The Power of Friendship #556

March 29, 2020

It's 2020 and times are tough. Maybe some of us are learning about social distancing the hard way. Maybe we just are all a little anxious. No matter what, we could probably use a friend. But what is a friend, exactly? And why do we need them so much? This week host Bethany Brookshire speaks with Lydia Denworth, author of the new book "Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond".

This episode is hosted by Bethany Brookshire, science writer from Science News.

Guests:

  • Lydia Denworth
Listen Now

Featured Book

Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond

Written by Lydia Denworth

Book Blurb Find On Amazon

Guest Bios

Lydia Denworth

Lydia Denworth is a contributing editor for Scientific American and writes the Brain Waves blog for Psychology Today. Her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Spectrum and many other publications. She is the author of "Toxic Truth: A Scientist, a Doctor, and the Battle Over Lead", "I Can Hear You Whisper: An Intimate Journey Through the Science of Sound and Language", and "Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond".

Other Episodes About Brains & Neuroscience

Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern

In "Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made us Modern", author Adam Rogers takes readers on a journey from prehistoric pigments to experiments working to make hues that exist only in... Read More

June 27, 2021

Tailoring your brain with science

Intent on improving your creativity or focus? Want to raise your IQ? What does that even mean? This week, we've got Emily Willingham back on the show to talk about tailoring the... Read More

January 31, 2022

Emotional Ignorance

On this week’s show, we’re getting emotional. Our guest, neuroscientist Dean Burnett, talks about his new book Emotional Ignorance. He shares how the experience of his father’s death during covid prompted him... Read More

January 16, 2023

Other Episodes About Evolution

This is not about dinosaurs

Most people know how the age of dinosaurs ended. An asteroid hit and all the dinosaurs died out. But it's never quite that simple. In her newest book, The Last Days of... Read More

April 25, 2022

This one really is about aliens

Do you believe there's something Out There? What do our ideas of aliens say about what life is, how life could look and act? And what does it say about us, about... Read More

May 09, 2023

How birds go the distance

Birds carry out some of the most amazing feats of athleticism in the world. Hummingbirds cross the entire Gulf of Mexico, their tiny wings beating continuously for three days straight. A single... Read More

July 05, 2023

Other Episodes About Biology

Our Friend, the Wasp

Is there an insect more universally despised than the wasp? What have they done to incur so much of our ire? No one likes them. Well... almost no one. Seirian Sumner, Professor... Read More

May 25, 2023

How birds go the distance

Birds carry out some of the most amazing feats of athleticism in the world. Hummingbirds cross the entire Gulf of Mexico, their tiny wings beating continuously for three days straight. A single... Read More

July 05, 2023

The Jewel Box

A lot of us learned basic ecology in primary school. Maybe we took a biology class in high school or secondary school and dug in a little more. We use terms like... Read More

July 31, 2023