Sing for Science

​⁠ @RivalSons ⁠ guitarist Scott Holiday joins philosopher Dr. Dylan Trigg of Central European University in Vienna for a conversation about identity, dreams, and what remains of us when everything changes.

Taking “Veridream” from Scott’s album Topology as a starting point, we explore topology as a philosophical metaphor: how we can be transformed by experience while retaining something essential. Scott shares how recovery from a serious cycling accident reshaped an instrumental project into songs he needed to sing himself. Drawing on his accompanying essay, The Invisible Geometry of the Heart, Trigg brings the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Freud’s concept of the uncanny into a discussion of perception, technology, and our connections to one another.

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Musician ⁠ ⁨@cainculto⁩ ⁠ and Columbia University clinical professor of psychiatry Dr. Jack Drescher join Sing for Science to examine the evidence against conversion therapy.

Cain discusses his Latin American and Appalachian roots, his journey from Christian rock to queer self-expression, and his experience with conversion therapy. Dr. Drescher explores psychiatry’s history of pathologizing homosexuality, the activism that helped change it, and the evidence against efforts to change sexual orientation. A conversation about faith, identity, and what happens when the promise of healing becomes a source of harm.

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Listen Now:

https://www.singforscience.org/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sing-for-science/id1535070210Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2xXs2PTc16TYY34FTgpbIY?si=ac55ac8510c54befYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC5IsH4kGa8B2UlAmaeuULYw X: https://x.com/singforscienceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/singforscienceFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/singforscienceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sing-for-science

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Bass virtuoso, DJ, and producer Blu DeTiger joins Dr. Clara Latham, music scholar at The New School, for a conversation about groove, gender, and the work behind making music look effortless. Taking Blu’s “SHOCK!” as a starting point, we explore her fluency in disco and funk, the coordination involved in DJing while playing bass, and the blurry line between music as work and music as play. Along the way, we consider why labor-saving technologies sometimes create more work, what makes a turntable an instrument rather than an appliance, and how women musicians challenge expectations about skill, sexuality, and who gets taken seriously.

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Brooklyn rapper, producer, and singer-songwriter Kota the Friend joins Brown University professor and author Dr. Kevin Quashie for a conversation about Black life, language, world-building, and the possibilities of imagining a Black world beyond narratives defined by violence.

Using Kota’s “For Colored Boys” alongside ideas from Quashie’s Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of Being, the conversation explores Black aliveness, Black pessimism, audience, self-love, conformity, spirituality, and the extraordinary power of language to create new ways of seeing and being.

Recorded live at Poster House NYC on September 2, 2026, in conjunction with its Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen exhibition.

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How do the specific objects and places of our past shape our understanding of personal and collective history?

In this episode of Sing for Science, singer-songwriter ⁨Jensen McRae sits down with Williams College historian Dr. Christine DeLucia to explore the intersections of songwriting, material culture, and historical memory.

Starting with a deep dive into the specific imagery of Jensen’s song "Massachusetts"—specifically the lyric referencing a souvenir pilgrim ashtray—they examine how ordinary objects serve as powerful conduits for memory.

#SingForScience #JensenMcRae #ChristineDeLucia #massachusetts #songwriting #MaterialCulture #HistoricalMemory #WilliamsCollege #SciencePodcast #MusicAndHistory #PublicHistory #PodcastsOnYouTube

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What happens when artificial intelligence is given a directive without a human conscience to constrain it?

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter Sean Ono Lennon joins AI ethics researchers Dr. Jason D'Cruz and Dr. Anat Perry for a conversation inspired by The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, Sean's concept album and companion comic book co-created with Les Claypool.

Using Nick Bostrom’s famous "paperclip maximizer" thought experiment as a jumping-off point, the panel explores the alignment problem, the nature of theory of mind, and the fundamental tension between cold, mathematical optimization and human empathy. Together, they unpack whether true empathy requires a conscious, mortal experience of existing—and examine the risks of integrating persuasive, simulated empathy into courtrooms, therapy, and everyday human relationships.

This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and recorded live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Country star Brantley Gilbert joins us for a conversation about his song “Sins of the Father” with Texas Tech University Climate Scientist and Evangelical Christian, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. We talk about the relationship between faith and science, how to have conversations with people you disagree with, the truth about what’s causing our planet to warm and so much more.

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How does the brain transform the physical world into the rich inner experience we call reality?

Singer-songwriter Debbii Dawson joins Caltech neuroscientist Dr. Daw-An Wu for a conversation inspired by her songs "Where Have All the Good Men Gone" and "Chemical Attraction."

