Description
Despite being documented throughout history, there’s surprisingly little research on stuttering. This summer scientists came up with the first consensus guidelines on the condition, and they shed new light on the neuroscience behind it. In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman interviews Gerald Maguire, a psychiatrist and a researcher, who helped come up with those guidelines and experiences stuttering himself.
0:00 — What Is Stuttering?
1:14 — Meet Gerald Maguire
3:05— The Lived Experience of Stuttering
5:19 — Stuttering in the Media
7:34 — A History of Neglect
12:08 — The Neuroscience of Stuttering
14:54 — The First Consensus Guidelines
16:54 — Resources & Outro
Recommended Reading:
Stuttering Treatment and Research Society
https://stutteringresearch.org/
“The New Science of Stuttering,” by Jack Tamisiea, in New York Times. Published online October 18, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/18/science/the-new-science-of-stuttering.html
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/getsciam/
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences/
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.