WKMS welcomes NPR’s Invisibilia back to the programming lineup. This is the second season of the Peabody nominated program about unforeseen forces that shape human behavior.
Invisibilia is Latin for "invisible things." The program interweaves narrative storytelling with scientific research that will ultimately make you see your own life differently.
Invisibilia debuted in January 2015 and since then, station broadcasts and podcast listening have kept Invisibilia in the top ranks of audio storytelling.
The show is co-hosted by a trio of NPR's award-winning journalists, Alix Spiegel, Lulu Miller and Hanna Rosin, who have roots at This American Life, Radiolab and The Atlantic.
In the first season, Invisibilia showed us how science sheds light on what we individually experience; the second season will delve more often into how our lives are entwined, sometimes invisibly, with each other and the larger world.
The seven episode run of season two begins on WKMS Thursday, June 16 at noon with a rebroadcast Sunday evenings at 6:00. Hear an encore presentation of episode one on June 23. The broadcasts will preempt one hour of Sounds Good (Thursdays) and Fresh Air Weekend (Sundays).
Here’s what you can expect from the first three episodes:
Episode 1
You probably don't even notice them, but social norms determine so much of your behavior -- how you dress, talk, eat and even what you allow yourself to feel. These norms are so entrenched we never imagine they can shift. But sometimes they do, and the impacts can be profound, far-reaching, and long-lasting. On this episode, Alix Spiegel and new co-host Hanna Rosin examine two experiments that set out to do just that.
Episode 2
We like to think of our own personalities, and those of our spouses and children and friends as predictable, constant over time. This belief comforts us and gives us confidence in passing judgements on all sorts of people: from our life partners (who we tend to think of as inherently good) to violent criminals (who we tend to think of as inherently bad). But what if they aren't? What if in fact we can't point to a single thing about a person that doesn't change over time?
Episode 3
Americans LOVE solutions, to political conflicts, social ills, clogged drains. But are there ever problems we shouldn't try to solve? It seems like the height of irony, but in this episode, we examine a problem, one that many of us privately face on a daily basis, that actually gets worse the more you try to solve it.
Full Schedule:
- Episode 1 - Sunday, June 19 6 p.m. & Thursday, June 23 Noon
- Episode 2 - Sunday June 26 6 p.m. & Thursday June 30 Noon
- Episode 3 - Sunday July 3 6 p.m. & Thursday July 7 Noon
- Episode 4 - Sunday July 10 6 p.m. & Thursday July 14 Noon
- Episode 5 - Sunday July 17 6 p.m. & Thursday July 21 Noon
- Episode 6 - Sunday July 24 6 p.m. & Thursday July 28 Noon
- Episode 7 - Sunday July 31 6 p.m. & Thursday August 4 Noon
