Author: Doug Fraser

Somewhere in the rows and rows of office cubicles that make up the emotional business of our brains, there’s one employee hellbent on burning the whole place down. Her name is childhood. Is it possible to pry ourselves from her fiery grasp? Or are we destined to live with one hand on the fire extinguisher? Psychotherapist and bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb, offers a way to set our childhoods free: changing the stories we tell ourselves. A few of the curiosities in this episode: Why we’re all unreliable narrators of our life The long-term…

Ashrita Furman broke the world record for underwater hoola-hooping in Florida, where a pod of dolphins watched from afar—in what I presume was utter confusion. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some pretty fascinating people. The voice of Porky Pig, a haunted house architect, a scientist who’s close to bringing back a T-Rex (albeit in a less menacing, chicken-sized form). But Ashrita Furman is in a league of his own. He has world records out the ying yang, including: The most matches put out on your tongue in a minute The most beer bottles opened with a chainsaw in 60 seconds…

What happens when you mix wine with the kernel of a podcast episode idea? In my case, I got Dr. Justin Lehmiller: a social psychologist and Kinsey Institute Research Fellow. Three years ago I was scratching the ol’ noggin, sipping on a few glasses of red blend, and wondering about new episode topics for What We Do. Psychology has always fascinated me—the psychology of sex doubly so. A quick Google search for “psychology of sex” and boom, Justin’s Sex and Psychology website blinked into my plane of existence. I reached out. He was kind enough to appear on the show…

The following is an article version of the Curious State episode of the same name, edited for content and reading clarity. You can listen to the full episode here. Picture her standing in front of you: She’s a whopping 18 feet tall. If you were in the second story of your house and peaked out the window, you’d be eye-to-eye. And what an eye: It’s believed to have been bigger than a tennis ball, with a binocular field of view wider than a modern hawk’s. But you’re probably staring at her teeth right now, aren’t you? They’re sharp as swords and as long…

The following is an article version of the Curious State episode of the same name (feat. Elie Honig), edited for content and reading clarity. You can listen to the full episode here. At 6’6” Lenny Montana was bigger than life. If you’ve seen The Godfather, you’d recognize him as Luca Brasi—a hitman. And Lenny just so happened to be one in real life. Before Hollywood, he held the role of “enforcer” for the infamous Colombo crime family. Apparently, while on the set of The Godfather, he shared a few stories of the ol’ days. Including how he’d dip a tampon in kerosene, tie it…

Regret is our constant companion, tugging at our ear to remind us of our mistakes. Our follies. The kind of stuff we shove to the back of our brain fridge and hope it doesn’t stink up the house. But what if regret isn’t what we think? What if it’s actually the way to a happier, more fulfilling life? Daniel Pink, the author of such insightful classics as To Sell is Human and A Whole New Mind, rolled up his sleeves and mined the deep, dingy trenches of regret. What he found just might change your life. As part of the…