Invisibilia

by NPR (podcasts@npr.org) · · ·

Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. Invisibilia—Latin for invisible things—fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently.

2022 feels like walking a tightrope. We're grappling with control of our bodies, our time, the direction of our country - while trying to not spin out and just doomscroll. So this season, Invisibilia takes on control. The narratives we have about what's in or out of our control. Invisible tools of control. The crutches we use to FEEL in control but that might not be helping.

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Invisibilia is seeking stories about discomfort with power. Stories about leaders denying their power, organizations with supposedly flat power structures and invisible hierarchies, or personal relationships with difficult power dynamics. If you have a story about power – at a workplace, in a band, on a high school basketball team, …
Therapy, with Friends Nov. 4, 2021
Would you ever consider going to therapy with a friend?Two best friends who call themselves brothers were drifting apart, so they asked psychotherapist Esther Perel to help — and we listened in. This episode was recorded in collaboration with _Where Should We Begin?_ with Esther Perel and a companion episode …
Poop Friends Oct. 28, 2021
Sh*t happens. So why is it so hard to talk about? This week, the ways that poop divides and binds us in our friendships.
Friends with Benefits Oct. 21, 2021
A lot of us think that it's a bad idea to get physical with friends. We worry it'll get messy, maybe even ruin the friendship. But if physical intimacy between friends weren't so taboo, what could our friendships look like? In this episode, we explore the gray zone of sex …
You know the old saying--keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But what if you can't tell the difference? In this episode, the story of two friends who got caught up in a Top Secret operation that tested their assumptions about trust, betrayal, loyalty, and power.
Nun of Us Are Friends Sept. 23, 2021
It's a basic tenet of friendship that you get to choose your friends. We look at two institutions that took away that choice: convents circa the 1960s and a summer program with unusual rules. What do we lose and what do we gain when we give up our preferences and …
A Friendly Ghost Story Sept. 16, 2021
It's one of the most common and infuriating friend mysteries out there - a friend disappears into thin air. But where do these ghosts go? And why are we so haunted by them? _If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the_[ _National Suicide Prevention Lifeline_](http://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/) _at …
The Friendship Season Sept. 14, 2021
Friendship gets the Invisibilia treatment.
A 16-year-old Black kid walks into a gas station in Stockton, Calif. to buy gummy worms for his little sister. When the teen gets in an argument with the clerk over a damaged dollar bill, a white officer in plainclothes decides to intervene — with force. We bring you an …
American Slow Radio June 12, 2021
Let's get slow. Producer Abby Wendle picks up the gauntlet that was thrown down in the last episode "[The Great Narrative Escape](https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/998228413/the-great-narrative-escape)." Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
Imagine a TV show with no plot, no characters, no tension... and yet, it went viral! In this episode, we have a story that questions storytelling as we know it. Plus, co-hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw take a spectacularly unspectacular train ride.
Imagine a TV show with no plot, no characters, no tension... and yet, it went viral! In this episode, we have a story that questions storytelling as we know it. Plus, co-hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw take a spectacularly unspectacular train ride.
Is _209 Times_ helping or hurting the community it claims to serve? What does the site mean for the future of local news in America? And what can be done about it? In the final installment of "The Chaos Machine" series , Yowei finds herself in the middle of a …
The man behind _209 Times_ is not who you'd expect. In Part 2, co-host Yowei Shaw discovers the website's surprising origin story, and ends up at the frontlines of a revolt against the mainstream media and a fight over who gets to own the truth.
Yowei gets a tip about Russian trolls in Stockton, California and falls down a hole of swirling conspiracy theories. At the center is a scrappy, controversial website that has become one of the most popular sources of local news in town. Some say it's doing important investigative journalism while others …
Eat The Rich April 22, 2021
Invisibilia explores a social experiment with money, focused around a contentious topic: reparations. What happens when you demand white people give up their wealth?
Invisibilia is back! Stories that help you see the world differently, with new hosts Kia Miakka Natisse and Yowei Shaw.
Trust Fall June 13, 2020
Hacking, phishing, surveillance, disinformation... these are tools used to silence dissidents and influence elections. But what happens when these same methods are used against an ordinary citizen? The story of a man fighting an enemy he can't see and becoming increasingly paranoid.Which makes him a lot like the rest of …
Two Heartbeats A Minute April 10, 2020
The strange story of an unlikely crew of people who band together to take on one of our largest problems using nothing but whale sounds, machine learning, and a willingness to think outside the box. Even stranger, several of the world's most accomplished scientists seem to think they might have …