Together they explore psychophysics, the science of perception, asking how illusion, consciousness, free will, love, and even spirituality emerge from the brain's interpretation of the world around us.

From medullas to panpsychism, this wide-ranging discussion examines the mysterious space where objective reality becomes subjective experience.

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Can music transform the brain and body?Recorded live at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with 11-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan and MD Anderson neurosurgery assistant professor, concert pianist, and music medicine researcher Dr. Mei Rui for a conversation inspired by Rufus’s classic “Tell Me Something Good.” Together they explore the neuroscience of rhythm, music as medicine, Chaka’s early years in Chicago, the profound role music has played in connecting with her nonverbal nephew Tallon, and how emerging research may benefit neurodivergent communities.This episode was produced in partnership with the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Chaka Khan Foundation, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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Recorded live at London’s Natural History Museum on November 24, 2025. Breaking Bad fanatics, have a fresh pair of trousers at the ready—Bryan Cranston delivers an unforgettable conversation packed with behind-the-scenes stories from his years playing Walter White. He shares how DEA agents taught him the fundamentals of meth production, what he learned shadowing a USC chemistry professor to prepare for the role, and the surprising science details the show actually got right. A Hollywood legend through and through, Cranston does not disappoint.Joining him is the eminent Alan Hart—mineralogist, science historian, and keeper of extraordinary knowledge about the material world. Hart breaks down the real science behind Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the intricate chemistry of organic and inorganic crystal structures, and the remarkable history of how the Periodic Table came to be. Together, Cranston and Hart illuminate the scientific heart of Breaking Bad in a way fans have never heard before.

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Actor and musician Jena Malone joins Sing For Science to discuss “Set Your Sorrows Down” from her album Flowers for Men, a deeply personal record exploring identity, desire, transformation, and non-monogamy. The song’s central question — “Who am I to become now?” — opens a conversation about inherited relationship scripts and what it means to “take the society out of you.”Joining Jena is Chapman University psychologist and Kinsey Institute Research Fellow Dr. Amy Moors, whose work examines consensual non-monogamy, polyamory, stigma, jealousy, compersion, and the relationship structures that exist outside conventional monogamy. Together they explore why non-monogamy remains so stigmatized despite being far more common than many people assume, how art can make hidden experiences visible, and why studying love scientifically can help dismantle shame.

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Singer, songwriter, actress, and producer Rita Wilson joins Sing For Science to discuss her song “Sound of a Woman” alongside NYU performance studies scholar and psychoanalyst Ann Pellegrini. Together they explore what it means to “find one’s voice” later in life, how gender is performed and culturally shaped, and the tension between identity as something deeply felt yet socially constructed. Drawing from Rita’s reflections on feeling “muted” by propriety and expectation, the conversation moves through topics including femininity, performance, language, vulnerability, self-expression, and what it means to be heard — including a discussion of what Ann calls the “Carole King paradox:" the idea that something can feel profoundly natural while also being shaped by culture, performance, and expectation.

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Join Simpsons favorite, Moe The Bartender and his human counterpart Hank Azaria for a lively conversation with Social Neuroscientist, Dr. Kevin Ochsner. We talk about the legendary “Flaming Moe’s” Simpsons episode from both Moe’s and Hank’s perspectives, how and why our brains are wired to thrive in social contexts like Moe’s Tavern, Hank’s experience recovering from alcoholism, the neural underpinnings of practicing acceptance and more! Recorded live at the Forum Theater/Columbia University on October 8, 2024.

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Australian songwriter Courtney Barnett joins entomologist Jessica Ware to explore the science and symbolism of the praying mantis. From ancient folklore to evolutionary behavior—including its infamous mating habits—they unpack what this strange, still creature is really doing… and why we can’t stop projecting meaning onto it.

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Costa Rican star Debi Nova joins field biologist and Re:wild’s Mesoamerica Director Esteban Brenes-Mora for our first-ever Central American taping. Recorded in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, the conversation centers on Debi’s album Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción (“Everything Can Become a Song”), exploring the challenges and gifts of rewilding, what drives Costa Rica’s remarkable biodiversity, Debi’s impression of the Judas bird—the Cristofué (“it was Christ”)—the bathroom habits of tapirs, and what it means to find balance and coexistence between humans, animals, and the ecosystems we share.

