Why? with Emma Kennedy – Details, episodes & analysis

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Why? with Emma Kennedy

Podmasters

Science

Health & Fitness

Science

Frequency: 1 episode/9d. Total Eps: 75

The podcast for curious minds. Every Wednesday, Emma Kennedy delves into the science and psychology of why we are the way we are. Emma is joined by leading experts and some of science's brightest minds to answer the big questions you never knew how to ask. Why do people join cults? Why do we need the moon? Why are we drawn to evil? Why do we have fetishes? Find out all of this and more on Why? from the makers of Oh God, What Now? and The Bunker . Follow us on social media: Threads Instagram Bluesky

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https://www.threads.net/@why_thepodcast?hl=en
32 shares
https://artlist.io/
29 shares
http://artlist.io/
3 shares

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Good

Score global : 89%

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Why do some people hate exercise?

Season 3 · Episode 18

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 • Duration 22:54

Why do some people love the gym while others hate it? A new study suggests it might be about personality, not willpower. Dr Flaminia Ronca, researcher at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at UCL, joins Emma Kennedy to find out if there’s a workout your brain is secretly wired to love or whether loathing spin class is perfectly normal!

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Why is sunscreen suddenly controversial?

Season 3 · Episode 17

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 • Duration 26:39

For years, sunscreen was the dullest health advice around: slap it on, don’t burn, lower your cancer risk. Easy. But in the weird world of TikTok wellness hacks and alarmist headlines, SPF has been recast as something sinister. This week on Why, Emma Kennedy is joined by Brian Diffey, Emeritus Professor of Photobiology at the University of Newcastle, to unpack how sunscreen actually works and how a simple life-saving habit got tangled up in conspiracy and misinformation.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Why are some of us gay?

Season 3 · Episode 8

Wednesday, July 9, 2025 • Duration 30:35

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Sex, attraction, identity all bring up strong debates. For years, scientists have tried to pin down why we fancy who we fancy. Genes? Brain chemistry? Vibes? There’s no tidy answer – but could we be on the cusp of a scientific explanation?

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by geneticist and neuroscientist Dr Kevin Mitchell, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin to talk about attraction, the ‘gay gene’, and the universal appeal of prime David Beckham.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Could we make a real Jurassic Park?

Season 3 · Episode 7

Wednesday, July 2, 2025 • Duration 31:30

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. When Jurassic Park roared into cinemas in 1993, it wasn’t just the dinosaurs that captured our imaginations – it was the idea that science might one day bring the prehistoric creatures back to life. Three decades and seven blockbusters later, the science of resurrection is edging closer to reality. Could we really bring back the dinosaurs?

This week, Emma Kennedy talks to Professor Andrew Pask, a geneticist at the University of Melbourne, about his mission to revive the Tasmanian tiger – and why recreating truly prehistoric species remains a scientific riddle.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are we obsessed with being special?

Season 3 · Episode 6

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 • Duration 34:19

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Why are we so obsessed with being special?Today, we’re diving into the strange modern urge to define ourselves at all costs. Online, in politics and beyond identity has become our currency. But as the world tilts into climate collapse, A.I. dread, and whatever mess Donald Trump’s cooking up, maybe it’s time to ask: who are we without all the labels?

Emma Kennedy is joined by Alexander Douglas, philosopher and author of Against Identity, to explore why clinging to identity might be doing more harm than good.

Buy Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

What happens if billionaires become immortal?

Season 3 · Episode 5

Wednesday, June 18, 2025 • Duration 34:14

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Billionaires want to live forever – and they might just pull it off. From young blood transfusions to gene-hacking and basement labs chasing eternal youth, the ultra-rich are pouring fortunes into cheating death. But if Bezos, Thiel and co get to slow ageing, what happens to the rest of us?

Emma Kennedy talks to Richard Faragher, Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Brighton, and Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University, to find out what could happen if billionaires unlock immortality.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is scrolling doing to our brains?

Season 3 · Episode 4

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Duration 21:02

We’re back and we’ve got questions. Are you a doomscroller? Are you endlessly flicking through a feed of memes, photos of your coworker’s holidays and articles you’ll never read? It seems harmless at first – but what if it’s rewiring how we think? This week, Emma Kennedy talks to world leading cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Earl K. Miller, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, to find out what scrolling is doing to our brains.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io.

WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Why does medicine ignore women? with Naga Munchetty

Season 3 · Episode 3

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 • Duration 27:14

We’re back and we’ve got questions. From misdiagnosed heart attacks to the gaslighting of chronic pain, women’s health has been stuck in triage for far too long. Women are told to trust the system – but what if the system was never built for them in the first place?

This week, Emma Kennedy talks to TV presenter and author of It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis, Naga Munchetty, to ask: why does modern medicine keep failing women?

Buy It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? with Emma Kennedy by earning us a small commission for every sale. https://bookshop.org/’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

Image courtesy of the BBC

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How could we talk to space aliens?

Season 3 · Episode 2

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 • Duration 25:39

We’re back and we’ve got questions. We always imagine first contact with aliens as a conversation. But what if talking is the problem? How could we ever prepare for the awkward opening lines of interstellar diplomacy? Well, here on Earth, we might already have a clue: the octopus. They learn, play, and can even recognise human faces. So could our eight-tentacled friends help us understand intelligence beyond our own planet?

Emma Kennedy talks to mollusc expert Dr. Tim Pearce, curator and the head of the Section of Mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to find out how we might one day communicate with life from the stars.

Instagram | X | Threads | Bluesky

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Why do swingers swing?

Season 3 · Episode 1

Wednesday, May 21, 2025 • Duration 33:06

We’re back and we’ve got some questions. The rules around sex are changing: what was once considered taboo is becoming the norm – and even The Guardian is dishing out kinky tips to their readers. Why are we now more honest about our sexual desires than ever before? Why are so many of us willing to engage in these non-traditional desires?

Emma Kennedy talks to psychosexual therapist Dr Kate Moyle, author of The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered, to find out just why swingers swing?

• Buy Kate’s book The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission from every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠X⁠ | ⁠Threads⁠ | ⁠Bluesky⁠

WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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Why? with Emma Kennedy – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Why? with Emma Kennedy – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other38

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other38

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