Two Percent with Michael Easter
From New York Times bestselling author and journalist Michael Easter comes a twice-weekly deep dive into the science of living better by doing things the hard way. Building on the insights of his #1 Substack and acclaimed books, Easter balances rigorous evidence with a healthy dose of skepticism to cut through the noise of the modern wellness industry. Whether he’s interviewing elite explorers and Harvard biologists or deconstructing the truth about longevity and metabolic health, this isn't a show for "biohacking" perfectionists—it’s a grounded, often humorous guide for real people looking to build resilience and agency in an increasingly comfortable world. From ancient wisdom to cutting-edge research, listen to Two Percent to discover why the antidote to modern malaise is often found in the challenges we’ve been taught to avoid.
Episodes
A Harvard Psychologist's Case Against Following the Rules | Ellen Langer
We treat aging, fatigue, and even disease as things that just happen to us. Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard's psychology department, has spent five decades showing that our way of thinking has a massive say in all of it. Michael sits down with Langer, author of The Mindful Body, to talk about how much of your health is actually under your mind's control. They cover: - The experime
You're Living Through the Fastest Revolution in History | Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen has spent decades studying what makes people, societies, and economies thrive. He thinks we’re living through the fastest technological revolution humans have ever faced—yet most of us are still planning our lives as if nothing is changing. Michael sat down with Tyler to find out how to live better today, tomorrow, and years from now. They cover: - Whether we should panic a
What AI Is Actually Doing to Your Workday | Cal Newport
Modern work has a giant problem: It keeps us stressed enough to be miserable, but never stressed enough to quit. Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown University, says that's not an accident: When work switched from factories and farms to offices, we never figured out how to measure the productivity of knowledge workers. Looking busy became our flawed metric, even though busyness keeps u
Lessons From the Most Dangerous Job: Hotshot Firefighting with River Selby
Hotshot firefighting is one of the most physically demanding and dangerous jobs in the United States. River Selby spent seven years as a wildland firefighter, four of them on elite hotshot crews, the teams that jump into the worst blazes in the country. Michael sits down with Selby, author of Hotshot: A Life on Fire, about what the job costs and what it teaches. They cover: Lessons River l
The Fastest Way to Help Animals Isn't Going Vegan | Dan Shannon, Humane League CEO
There are billions of animals living inside America's factory farms right now. Most live terrible, painful lives. Dan Shannon runs the Humane League, one of the largest and most effective animal welfare organizations in the world. Most organizations like his push people to go vegan—but Dan says that’s a critical error. Meat-eaters might be the most important people in the animal-
Dr. Lucy McBride: Why Doctors Miss What's Actually Making You Sick
Americans spend more on healthcare than any other wealthy nation and have the worst outcomes to show for it. Dr. Lucy McBride, a Harvard-trained physician who has practiced for more than two decades, says the problem is baked into the system. The modern medical system is built to manage disease after it appears, not to treat the whole patient well. What’s more, doctors are forced to se
The Man Who Proved the Blue Zones Are Fake | Saul Newman
Everybody wants to live longer, and for two decades the Blue Zones, places with the highest percentage of people 100+ years old, have promised to show us how with nine tidy behaviors we can all copy. According to Saul Newman, a demographer at the University of Oxford, almost none of it holds up. Michael sits down with Newman, author of Morbid: Debunking Modern Longevity Science, to take apart one
Art Is the Missing Pillar of Your Health
Art is not a luxury. According to Daisy Fancourt, one of the world's foremost researchers on arts and health, it is a missing pillar of health, right next to sleep, diet, and exercise. People who regularly engage with the arts have about half the risk of developing depression over the next ten years. Music has outperformed anti-anxiety meds before surgery in head to head studies. And new research
Muscle, Not Weight, Predicts How Long You'll Live | How Medicine Gets Weight Loss Wrong with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Most of us assume America's biggest health problem is obesity. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a physician for 20 years and the founder of Muscle-Centric Medicine, argues we have spent 50 years fighting the wrong problem. We are not over fat, we are under-muscled, and obesity is a symptom of unhealthy skeletal muscle. Michael pushes on where the argument is strongest and where it might miss. They get into whe
