After a long history of civil war and corruption, many Liberians didn't trust their government's attempts to control Ebola. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption
Hidden Brain The Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world – and themselves. Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain's host Shankar Vedantam reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, the biases that shape our choices, and the triggers that direct the course of our relationships.
Researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity can be boiled down to a simple formula. Caiaimage/Sam Edwards/Getty Images/Caiaimage hide caption
Want your kid to succeed? Don't try that hard. sturti/Getty Images/Vetta hide caption
Don Lowry's con unfolded very slowly over two decades. When it was finally exposed, some of the victims defended the people who had been fooling them. They preferred to believe the lie. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption
Ivanka Trump's brand has been the target of boycotts and "buycotts" in recent months, as Americans have been expressing their values with their wallets. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
By 1495, Christopher Columbus was in trouble. The riches he had imagined finding in Asia were not materializing in the New World, and the costs of his voyages were mounting. Sending indigenous people back to Europe as slaves became his solution. Heritage Images/Getty Images hide caption
The program BAM (Becoming a Man) works with teenagers and uses cognitive behavior therapy to reduce violence in Chicago. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
Think you can get away with fewer than eight hours of sleep per night? Neuroscientist Matthew Walker says — think again. Sophie Blackall/Getty Images/Ikon Images hide caption
Do we really need sleep? Mark Conlan/Getty Images/Ikon Images hide caption
Eleven Days Without Sleep: The Haunting Effects Of A Record-Breaking Stunt
Study: CEOs Who Invest In Social Responsibility Initiatives Risk Their Jobs
On October 30, 1935, a Boeing plane known as the "flying fortress" crashed during a military demonstration in Ohio — shocking the aviation industry and prompting questions about the future of flight. National Archives hide caption
The Trick To Surviving A High-Stakes, High-Pressure Job? Try A Checklist
We tend to be drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves. Renee Klahr/NPR hide caption
Shankar Vedantam, NPR's social science correspondent and host of the Hidden Brain podcast, explains why some of us are really good at recognizing faces and others are not. John Lamb/Getty Images hide caption
