Invisibilia
Storytelling > Various
Science & Math > Various
About the Podcast
Invisibilia has remained one of NPR’s most popular podcasts since its launch in 2015, receiving praise from critics, listeners and fellow podcasters alike. Hosted by award-winning journalists Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin, the podcast explores the invisible forces that control and shape human behavior — our ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Through deeply reported, rich narratives, Invisibilia breaks down ideas about the human desire to find patterns, how everyday objects can shape our worldviews, our relationship with uncertainty, and more. The podcast digs deep into our innermost minds, examining our dark, disturbing thoughts and whether or not those thoughts are related to our inner wishes, our fears, and how they shape our actions. In short, Invisibilia, Latin for “invisible things,” is a glimpse into a world you can’t see.
About the Host
Alix Spiegel, Lulu Miller, & Hanna Rosin
Alix Spiegel has worked on NPR's Science Desk for 10 years covering psychology and human behavior, and has reported on everything from what it's like to kill another person, to the psychology behind our use of function words like "and", "I", and "so." She began her career in 1995 as one of the founding producers of the public radio program This American Life. While there, Spiegel produced her first psychology story, which ultimately led to her focus on human behavior. It was a piece called 81 Words, and it examined the history behind the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In January 2015, Spiegel joined forces with journalist Lulu Miller to co-host Invisibilia, a series from NPR about the unseen forces that control human behavior — our ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts. Invisibilia interweaves personal stories with fascinating psychological and brain science, in a way that ultimately makes you see your own life differently. Excerpts of the show are featured on the NPR News programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. The program is also available as a podcast. Over the course of her career in public radio, Spiegel has won many awards including a George Foster Peabody Award, a Livingston Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, a Scripps Howard National Journalism Award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Spiegel graduated from Oberlin College. Her work on human behavior has also appeared in The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times.
Lulu Miller is a contributing editor and co-founder of the NPR program Invisibilia. Miller covers stories that challenge our assumptions about how the human organism works—from the story of The "Bat Man" (a man who is blind and uses echolocation to navigate the world), to the tale of Martin Pistorius (who was locked in his body for 13 years but found a way to emerge), to a surprising new way to overcome your demons, by, well, lying to yourself. She is always on the hunt for "stories in which Duct-Tape Solves the Ethereal Sadness," as she puts it. To hear more about that, take a listen here. In January 2015, Miller and NPR Science Correspondent Alix Spiegel created Invisibilia, a series from NPR about the unseen forces that control human behavior – our ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts. Invisibilia interweaves personal stories and fascinating new psychological and brain science in a way that, ultimately, makes you see your own life differently. The radio program is available in podcast form and excerpts are featured on All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Before that, she was a reporter on the NPR Science Desk. Prior to joining NPR in 2013, Miller taught and wrote fiction at the University of Virginia on a Poe-Faulkner Fellowship. Before that, she was with Radiolab, working as one of the founding producers on the weekly public radio show and podcast that weaves stories and science into sound and music-rich documentaries. Radiolab is produced by WNYC. Miller produced Radiolab for five years and continues to serve as a contributor. Her work has been recognized by the George Foster Peabody Awards, Third Coast, and The Missouri Review. Miller graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in History.
Hanna Rosin also co-hosts Invisibilia, a show from NPR about the unseen forces that control human behavior—our ideas, beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts. Invisibilia interweaves personal stories with the latest human behavior and brain science, in a way that ultimately makes you see your own life differently. The show was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2015. Rosin's stories have won a Gracie Award and a Jackson Hole Science Media Award. Excerpts of the show are featured on the NPR News programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. The program is available as a podcast. Rosin came to NPR from the world of print magazines. Most recently she was a national correspondent for The Atlantic, where she wrote cover stories about various corners of American culture. She has also written for The New Yorker and the New York Times magazine. She is a longtime writer for Slate and host of The Waves, a podcast about feminism, politics, and culture. She has been on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, when they were both shows, and headlined the first TED women's conference. She was part of a team at New York Magazine that won a National Magazine Award for a series of stories on circumcision, and she was nominated for her Atlantic story, Murder by Craigslist. She is also the author of two books, including The End of Men.
Additional Information
Discover Other Podcasts from this Group