Kidnapped in Colombia, Dinner with the Taliban: What the World’s Most Dangerous Places Actually Teach Us
Robert Young Pelton spent his early career as an advertising executive with 50 employees, a Rolls Royce, and a half acre on the ocean. At 40, he walked away from it to become a journalist and report from the world's most dangerous places. In the 30 years since, a Liberian rebel has put a bullet two inches from his ear, a Colombian death squads have held him at gunpoint for ten days, and he’s
He Survived an Earthquake and Avalanche on Everest - Then Went Back Up
Most people will never even think about climbing Mount Everest. Dr. Jon Kedrowski has been on seven Everest expeditions and reached the summit four times. Along the way he survived the 2015 earthquake that killed 20 people in front of him at base camp, a storm that killed seven climbers on the night of his first summit push, and a lightning strike that destroyed his tent on a Colorado peak while h
The Best Hand Loses 88% of the Time: What Poker Reveals About All Our Decisions
Maria Konnikova earned a PhD in psychology at Columbia studying human decision-making. She then took her research into the most unforgiving laboratory there is: the poker table. From playing her first hand of poker in 2017, to training under the legendary Erik Seidel, and becoming a poker champion, Maria sits down with Michael the day before playing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, to sh
The Self-Improvement Books That Will Actually Change Your Life | Ditch the Overrated Reads
Summer is peak reading season, so Michael sits down with Alex Wieckowski of Alex & Books, who has read two books a week for the past decade. Together they build a list of some of their favorite books, including one hidden gem from Tolstoy, “A Calendar of Wisdom.” Alex tells the true survival story that made complaining impossible for him. He also reveals the classic novel that scar
These Sports Protect Your Brain Against Dementia
It turns out that tennis might be one of the best things you can do to protect your brain from dementia as you age. For this episode of Two Percent, Michael Easter sits down with neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood, author of The Stimulated Mind, to explain why sports that make you think while you move are amazing for your brain. The list includes tennis, pickleball, martial arts, and even strongman com
How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game and Finally Feel Happy
Ever feel like you're winning at life on paper, hitting your steps, your salary goals, your sleep score, and somehow still feel worse? This episode explains why. Host Michael Easter sits down with the thinker who's lived rent-free in his head for five years: C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor at the University of Utah and author of The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. They dig i
Why Our Brains Lie About How Bad Things Are - And How to Stop It
If you turn on the news right now, you'll be hit with a sea of negativity, and it can convince you the world is falling apart. It isn't. Host Michael Easter sits down with two guests to explain why our minds are literally built to outweigh the bad, and how you can bias yourself back toward the positive. First, meditation teacher Cara Lai offers a tip to instantly disarm anxiety: ask yourself "what
Daily Habits To Keep Your Brain Sharp As You Age | Neuroscientist Tommy Wood
Cognitive decline as you age is not inevitable — but whether you keep your edge depends almost entirely on what you do right now. Host Michael Easter sits down with Dr. Tommy Wood, a neuroscientist and performance consultant who works with Formula 1 teams. His book, The Stimulated Mind, changed how Michael thinks about staying mentally sharp. They get into why sleep may be the most imp
USMNT’s Quarter Finals Odds + Why Being a Sports Fan is Good For You
Every four years, Americans suddenly remember soccer exists. The World Cup is here and it may be the single biggest sporting event in human history: 48 teams, 104 games over 39 days, and a final that draws north of a billion viewers. Host Michael Easter sits down with two guests to make the case. First, soccer writer Leander Schaerlaeckens, author of The Long Game, on why this World Cup is bigger
Why We Argue About Health Like It’s Religion: Long Covid, Seed Oils & Diets
Why do people lose their minds over seed oils, raw milk, carnivore diets, and long Covid? Alan Levinovitz isn't a doctor or a health journalist — he's a religion scholar. And from that vantage point he noticed something you can't un-see: the way most of us think about health functions exactly like a religion, complete with ideas of purity, contamination, salvation, and tribes that turn on yo
