Show Notes
Welcome to Why Is It Like That? hosted by designer and social scientist Leyla Acaroglu. Join fascinating thinkers from science, design, and beyond as we explore quirky, counterintuitive questions about the world. Surprising insights, humour, and big ideas, all in one show that invites you to see life differently, one question at a time.
More from Why is it Like That?
What if the economy wasn’t something we had to endlessly grow, but something we had to balance? In this episode, economist Kate Raworth challenges the way we’ve been taught to think about economic success and introduces the idea of Doughnut Economics, a model that focuses on meeting human needs while staying within the planet’s ecological limits. Kate explains why endless growth has become the misguided goal and how the economy affects everything from housing and inflation to inequality and environmental destruction.
How do we measure a good life, and what if we’ve been getting it wrong? In this episode, Lhatu Lhatu, Director of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Centre explores a radically different approach to progress—one that prioritises wellbeing, community, and environmental balance over economic output. Lhatu shares how Bhutan measures national happiness across multiple domains, why GDP falls short, and what happens when governments design policies around people, not just productivity.
How do narratives of the past affect our understanding of the present? Designer and filmmaker Alison Page explores reframes the first encounter between Captain Cook and the Dharawal people at Kamay through an Aboriginal lens, showing how story, ceremony and connection to Country carry deep environmental and systems knowledge. This episode looks at how two worldviews collided, then and now, what was and is still misunderstood, and why Indigenous knowledge has always been a science of its own, and one we should all embrace.
What if the apps you continuously scroll through and the products you use every day are quietly shaping your choices and changing your mind? Designer Mike Monteiro pokes and prodes at the deisgn world, unpacking the hidden impact of the design world, from digital screens to everyday objects. This episode explores how design can manipulate (or empower) each and every one of us, and asks why do designers not consider the ethics of the things they do and create?
What if the answers to our biggest human challenges, from loneliness, death and sustainability, were hidden in the soil? Artist and author Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodriguez explores how fungi-model communication, cooperation, and resilience reveal telling lessons for humans that stretch far beyond the forest floor or mushroom sauce.