Anthropologist Gretchen Pfeil joins Michael and Dan to explore privacy, shelter, office design, and the hidden social rules that shape how people move through buildings, cities, workplaces, and everyday life.
Stress is biological, cultural, symbolic—and everywhere. Dan, Michael, and guest scientist Michelle Rensel tackle hunting anxiety, high-school panic patterns, the cult of self-discipline, and why everyone feels one layoff away from catastrophe. Smart, funny, and a little too real.
Dan and Michael welcome genetic counselor and professional vegetarian Saanchi Shah to explore why humans attach so much identity to food — from paleo diet mythologies to prepper gardening obsessions to the gym bro who thinks raw meat makes you a better person. Also: a stolen 18-karat gold toilet, f…
Anthropologist Gretchen Pfeil joins Michael and Dan to explore privacy, shelter, office design, and the hidden social rules that shape how people move through buildings, cities, workplaces, and everyday life.
Michael and Dan explore the anthropology of Home Depot, DIY culture, power tools, construction work, and why home repair projects inevitably spiral into chaos. Featuring medieval student jails, table saw trauma, commodity fetishism, and multiple unnecessary trips to the hardware store.
Competition has escaped the marketplace and colonized everyday life. Michael, Dan, and guest Justin Dang discuss hiring hell, finance clubs, networking culture, violence, wearable surveillance tech, and the strange systems institutions use to decide who “wins.”
This week on People Stuff, Dan and Michael ask a deceptively simple question: what is a home? Unfortunately, modern America has several conflicting answers. A home is a sanctuary. A speculative asset. A retirement plan. A personality test. A tax shelter. A haunted structure slowly collapsing under …
“Human nature” is one of those phrases people use when they want to stop arguing. Boys are just like that. Men are naturally competitive. Women are better at caregiving. Kids need expensive enrichment classes. Gen Z is becoming weirdly conservative about gender. It’s just human nature. …except anth…