What Loneliness Does To Your Brain with Ben Rein

31 October 2025 - 1 hour 6 mins
Podcast Series StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson

What does loneliness do to our brains? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore how the loneliness epidemic impacts our minds, bodies, and even our lifespan with neuroscientist Ben Rein, author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Science of Social Connection.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/what-loneliness-does-to-your-brain-with-ben-rein/

Thanks to our Patrons kendrick bell, edthri, Patrick Canada, Robert Reyes, Rob, Link and Zelda, sweetheat223, Austin Liu, k, Brian Crimmins, Dominic Miller, Thomas Hammer, Tanuj Khandelwal, Adam Bukowski, Gavin Jones-Verity, Powell Houser, Paul Westenheffer, Dieg...

1 hour 6 mins

Series Episodes

Lost in Space Game Night Playing

Lost in Space Game Night

How far did Alan Shepard hit a golf ball on the moon? How many monkeys named Albert have been to space? Neil deGrasse Tyson, comedian Paul Mecurio, and Senior StarTalk Producer Lindsey Walker find out the answers on this Game Show Edition of Startalk celebrating the release of our new book, Lost in Space: 5,000 Facts for Navigating the Universe.

42 mins

22 September Finished

Cosmic Queries – The Fractal Universe with Charles Liu Playing

Cosmic Queries – The Fractal Universe with Charles Liu

Do the fractal nature of the universe and the human brain have anything to do with each other? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly welcome back Geek-In-Chief Charles Liu, for a grab bag covering deep space travel, fractal mathematics, multiverse theory, and what we might never know about the universe.

58 mins

18 September Finished

Why Do We Exist with Hakeem Oluseyi Playing

Why Do We Exist with Hakeem Oluseyi

What is fundamental in the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice welcome back Hakeem Oluseyi to dive deep into cosmology, plasma physics, the origins of life, and some of the most provocative ideas in modern astrophysics.

47 mins

15 September Finished

Why Craters Are Round, Size of Life, The Real Length of Day – TYTYK Playing

Why Craters Are Round, Size of Life, The Real Length of Day – TYTYK

Is there a limit to how small life can be? Or how big? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down why all craters on the moon are round, the scale to life, and why the length of the day isn’t 24 hours.

46 mins

8 September Finished

This Is Your Brain on Psychedelics Playing

This Is Your Brain on Psychedelics

What if you could reopen your childhood brain? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore the cutting edge of psychedelic science, critical periods, and what a high octopus can teach us about the human mind with neuroscientist and psychedelics expert Gül Dölen.

1 hour 14 mins

4 September Finished

Rogue Planets & Exomoons with David Kipping Playing

Rogue Planets & Exomoons with David Kipping

Did we discover an exomoon? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice learn about the search for exoplanets with biosignatures, super Earths & mini Neptunes, and whether rogue planets outside of a solar system could harbor life with astrophysicist David Kipping.

53 mins

1 September Finished

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