Today we join farmer and permaculturist Mark Shepard to discuss practical solutions to surviving and thriving on planet Earth. Mark is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises LLC, founder of Restoration Agriculture Development LLC and award-winning author of the book, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers. Mark has also been a farmer member of the Organic Valley cooperative, the worlds largest Organic Farmer’s marketing co-op, since 1995. He is most widely known as the founder of New Forest Farm, the 106-acre perennial agricultural savanna considered by many to be one of the most ambitious sustainable agriculture projects in the United States.

Throughout our conversation we talk about Mark's journey to build New Forest Farm, lessons he has learned along the way, practical challenges to implementing permaculture and restorative agriculture techniques at scale, his experience studying permaculture under Bill Mollison, what modern permaculturists often misunderstand about permaculture, and much more!

You can learn more about New Forest Farm here: https://newforestfarm.us/
You can learn about Forest Agriculture Enterprises here: https://www.forestag.com/
You can learn about Restoration Agriculture Development here: http://www.restorationag.com/


Stay curious, and take it easy!

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Consider becoming a patron today at www.patreon.com/isntlifecurious

​In this episode of Isn't Life Curious? we join comedian Rodney Norman to talk about the meaning of life and what exactly he finds so funny about it all. Throughout the conversation we are joined by some of Rodney's friends including Leonard, the World's Worst Motivational Speaker, to unpack some of their most profound insights about what it means to be alive.
Get ready to discover all the answers you have ever sought about life and the universe! It's all packaged up for you in this single hour long conversation - available to you for free! (plus shipping and handling)
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You can learn more about Rodney and find tour dates, merch and more at www.rodneynorman.com 

Stay curious, and take it easy!

​In this episode of Isn't Life Curious? we continue our exploration of psychedelics that we began with Rick Doblin PhD in episode 2. This time we sit down with two natural products researchers that hope to revolutionize mental health treatment with nature's mind manifesting molecules - psychedelics. They are CEO, Chris Witowski PhD and CSO, Jacqueline Salm PhD, of Psilera Bioscience.
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In our conversation we talk about Psilera's work developing new methods of delivering psychedelics to patients as well as the development of new psychedelics that have not yet been explored. We discuss the ways in which psychedelics may impact mental health treatment in the near future, how common psychedelics affect the body and brain, and what we can expect from the future of psychedelic research. We also dive a bit into the philosophical as we explore the nature of consciousness, what it means to be a "psychedelic" and much more!

You can learn more about Psilera Bioscience at www.psilera.com

Stay curious, and take it easy!

​Is life special? Or is it just a happy accident that we are here?

Neil Manson, PhD is a philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Mississippi where he specializes in tackling these very questions. An expert on philosophy of science and philosophy of religion, Dr. Manson joins us as we dive down a metaphysical wormhole to explore the ways humans have tried to wrestle with our place in the universe. If there is a multiverse, what does that mean for our traditional concepts of God? If we live in a simulation, then what ethical obligations do I have to you or anyone else?

Take a deep breath and let's have an existential crisis together on this episode of Isn't Life Curious?!

Check out Dr. Manson's books "God and Design" here, and "This is Philosophy of Religion" here.

Enjoy! Stay curious, and take it easy!

​In this episode we are joined by Rick Doblin, PhD - the founder of MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. We discuss Rick's past and the series of events that opened his mind to the potential of psychedelics, why he is so passionate about ensuring that psychedelics are well-studied and available for therapeutic and religious use, common misconceptions about psychedelics, separating fact from fiction regarding the potential risks of psychedelics, and much more. This is the beginning of our "Serious About Psychedelics" mini-series that will be running throughout the show that will be exploring the science and cultural impacts of these "mind manifesting" molecules and what we can learn from them regarding human psychology, mental health, and consciousness itself.

You can learn more about MAPS at https://www.maps.org

Enjoy! Stay curious, and take it easy!

​In our first episode to kick off the show, we are joined by Dr. Steven Novella, most famously known as the producer and host of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe Podcast and author of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe book. Dr. Novella is a neurologist and professor at Yale School of Medicine and an advocate of the skepticism movement. In our conversation we talk about the concept of reality vs perception and how to evaluate whether we are in touch with reality or are lost in our own fictions and hallucinations that our brains produce for us so easily. We discuss some of the cognitive biases that we wrestle with every day, common misconceptions about skepticism, the failings of public education in promoting critical thinking skills in kids, the severe consequences that may be in store if humans can't learn to think better, and much more!

Learn more about The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe at https://www.theskepticsguide.org/

Stay curious!