Alix Spiegel

The developer of cognitive behavioral therapy, Dr. Aaron Beck, died on Monday at age 100. In 2015, NPR's Invisibilia introduced listeners to Beck.

Research shows that optimism is correlated with various good outcomes: higher life expectancy, better recovery rates, success at work. But is optimism a personality trait, or could it be learned?

Years before he got diagnosed with Parkinson's, Joy Milne noticed her husband's characteristic scent had changed. The discovery that she could smell his illness has opened up a new field of research.

NPR's podcast Invisibilia is back with a new season. A Scottish woman discovers she has a biological gift that allows her to see things that will happen in the future that no one else can see.

NPR's Invisibilia podcast brings you a story about a new Facebook effort to build a modern kind of Rosetta Stone, using artificial intelligence.

Deep brain stimulation offers relief from some neurological problems and is being tested for mood disorders. But the treatment — an implant in the brain — raises ethical questions.

We have the story of one woman who is taking part in an experiment on deep brain stimulation.

Thousands of teens suffer from a rare chronic pain condition that makes everyday life excruciating. Some are trying a counterintuitive treatment approach: Load up on pain until you learn to ignore it.

NPR's Invisibilia podcast is back for a fifth season. The first episode this season is about pain — and the changing way in which our culture thinks about and treats pain.

A massive computer competition works to identify the patterns that can predict where someone will end up in life. But whether this competition has a winner may depend on your viewpoint.

When Somalia decided to start a reality show with a singing competition, there was a major problem. Singing in public could bring on the wrath of al-Shabab.

Reality TV is popular around the world. It's also roundly mocked as formulaic and contrived. But can that kind of fragile fantasy meaningfully influence the real world?

Invisibilia co-host Alix Spiegel introduces us to a young man whose sights were set far beyond the Syrian orphanage in which he spent part of his childhood.

Suddenly aware of repetitive feedback loops in his life, Max Hawkins created apps that decided where he should go, what strangers' parties he should attend, even how he should spend Christmas.

When anthropologist Renato Rosaldo went to live with a Philippine tribe that was known for beheading people, he couldn't grasp the emotion that fueled this violence. Then his wife suddenly died.

NPR's Alix Spiegel, co-host of the podcast and program Invisibilia, tells the story of a robbery that was halted when a woman decided to respond to the threat in an unexpected way — with kindness.

Kim was an accomplished doctor with plenty of friends. But a few pulses from an electromagnet to her brain at age 54 made her reconsider how she sees herself — and the world.

NPR's Invisibilia podcast tells the story of a woman who participated in an experiment that gave her a whole new frame of reference and allowed her to see the world in a different way.

A man committed a horrible crime. Then he decided he no longer wanted to be a bad person. It is possible to change our personalities, psychologists say, even though we like to think they're innate.

When McDonald's came to the Soviet Union in 1990, it insisted that workers smile. That didn't come easy. But customers grew to like it — and workers did, too. What happens when you change a norm?