Past Episodes
Episodes released in the last 5 years are FREE.
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Episode 1-10 can now be purchased for download as a single zip file.
Other episodes and transcripts may be purchased separately.
Please see the episode show notes for links.
Mind Wide Open: A general introduction to why neuroscience matters, based on Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, by Steven Johnson.
On Intelligence: A discussion of On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins.
In Search of Memory: Nobel laureate Eric Kandel's excellent introduction to neuroscience.
Nature Versus Nurture: A discussion of The Great Brain Debate: Nature Or Nurture? by John E. Dowling.
Consciousness: A very brief introduction to philosophy of mind.
†The First Idea: The role of emotional signaling in the development of language, based on The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans, by Stanley I. Greenspan, MD and Stuart Shanker, PhD.
Stuart Shanker, PhD on bonobos: Explores what bonobos can teach us about communication.
How Neurons Communicate: A fairly detailed introduction to brain chemistry.
The Future of the Brain: A discussion of the book by Steven Rose.
Neuroplasticity: Exciting discovery that the brain continues to grow and change, based on Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley.
Emotion: A discussion of Emotion: The Science of Sentiment, by Dylan Evans.
Memory: A discussion of Memory: From Mind to Molecules, by Larry R. Squire, PhD and Eric R. Kandel, MD.
Unconscious Decisions: A look at decision-making.
Our First Six Months: A brief review of the first six months.
**Read Montague, PhD: Author of Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions.
The Pre-Frontal Lobes: A discussion of The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind, by Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD.
The Wisdom of the Aging Brain: A discussion of The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older, by Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD.
**Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD on aging and the brain: how our brain changes as we age, and what we can do about it.
Gut Feelings: A discussion of Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, by Gerd Gigerenzer. [Buy mp3 for $1]
Louann Brizendine, MD: Author of The Female Brain
Body Maps: A discussion of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better, by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee.
Christof Koch, PhD on Consciousness: Author of The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach.
**Sandra Blakeslee (Follow-up of BSP 21): We discuss plasticity and body maps.
Reading and the Brain: A discussion of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf.
Rolf Pfeifer, PhD on embodied intelligence.
Norman Doidge, MD, on Neuroplasticity: Author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.
Edward Taub, PhD: Talks about his revolutionary approach to stroke rehabilitation.
Maryanne Wolf, PhD talks about her book,Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.
The Evolution of Language: A discussion of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, by Christine Kenneally.
Brain Rhythms with György Buzsáki: A discussion of his book, Rhythms of the Brain.
A brief Introduction to Brain Anatomy: Based on Beyond the Zonules of Zinn: A Fantastic Journey Through Your Brain, by David Bainbridge.
John J Ratey, MD: Explains why exercise is essential to brain health.
Rachel Herz, PhD: Discusses her book,The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell.
Mirror Neurons: A discussion of Mirrors in the Brain: How Our Minds Share Actions, Emotions, and Experience, by Giacomo Rizzolatti, MD and Corrado Sinigaglia, PhD.
Arthur Glenberg, PhD: Explores the role of embodied cognition in language and reading.
John Medina, PhD: Discusses his book, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.
Jeff Hawkins: Author of On Intelligence, discusses his theory of how the cortex works.
Michael Arbib, PhD: Discusses the role of mirror neurons in imitation and language.
Interview with Linguist, Alice Gaby: On the relationship between neuroscience and linguistics.
Discussion of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert Burton, MD.
**Part 2 of On Being Certain: Interview with Robert Burton, MD.
Interview with Daniel Siegel, MD: About meditation and the brain.
John Ratey, MD: Talks about ADHD.
Live from Dragon*Con 2008: Shella Keilholz, PhD and Jason Schneiderman, PhD discuss brain imaging.
Discussion of Principles of Brain Evolution: by Georg F. Striedter.
Gary Lynch, PhD: Discusses his book Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence.
Interview with Dr. Brenda Milner, pioneering neuroscientist.
Neuroscience 2008: Highlights from the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Interview with Seth Grant, PhD: A discussion about how proteomics reveals synapse evolution.
Year 2 Review: A look back at Year 2 of the Brain Science Podcast.
Free will?: A discussion of Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?: Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will, by Nancey Murphy and Warren S. Brown.
Michael Merzenich, PhD: Pioneering neuroscientist talks about neuroplasticity.
Patricia Churchland, PhD: An interview about neurophilosophy.
Eve Marder, PhD: From the Society of Neuroscience.