Why the Enhanced Games Flopped: Billionaires, PEDs, and a $1M World Record
What if you juiced a roster of athletes to the gills with performance-enhancing drugs and let them compete for a million-dollar prize? That's the Enhanced Games — the billionaire-backed "Steroid Olympics" held in Las Vegas — and the results were not what investors expected. Michael Easter sits down with journalists Chris Gayomali and Sam Eagan, hosts of the Superhuman podcast, who were
The Science of UFC Weight Cuts: How Fighters Lose 20 Pounds in 5 Days (What It Teaches About Diets)
UFC fighters routinely lose 10 to 20 pounds in the 5 days before a weigh-in — then put it all back on in the 24 hours before stepping into the Octagon. It is one of the most extreme metabolic feats in sports, and almost no one talks about what it actually teaches us about everyday fat loss. In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with Tyler Minton, the nutritionist behind some of the UFC's
UFC Champion Miesha Tate On How to Wake Up After Life Punches You In The Face
Miesha Tate became UFC women's bantamweight champion by choking out Holly Holm in the fifth round at the MGM Grand. Two weeks after the highest moment of her life, she realized the title hadn't fixed anything. The next loss almost ended her. She packed her dog into a Kia, drove up the coast, and rebuilt herself layer by layer. She came back to fighting on her own terms, synced to her hormonal cycl
Embrace the Heat To Get Stronger, Happier & More Resilient This Summer
When it gets hot, most of us hide indoors with the AC cranked, the workouts moved inside, and the thermostat parked at 72°F all summer long. But humans evolved in the heat, and the new science says we can still use it to get stronger, healthier, and (maybe most surprisingly) happier. In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with two of the best people in the world on the subject of heat. Ashl
This Executive Coach Works With The Top 0.01% & is Sharing Her Secrets | Dr. Julie Gurner
Dr. Julie Gurner has a two-year waiting list. The Wall Street Journal calls her the real-life Wendy Rhodes (the psychologist from the show Billions). Her clients are CEOs, founders, billionaires, and elite operators. But she started her career inside a supermax prison. In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with Dr. Julie Gurner to unpack what actually separates the top 0.01% from everyone else
I Walked a Marathon a Day for 45 Days | Dr. Andy Galpin Made Me His Lab Rat
A year ago, Michael Easter walked 850 miles across southern Utah in 45 days — about a marathon every day. Dr. Andy Galpin turned him into a lab rat, studying his body before, during, and after his 45 days in the desert. What he found surprised both of them. In this episode, Michael sits down with Dr. Andy Galpin — the world’s top performance scientist and co-founder of Absolute R
From Hollywood & Politics to the Desert: Seek Adventure, Gain Real Freedom
Adventure has been engineered out of modern life, and we're paying for it in ways we don't even realize. In this episode of Two Percent, Michael Easter sits down with two guests who have decentered optimization. First up: Jay Carson, a former Clinton communications director and Hollywood writer (House of Cards, The Morning Show). Jay signed up for a 14-day Boulder Outdoor Survival School course in
How a Hollywood Writer Got Fit at 60, Beat Anxiety & Outworked Resistance
What does it take to get genuinely strong, healthy, and creatively alive in your late 50s — while having one of the most demanding jobs in Hollywood? Brian Koppelman is the writer behind Rounders, Ocean’s 13, and the seven-season hit show Billions. He also helped discover and promote the singer songwriter Tracy Chapman. At 57, he walked off a tennis court mid-match, certain he was abou
How to Eat Healthy Without Going Broke: Sardines, Costco & Real Food | Nick Norwitz & George Kamel
What happens when you eat 8 cans of sardines everyday for 30 days? For one doctor, his omega-3 levels hit numbers usually only seen in dolphins, his body fat dropped below 7%, and a smell he couldn't shake put a strain on his relationship. Host Michael Easter sits down with Dr. Nick Norwitz (Oxford PhD, Harvard MD) to break down the science of the sardine diet. Then, George Kamel (Ramsey Network,
Why Most Habit Change Fails (And How to Break the Addiction Cycle)
Sobriety isn't just "not drinking"—it's learning how to live without needing relief on demand. In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with therapist Ryan Soave (18+ years sober) for a sweeping conversation on why addiction often acts like a solution to deeper pain, how fear and shame quietly run the show, and what it takes to break the compulsion loop for good. They dig into habit change
Why Dogs Make You Healthier: A Navy SEAL + Researcher on the hidden science of pet ownership
