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Unexplainable

When talent vanishes overnight

Unexplainable

Vox

Life Sciences, Science, Natural Sciences

4.62.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing baseball. Now, imagine you wake up one day, and you just can’t do it. You’re not sick. You’re not injured. But suddenly, that one thing is impossible. (Originally published in 2024) Guests: Rick Ankiel, former Major League Baseball star; Sally Akehurst, sports psychologist and a dean at University of Roehampton, London; Steven Frucht, neurologist at NYU Langone For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:39.3

Now, with The Economist Insider, a new premium video offering, we're giving you unprecedented

0:44.3

access to the debates shaping our world.

0:46.3

I have set around that table at NATO.

0:48.3

There is an incoming missile attack now.

0:51.3

Could you answer the question?

0:52.3

I'm sorry, we've got great little time left.

0:53.3

With a few surprises along the way. I can't promise we'll have a cocktail every time, but we'll try.

0:58.3

So, don't just be an economist reader. Get on the inside track with the Economist insider. Go to

1:03.8

economist.com to join the conversation.

1:09.6

I've been spending a lot of time recently watching playoff baseball. And the main thought I keep

1:15.3

having is just, I don't know how these guys do it. The pressure is honestly hard to imagine. It builds

1:23.8

and it builds until every single pitch seems like it has the whole season riding on it.

1:30.0

Every player has the chance to make that one mistake that's going to make fans blame him for a

1:35.0

generation. It's the kind of pressure that throws some of the best players in baseball into

1:41.3

prolonged slumps, as if they suddenly just forgot how to play. And it's been

1:47.5

making me think about one of our favorite episodes, an episode about baseball, about high-stakes

1:53.3

performance, and what makes some people choke. Think about something you love to do, the thing you're best at, the thing you've practiced

...

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