Read the transcript of this episode:https://www.singforscience.org/transcripts/debi-nova-todo-puede-convertirse-en-cancinFor further reading and listening:
Improving Health and Well-Being Through Nature - W.H.O.https://www.who.int/europe/activities/improving-health-and-well-being-through-nature
Costa Rica’s Tapir Resurgence Sparks Hope for ‘Gardeners of the Forest’ - http://thegef.org/
https://www.thegef.org/newsroom/feature-stories/costa-ricas-tapir-resurgence-sparks-hope-gardeners-forest
Debi Nova: Todo Puede Convertirse en Canción
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5OUSPO2MSCouIXwisPnaMjCs_4Gl7Lhh
About the Guests:
Debi Nova
Singer, songwriter, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist from San Jose, Costa Rica. She's considered the most successful Costa Rican artist in history, and the most streamed Costa Rican artist on Spotify.
http://debinova.com/
Esteban Brenes-Mora
Conservation biologist specializing in wildlife management, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable development across Mesoamerica.
https://www.rewild.org/team/esteban-brenes-mora

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What turns neighbors into enemies? What makes cruelty feel permissible? And how does music push back? In this episode, Dropkick Murphys founder Ken Casey and Yale psychologist Phillip Atiba Solomon use the band’s new song “Citizen I.C.E.” to explore identity, policing, propaganda, and the psychology of dehumanization. It’s a sharp, urgent conversation about punk, power, and the systems that teach people who belong—and who don’t.

Read the full transcript of this episode:http://singforscience.org/transcripts/dropkick-murphys-citizen-ice-phillip-atiba-solomon-public-safety-scienceFor further reading and listening:
Dropkick Murphys - Citizen I.C.E. (feat. Haywire) (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSrDkRm7_78
Why Minnesota Was a Wake-Up Call by Phillip Atiba Solomon for Time Magazine https://time.com/7380603/minnesota-ice-wake-up-call/
To Protect the Next George Floyd, We Must Remove the Threat of Police Violence from Everyday Life by Phillip Atiba Solomon for Time Magazine
https://time.com/5956701/george-floyd-justice-police-reform/
The Root Cause of Violent Crime Is Not What We Think It Is by Phillip Atiba Solomon for New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/opinion/crime-policies-cities.html
Ken Casey: ‘I’m Not Going to Shut Up’ by Jeffrey Goldberg for The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/07/ken-casey-dropkick-murphys-donald-trump/682984/
Dropkick Murphys: 30 Years of Fighting Nazis, Now Taking on Trump | On Offense with Kris Goldsmith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcWLObekRU
About the Guests:
Ken Casey
Founder and vocalist of Dropkick Murphys, known for blending punk rock with themes of working-class identity and social justice.
https://dropkickmurphys.com/
Phillip Atiba Solomon
Professor at Yale University and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity, focusing on data-driven approaches to public safety and equity.
https://policingequity.org/

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Humanist Heavyweight Steven Pinker joins José González to unpack “Against the Dying of the Light,” a song inspired in part by Pinker’s book, Enlightenment Now. Together they explore Enlightenment values, human nature, progress, algorithms, anger, AI, and whether reason, science, and empathy can still help us push back against darkness.

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Chanteuse Chan Marshall, best known as the artist Cat Power talks about her recreation of the historic 1966 Bob Dylan concert album at the Royal Albert Hall with Cornell University neuroscientist and nostalgia expert, Hetvi Doshi. We cover the origins of nostalgia study, the growing body of scientific evidence that suggests nostalgia has health benefits and improves social cohesion with one another. We also talk about the dynamics of food nostalgia and Hetvi’s community nostalgia initiative. For more information on Cat Power’s tour and Hetvi’s work please visit http://catpowermusic.com/, http://hetvidoshi.com/ and http://thecommunitynostalgiaproject.com/.

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Grammy-winning artist Miguel joins science historian Jimena Canales for a live taping centered on his song “Nearsight [SID]” from CAOS. What begins as a conversation about a lyric — “slow it down for me” — opens into a wide-ranging exploration of time itself: how it feels to speed up as we age, how music can stretch or compress our experience of the present, and why certain moments seem impossible to hold onto. Drawing on her work on Einstein and Bergson's philosophy of time, Canales helps unpack the tension between measurable, physical time and lived, emotional time — while Miguel reflects on fatherhood, memory, and the urgency behind wanting to slow a fleeting moment. Taped live at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 14, 2026.

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Alt-R&B artist rum.gold joins host Matt Whyte with Dr. Nim Tottenham, Chair of Psychology at Columbia University, for a live taping centered on his song and video “Is It Something I Said.” What begins as a conversation about a music video portraying a mother and son living with anxiety, grief, and hoarding becomes a striking window into Dr. Tottenham’s research on how early caregiving and stress shape the developing brain — and how those early emotional environments can echo into adulthood as anxiety, attachment struggles, and dysregulation. Taped live at Ludlow House in NYC on January 27, 2026 as part of the On Air presents series.

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