Years before Shankar Vendantam became a regular voice on NPR, he earned an engineering degree.
The host of the podcast and program Hidden Brain calls that both a blessing and a curse. He explained that despite being a bad student, all that math and science has made him a better journalist and host.
"If I'd stayed in engineering, I think planes would have crashed, and buildings would have collapsed," he jokes. "But I was always in writing, was always interested in talking to people." Vendantam said his background prepared him well for a career as a science journalist and writer.
Before Many Hidden Brain conversations originated in Morning Edition, with hosts like Steve Inskeep or former host David Greene, generally limited to about two minutes. "I think we were all surprised when listeners started to write in, to say how much they enjoyed these little snippets, and how many people had additional questions," Vedantam explained. "We realized there really is a vast audience out there that is hungry to learn about how our own minds work."
Vedantam said he learned how to combine storytelling and science journalism in a long-form format, and invite listeners to think about their own lives. The Hidden Brain podcast launched in 2015, and the radio show two years later.
But the idea of creating a stage presentation only started in 2025, taking seven ideas from the last decade of the show, creating The Perceptions Tour that Vedantam is bringing to the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Friday.
He calls the live presentation a mix of what is normally heard on the program, a mix of storytelling and science journalism. But the host said attendees to the event will also learn a little about him.
"It has more more stories from my own life - stories and challenges, obstacles that I have faced myself, and I try to weave those together into a ninety minute stage presentation."
One theme Vedantam looks forward to exploring on stage - how we cope with challenges and setbacks in our lives, those with career, personal matters, and our health.
"How do we live successful, flourishing lives, even in the face of these challenges?," he said. He also wants to explore the gap between what we know we should be doing in our lives, and what we actually end up doing. Those areas might include exercising, and spending more time with family.
One of the goals for those attending Friday's sold-out event - letting some folks get to know one another.
"People who come to these events talk about how much they like to meet other people who come to these events," Vedantam said the difficulty of making friends has been explored on Hidden Brain.
"It's easier to make friends when you're in middle school than when you're middle aged."
This note of disclosure - RadioIQ is a service of Virginia Tech.
