New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

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World War II

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Memory

Plastic Pollution

Drone Warfare

Covid-19

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Neuroscience

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This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ... more

77 ratings

Publishes	Daily	Episodes	2884	Founded	14 years ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	ScienceSocial Sciences

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Guests Host Reviews Charts Talking Points

Latest Episodes

Rahul Mukherjee, "Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution" (MIT Press, 2026)

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Pre... more

Yesterday • 1 hr 1 min

Christos Lynteris, "How Plague Got Rats: Mastering a Zoonotic Pandemic" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

Today, rats are nearly synonymous with plague, but this association is surprisingly recent. For centuries, plague devastated populations without being linked to animals. So how did the rat become the symbol of one of history's deadliest diseases? In... more

30 May 2026 • 49 min

Pedro Domingos, "The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World" (Basic Books, 2018)

In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to

invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge from data, and doing anything we want, before we even ask. In The Master Algorithm: How the Quest ... more

30 May 2026 • 1 hr 11 min

Amy Thomas, "Copyright, Contract, and Video Games: Terms of Play" (Hart Publishing, 2026)

Copyright, Contract, and Video Games: Terms of Play (Hart Publishing, 2026) uncovers how video game contracts act as monologues of power, moulding players to align with proprietary ideologies.

In the era of interactive technologies, the player emer... more

29 May 2026 • 26 min

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Recent Guests

Jeffrey Whyte

Scholar and author of The Birth of Psychological War

Lancaster University

Episode: Jeffrey Whyte, "The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

Yosef Grodzinsky

Professor Emeritus and Director of the Neurolinguistic Lab

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Episode: Yosef Grodzinsky, "How Deeply Human Is Language?: Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy" (MIT Press, 2026)

Kate Brown

Distinguished professor in the history of science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Episode: Kate Brown, "Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City" (W. W. Norton, 2026)

Robert Rouphail

Author of Cyclonic Lives in an Indian Ocean World, Environmental Disaster, and Identity in Modern Mauritius

University of Iowa

Episode: Robert Rouphail, "Cyclonic Lives in an Indian Ocean World: Environment, Disaster, and Identity in Modern Mauritius" (Ohio UP, 2026)

Paul Stob

Author of Empire of Skulls, Phrenology, The Fowler Family, and A New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind

Vanderbilt University (author)

Episode: Paul Stob, "Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind" (Counterpoint Publishing, 2026)

Silvia Danielak

Assistant professor at George Mason University, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

George Mason University

Episode: Silvia Danielak, "Peace Infrastructures: How UN Peace Operations Build Roads, Bridges, and Solar Farms in the Pursuit of Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2026)

Aymar Jèan Escoffery

Professor and Margaret Walker Chair at Northwestern University, author of Reparative Media

Northwestern University

Episode: Aymar Jèan Escoffery, "Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Culture" (MIT Press, 2025)

Angela Fritz

Author of AI and Digital Leadership, Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future (Bloomsbury, 2026)

University of Iowa

Episode: Angela I. Fritz, "AI and Digital Leadership: Transforming Libraries, Archives, and Museums for the Future" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

Rina Bliss

Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Episode: Rina Bliss, "What's Real About Race: Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society" (W.W. Norton, 2025)

Host

Miranda Melcher

Host of The New Books Network; focus on history and science/technology topics; affiliated with New Books Network.

Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars from 77 ratings

Excellent, but please fix the audio
Excellent content, but the audio of the introductory part is disturbed by static noise. Thankfully the introduction is pretty short. The audio of the interview is much better. I think it would be wise to get a new microphone.
Apple Podcasts
3
Em1975
United States5 years ago

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Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Guests are clearly experts and bring depth to debates.

Thoughtful, rigorous conversations with top scholars.

Occasional audio quality issues during intros.

The show combines archival insight with contemporary relevance.

Great for background reading and understanding complex topics.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts	#72	United States/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#30	Canada/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#193	United Kingdom/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#54	France/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#135	Australia/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#188	Germany/Science/Social Sciences

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Jeffrey Whyte, "The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

Q: How did the USIA evolve during the Cold War, and what happened with Radio Free Europe?

The USIA emerged as a formalized channel for public diplomacy but was entangled with covert operations; Radio Free Europe was clandestinely run by the CIA through the National Committee for a Free Europe, illustrating how overt cultural messaging and covert political warfare operated in tandem during the counterinsurgency era.

Jeffrey Whyte, "The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

Q: Walk us through Chapter 1's main points and how this response to Nazi moves is framed.

Chapter 1 links the origins of psywar to the 1940-era reorganization of American intelligence, showing how the COI/OSS framework created the basis for psychological operations and public messaging, with a focus on how public opinion could be mobilized to influence intervention decisions and deter isolationist impulses.

Silvia Danielak, "Peace Infrastructures: How UN Peace Operations Build Roads, Bridges, and Solar Farms in the Pursuit of Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2026)

Q: Could you start us off, please, by introducing yourself a little bit and telling us why you decided to write this book?

I'm Silvia Danielak, an assistant professor at George Mason University, and I wrote Peace Infrastructures to examine how UN peace operations emerge as infrastructure builders, not just as mediators or militaries, and to investigate how these material systems shape everyday life and conceptions of peace.

Aymar Jèan Escoffery, "Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Culture" (MIT Press, 2025)

Q: Could you explain the cookout metaphor and how it redefines the lifecycle of a media product?

The cookout frames production as intimate cultural exchange, distribution as serving, and hosting as platforming, grounding the lifecycle in communal trust, shared nourishment, and equitable invitation rather than a top-down industrial pipeline.

Aymar Jèan Escoffery, "Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Culture" (MIT Press, 2025)

Q: What role do stories play as technologies of repair, and how does that reshape our view of media and technology?

Stories are not just content; they are mechanisms that shape identity, solidarity, and meaning, acting as a form of technology that can rewire power dynamics when producers, audiences, and platforms engage with care and inclusivity rather than profit-first logics.

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Frequently Asked Questions About This Podcast

What is This Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This program features in-depth conversations with scholars who discuss recently published books and research across science, technology, and society. Episodes cover topics like psywar history, language and AI, urban self-provisioning, environmental disasters, peace infrastructures, phrenology's historical impact, AI leadership in GLAM institutions, reparative media, race and genomics, internet history, space policy, and data capitalism in rural contexts. Guests are primarily academics and policy thinkers who illuminate historical debates, technological change, and social implications, often tying scholarly work to contemporary public conversations. The show is notable for integrating archival research with contemporary issues, offering rigo... more

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this podcast launched 14 years ago and published 2884 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on this podcast?

Recent guests on this podcast include:

1. Jeffrey Whyte
2. Yosef Grodzinsky
3. Kate Brown
4. Robert Rouphail
5. Paul Stob
6. Silvia Danielak
7. Aymar Jèan Escoffery
8. Angela Fritz

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