Episode one is being made.

Professors whose work could change how you live.

Open one to see the questions we’d ask.

• PsychologyThe psychologist famous for “learned helplessness”: fail enough times and you stop trying. Fifty years later, he said they’d got it backwards: giving up is what we do by default, and what we learn is that we’re in control.

  

  Aly would ask“You shocked dogs for science and then said you got it backwards. Do the dogs get an apology?”

  

  Mo would ask“So if giving up is the default, what do I actually do on the day I want to quit?”

• ForecastingThe professor who found the average expert predicts the future about as well as a dart-throwing chimp. Then he found amateurs who beat professional intelligence analysts.

  

  Aly would ask“Be honest. Who’s the worst chimp on TV right now?”

  

  Mo would ask“You found amateurs who beat the experts. What were they doing that the experts weren’t?”

• Medical ethicsThe doctor who wrote that he wants to die at 75. He’s 69 now, and he still means it.

  

  Aly would ask“Six years to go. Have you started a countdown, or are you quietly renegotiating?”

  

  Mo would ask“What would have to happen for you to change your mind?”

• Classical studiesThe translator who said she’d be ashamed to have written any part of the new Odyssey film.

  

  Aly would ask“Have you actually seen it, or are you ashamed in advance?”

  

  Mo would ask“What does the film get wrong that would ruin it for you?”

• South Asia studiesThe professor who says the classical Indian dance your daughter learns was invented in the 1930s.

  

  Aly would ask“Have you told any of the dance teachers? How did that go?”

  

  Mo would ask“If it’s from the 1930s, does that make it less real, or does nobody care?”