Driven to Discover

As a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria in his early 20s, Phillips Stevens witnessed an act of sorcery that blew his mind. He turned that moment into a 50-year career as a cultural anthropologist at UB, exploring religion, spirituality and the supernatural in cultures across the world. In this episode, Stevens joins host Tom Dinki to share insights from his new book, “Rethinking the Anthropology of Magic and Witchcraft: Inherently Human.” He explains why magical thinking isn’t a relic of the past—it’s hardwired into us, a survival strategy that still shapes how we navigate the unknown and process the unthinkable. From common superstitions and religious rituals to conspiracy theories like QAnon, Stevens shows how belief in magic and witchcraft persists, and what makes it inherently human.

As a young emergency medicine doctor, Joshua Lynch was struck by how unprepared ERs were to help patients with opioid use disorder. After losing family members to overdose, he knew he had to act. In this episode, he shares how MATTERS—the treatment program he founded—is becoming a national model in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Nick Henshue was a classic “nature kid” as a child. Now he’s an associate teaching professor of ecology and an expert in all things earthworm. In this episode, he explains why earthworms are a menace to forests, how trees talk to each other, and what’s behind the “jumping” earthworm’s name.

When it was Jeff Scott’s turn to choose an instrument, the sixth grader picked the French horn because no one else had. Today, he is one of the nation’s premier French hornists and a Grammy-winning composer. In this engaging episode, Scott shares his unexpected path to success and how his multicultural Queens upbringing shaped the wildly eclectic music he writes today.

Obsessed with true crime shows as a teen, Mary Bush naturally gravitated toward forensics as a young dental school professor. In this episode, she talks about her efforts to banish bitemark evidence from the U.S. court system, how she copes with the emotional toll of victim identification, and what it was like to appear on Netflix’s hit show “Unsolved Mysteries.”

A childhood fascination with the fish and crabs in the river near his home led Vincent Lynch to a career as an evolutionary biologist, studying the genetic history of various species to better understand human health. In this episode, he explains why human pregnancy is a mystery, why elephants don’t get cancer and why bringing the woolly mammoth back to life is a terrible idea.

Working as a bouncer during college, Mark Frank found he could learn a lot about people by observing their gestures and expressions. Today the communications professor is a globally recognized expert on nonverbal communication who advises the FBI and the CIA. In this episode, Frank explains how he’s able to get the truth out of even the most practiced liars.

After seeing the river she swam in as a child turn black with pollution, Diana Aga became determined to help clean up the planet. In this episode, the renowned environmental chemist talks to host Cory Nealon about PFAS, or forever chemicals: what they are, why they're so dangerous, and what she's doing to take the "forever" out of them.

As a child, Stephanie Poindexter loved watching the apes at the zoo. Now she's an expert in the slow loris, a noctural primate that inhabits Southeast Asia. In this episode of Driven to Discover, Poindexter tells host Vicky Santos what it's like to track down this shy creature in a Thai jungle in the middle of the night, and why she does it.