Imagine a sunset, now imagine you can't

Unexplainable

Vox

Science, Natural Sciences, Life Sciences

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye even for? (First published in 2022.) Guests: Alice Coles, artist; Adam Zeman, cognitive neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School; Joel Pearson, professor of neuroscience at the University of New South Wales; Emily Holmes, professor of psychology at Uppsala University For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠ For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members Help us plan for the future of Unexplainable by filling out a brief survey: ⁠⁠⁠⁠voxmedia.com/survey⁠⁠⁠⁠. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sue Bird here. I am thrilled to announce I'm launching a brand new show, Birds Eye View,
0:05.8	the definitive WMBA podcast. Every week we'll dig into the WMBA stories that actually matter
0:11.0	with guest interviews, candid takes, and in-depth analysis from around the league. It's a show I've
0:15.6	wanted to make for a while, and I'm so excited it's finally happening. Whether you're new to the
0:19.2	WMBA or a longtime fan, pull up.
0:21.7	This show is for you.
0:22.9	Birds Eye View is coming May 16th.
0:24.7	Follow the show on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
0:32.8	Over the last 20 years, at-home DNA tests have helped millions of people connect with family members
0:38.6	they didn't know they had. I want to see someone else whose face looks like mine. I want to see
0:44.9	someone else whose eyes look like mine. So what happens to all the genetic data for all those
0:50.6	Americans if the company goes away? That's this week on Explain It to Me.
0:55.3	New episodes every Sunday, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:02.5	When I close my eyes and let my mind wander, I start to see images. The green canopy of
1:08.5	redwood trees or the mushroom risotto I ate last night for dinner or my sister's face.
1:14.0	Like, I can picture all this in my head. And that's something that I've always taken for granted.
1:18.3	Until I spoke to Alice Coles. There's just a lot of words going in my brain all the time.
1:23.9	Words, but not pictures. You know, there's a song going, there's like TikTok audio down there, there's like
1:30.3	the running to-do list of stuff that I haven't done, there's the guilt over something I said
1:35.3	in sixth grade, you know, and then there's like all the other stuff just on top.
1:40.3	When she was in college, Alice started to realize that some people could imagine more than just words, which was a little shocking to her.
1:47.4	I think a big part of it was when I started doing yoga.
	...

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