI (fMRI) Example fMRI with a more-appropriately blurry sMRI underneath After Warping Options, Configurable Pipeline for the Analysis of Connectomes (0, 4, and 8mm filter images) Jenessa's Brain: Jenessa's brain sMRI Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
In late September, shortly after declaring antifa a "domestic terrorist", Trump issued a memorandum directing the IRS to investigate tax-exempt organizations that could be "directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism" and nonprofit organizations reasonably felt concerned of being targeted. A couple of weeks later, Lydia and Thomas ran into Nick Fish, President of the American Atheists, at California Freethought Day and asked how he and the organization were holding up in light of everything. We're pleased to have Nick on to discuss what nonprofit organizations can do to protect themselves, as well as the people who have supported their mission and the communities they serve, when it is feeling less and less paranoid that the federal government might be coming for you. How can organizations fortify themselves through governing documents and organizational structure to donor databases and retention policies when the President of the United States could very well declare your nonprofit a supporter of domestic terrorism? Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence (NSPM-7) (9/25/2025) Support American Atheists!
Dr. Jenessa Seymour is on to teach us more about the brain! What do hallucinations, ear-worms, and phantom limbs have in common? And is "hallucinating" really a good term for what AI does when it makes something up?
Part 2 of Asra Nomani's insanely terrible Fox News article. Make sure you listened to part 1! This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is. You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy. Asra Nomani broke it here, but let Jenessa and I explain it to you because clearly your feeble, gullible brain can't process. information properly.
Part 1. This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is. You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy. Asra Nomani broke it here, but let Jenessa and I explain it to you because clearly your feeble, gullible brain can't process. information properly.
Stormy Decisis AKA Dr. Alan Smerbeck is back! With multiple stories in the news of AI Chatbots potentially driving people to delusion or psychosis, Stormy wanted to explain to us what's going on and what the actual differences are between psychosis, delusions, schizophrenia, and more. Visit Stormy's amazing project, sharebannedbooks.com!
***This is a two-parter. Listen to part 1! Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us!
Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us! This is a 2-parter! Get part 2 on patreon.com/seriouspod, or just wait a little!
Part 2 of my thoughts and observations based on all the info I could gather on Tyler Robinson. I think there's an aspect to him that isn't being emphasized enough that might help explain why he did what he did.
The public has gone through several phases of evolution on what the shooter's motive was. At first, it was assumed he was a leftwing terrorist. Then it seemed clear he was on the right. Or maybe nihilist. Then, the charging documents were released. These contained some selected texts with Robinson's transgender roommate who he seems to have been in a romantic relationship with. They are... weird. But what is going on here? What can we actually reasonably conclude at this time?
Dr. Bryan Gillis is back after far too long! But instead of space, he's here to talk about the problems in academia that lead to women and minority groups being underrepresented at astonishing and depressing levels.
Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins to discuss why TikTok's move here is aligned with what we know about eating disorders from the literature, and what happens when the internet doesn't draw a line like this. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
Lydia and I invite one of our good friends, Holly, to share her recent viral story of harassment at a public park in Glendale, California. We discuss what happened that day, the spread and impact of the video, as well as the broader issue at hand and how it has shifted with a new Trump administration coming into office. After the main show, Holly sticks around for a special discussion for patrons only because Lydia has A LOT to talk about after recently seeing Thunder From Down Under in Las Vegas (with Holly)! How exactly did a male exotic dance show lead to Lydia feeling so much girl power and sisterhood? What lessons can be learned from that experience? Note: As Holly mentions in the episode, her TikTok account was stolen and the original video is unfortunately gone. However, here's the reply from Danesh which includes the video in full: https://www.tiktok.com/@thatdaneshguy/video/7524505778430971150?lang=en Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
We had like, a mini war over Iran's nuclear situation and it is barely even a memory in today's news cycle. But what happened there? Did Iran have nuclear weapons? What does it take for them to make some? Was Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal good? And what happened after it was no longer in place? What might happen now? Joining is Evan McDonell, a former nuclear engineer with the US Naval nuclear program to give us the breakdown!
... what? Yep that's right. They say there is no college affordability crisis. And I guess then, presumably no student debt crisis as well? You can read for yourself here, and/or you can sit back and let Dr. Jenessa Seymore break down why this article is so... incorrect.
Part 2: The Data Dr. Jenessa Seymour continues her breakdown of the supposed voting discrepancies that a New York organization has "discovered". Her expertise in statistics gets the spotlight in this episode! Be sure to check out the graphs! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.
Part 1: The Legal Stuff Dr. Jenessa Seymour is here to break down something that even our moms are spreading on social media: a group in New York claims to have uncovered discrepancies in the vote count for the 2024 election, and they're suing over it! Dr. Seymour hits ALL of the expert boxes for this one - statistics, voting rights, the law, and New York. Want part 2 early? Head to Patreon.com/seriouspod! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.
We're going to take a look at Jordan Peterson's debate techniques and his arguments for God and have some fun along the way!
We're going to take a look at Jordan Peterson's debate techniques and his arguments for God and have some fun along the way!
Anthony Famularo
I buy her argument about this one NY county, but no debunking of election fraud suspicions could possibly be complete without mention of 1) the statistically far-out swing-state sweep; 2) Elon Musk; and 3) the ES&S voting-machine company. As for more than two people keeping a secret... Does it look to you that Musk, Trump, et al are even trying to keep a secret? Trump was indeed BRAGGING about Elon fucking with machines. If you want to debunk, that's laudable; but you need to debunk EVERYTHING.
ID29144049
Wow. Amazing episode. Amazing people.
Geoff
Good to hear 'back to normal' cheerfulness. Good ideas and topics worth looking to here as well. Great.
Jamal Jackson
nah
Chak Olate
I made a comment a while ago, negatively reviewing Allison's contribution. I'd like to take it back. She's really quite good, and I should have given her time to settle in.