Excellent Recent Episodes of All in the Mind

Most of you know that I am a fan of the All in the Mind podcast from Australian radio.  I want to recommend the two most recent episodes:

The March 22 episode is actually  hosted by Volkart Wildermuth, from Germany.  He interviews several of the world's leading primate researchers.  You will learn some of the recent discoveries about primate intelligence and culture, and also hear an excellent discussion of what makes humans different.  Go to the website not just to hear the show, but to get a transcript and to see the extensive links.

The March 29 episode is a fascinating interview with Dan Ariely from MIT, who is the author the new bestseller Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, which describes his experiments in what is called behavioral economics.  His work has shown that people often do not make economic decisions in a logical manner.  He is an extremely likable guest who shares stories from his own life as well as some of the highlights of his work.  The show notes include extensive references.

"Brains Matter" Podcast Has an Excellent Interview About the Philosophical Implications of Robotics

Brains Matter is a podcast about science from Australia.  It was one of the shows on my ill-fated Podango™ Science channel, and it is now one of the charter members of SCIENCEPODCASTERS.ORG.  Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to listen to it on a regular basis, but I want to recommend the most recent episode, which is a discussion of robotics in history and in fiction.  The guest is Adam Parker, who is studying for a PhD in Robotics in Australia.  He has a surprising knowledge of the history of the field and brings that perspective to the conversation . I think that that is one of the things that makes the interview interesting.  This is not a technical conversation, but one that everyone can enjoy.  As I said on Digg™, if you liked Blade Runner, you will enjoy this interview.

"All in the Mind" Has a New blog

All in the Mind is one of my favorite podcasts, and I am happy to report that host, Natasha Mitchell, has recently launched a companion blog, which generally talks a little bit more about each episode, as well as providing some content in between shows. Best of all there is now a link there for sending her email.