Dogs don’t just make us happy—they change how we live. Michael Easter talks with former Navy SEAL and writer Sam Alaimo about why dogs pull us back into the present, create purpose, and help us rebuild after our toughest moments. Then researcher Dr. Nancy Gee (director of a human–animal interaction center) breaks down what the science actually says about how and why pet ownership
Why More Freedom Is Making You Miserable | David Epstein on Constraints
What if everything you believe about freedom is wrong? Author David Epstein joins Michael Easter to break down why constraints — not freedom — drive better work, better wellness, and better creativity. Epstein is the bestselling author of Range and The Sports Gene, and his new book Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better argues we have it backwards on freedom.They discuss why Ge
The Subtraction Mindset: How To Get More By Doing Less | Dr. Leidy Klotz
A 3-year old beat a PhD engineer at an engineering problem while playing legos—and that single moment kicked off a decade of research that exposed one of the strongest, most underrated biases in the human brain: we almost never subtract. This week, Michael sits down with Dr. Leidy Klotz — University of Virginia engineering professor, former pro soccer player, and author of Subtract, wh
Why Marching Band Beats Rehab: Sam Quinones On Fentanyl, Meth & Hope
More than 100,000 Americans die of drug overdose every year. The solution—or at least part of it—might be dorky as hell.Sam Quinones spent 12 years reporting on America’s drug crisis and how — heroin, fentanyl, meth have reshaped the country. In this episode, l he unpacks how Mexican cartels replaced poppy fields with chemicals, lowered the price of meth by 90%, and uninten
Find Joy in Any Job: Lessons from a Top Doctor and a Vagabond
Is work supposed to feel this miserable? In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with two people who answer the question from opposite ends of the spectrum: one who found deep fulfillment inside the system, and one who walked away from it entirely. First, Dr. Mim Ari, an internist and associate professor at the University of Chicago, breaks down what it actually means to be a "deeply fulfilled w
What Science Actually Says About Alcohol & Social Media with Taylor Lorenz & Dean Stattmann Michael Easter
Everyone has a vice. Drinking, smoking, social media, diet soda. And the modern wellness internet will tell you that if you want to live a long, healthy life, you need to cut every single one of them out. But is that actually true? In this episode of Two Percent, we take a nuanced look at vices and whether some of them might actually enhance your life when you use them the right way. We don't have
Melissa Urban: The Science of Whole30, Food Addiction & Why Weight Is the Wrong Metric Michael Easter
Melissa Urban — founder of Whole 30 and author of The Whole30 (updated 2024) and The Book of Boundaries — sits down with Michael Easter for one of the most honest conversations on this feed yet. Two sober people (Michael 10+ years, Melissa 24+ years) unpack the parallels between drug addiction and food behavior, why the first time Melissa went to rehab didn't stick, and the single ques
The Boston Marathon, Ultra Processed Foods & the 2% Kitchen (Brady Holmer & Dr. Mike Roussell) Michael Easter
The 130th Boston Marathon is this Monday. To mark the occasion, Michael sits down with Brady Holmer — a science writer, runner, and 2:24 Boston finisher — to go deep on what the race actually feels like, why super shoes might be saving you 5-8 minutes, how to fuel a marathon without your gut exploding, and whether anyone can qualify for Boston. Then Dr. Mike Roussell, a PhD nutritionis
Donnie Vincent: Hunting, Hard Things, and the Mindset That Gets You Through Storms
In this episode of Two Percent, Michael sits down with backcountry bow hunter and filmmaker Donnie Vincent to unpack what months in remote wilderness teach you about stress, calm, and competence. Donnie was featured heavily in Michael’s bestselling book, The Comfort Crisis, and now he joins Michael for the first time on mic since the book’s release. They talk about the ethics and emoti
Humans Are Built to Walk Farther Than You Think (and Here’s Why)
Walking shaped humans into who we are—and it’s one of the simplest ways to improve health, mood, and longevity right now. In this episode of Two Percent, Michael sits down with evolutionary geneticist Dr. Melissa Ilardo and writer Foster Kamer to explore what endurance science says about how far humans can actually go, why the brain often quits before the body, and how small daily choi
Coming April 7: Two Percent with Michael Easter
From New York Times bestselling author and journalist Michael Easter comes a twice-weekly deep dive into the science of living better by doing things the hard way. Building on the insights of his #1 Substack and acclaimed books, Easter balances rigorous evidence with a healthy dose of skepticism to cut through the noise of the modern wellness industry. Whether he’s interviewing elite explore
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