Chris Frith, PhD: Author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World.
Alva Noë, PhD: Author of Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness.
Guy Caldwell, PhD, from the University of Alabama: Discusses the use of the tiny worm, C elegans, for studying movement disorders.
Stuart Brown, MD (National Institute for Play): Author of Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.
Allan Jones, PhD (The Allen Institute for Brain Research): On mapping the mouse brain and the human cortex.
Warren Brown, PhD (Fuller Theological Seminary): Co-author of Did My Neurons Make Me Do It? (also discussed in Episode 53).
David Bainbridge, PhD: Talks about his latest book, Teenagers: A Natural History.
Jaak Panksepp, PhD: Author of Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions.
Randy Gallistel, PhD: Co-author of Memory and the Computational Brain: Why Cognitive Science Will Transform Neuroscience.
Thomas Metzinger, PhD: Author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self.
Peter Whitehouse, MD: Co-author of The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.
R. Douglas Fields, PhD: Author of The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science.
Scott Lilienfeld, PhD: Co-author of 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior.
Interview with Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde: Authors of Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions.
Lawrence Shapiro, PhD: Author of Embodied Cognition.
Olaf Sporns, PhD: Author of Networks of the Brain.
David Eagleman, PhD: Author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.
Sian Beilock, PhD: Author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.
Fabrizio Benedetti, MD: Author of Placebo Effects, and The Patient's Brain.
Discussion of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives, by Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD.
Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD: Author of Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines.
Patricia Churchland, PhD: Author of Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality.
How Mind Emerges from Brain: A Discussion of Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain, by Michael Gazzaniga, PhD.
Mind and Brain, with William Uttal, PhD, Author of Mind and Brain: A Critical Appraisal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Update on Consciousness Research with Christof Koch, PhD, Author of Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist..
Sebastian Seung Explores the Brain's Wiring: Interview with Sebastian Seung, PhD, author of Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are.
Disgust, with Rachel Herz, PhD: Interview with Rachel Herz, PhD, author of That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion.
Brain Aging with Pamela Greenwood, PhD: Interview with Pamela Greenwood, PhD, co-author of Nurturing the Aging Brain and Mind.
The Self Illusion with Bruce Hood, PhD: Interview with Bruce Hood, PhD, author of The Self Illusion: How The Social Brain Creates Identity.
Mind in Life: Interview with Evan Thompson, PhD, author of Mind in Life: Biology. Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind.
Self Comes to Mind: Discussion of Self Comes to Mind, by Antonio Damasio, PhD.
The Origin of Emotions with Jaak Panksepp: Interview with Jaak Panksepp, PhD, Author of The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotion.
Sixth Annual Review: Neuroscience Highlights for 2012.
Pain (Part 1) with Dr. Fernando Cervero, author of Understanding Pain.
How the Brain Makes Meaning: Interview with Benjamin Bergen, PhD, author of Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning.
Understanding Pain; Part 2 of Discussion begun in Episode 93.
A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: Interview with Dr. Robert Burton, author of A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves.
Neuroanthropology: Interview with Dr. Daniel H. Lende and Dr. Greg Downey, authors of The Encultured Brain: An Introduction to Neuroanthropology.
The Autistic Brain: Discussion of The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum, by Temple Grandin.
Interview with Dr.Temple Grandin, author of The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum.
Brain Fitness with Alvaro Fernandez, co-author of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age.
Synapse Evolution with Seth Grant: Interview with Dr. Seth Grant.
Dangers of Diagnostic Inflation: Interview with Dr. Allen Frances, Author of Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life .
Connectome Update: Interview with Dr. Olaf Sporns, Author of Discovering the Human Connectome.
Seventh Annual Review: 2013 Neuroscience Highlights.
Brain Plasticity with Michael Merzenich: Interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich.
The Cognitive-Emotional Brain; Interview with Dr. Luiz Pessoa, author of The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration.
Sleep Science with Penny Lewis: Interview with Dr. Penny Lewis, author of The Secret World of Sleep: The Surprising Science of the Mind at Rest.
Consciousness as Social Perception: Interview with Dr. Michael Graziano, author of Consciousness and the Social Brain.
Avoiding Neuromania: Discussion of the hazards of neuromania, based upon several books, including Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience.
Neurobiology for Dummies: Interview with Dr. Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies and Neurobiology for Dummies.
Exercise Promotes Plasticity: Interview with Dr. John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain.
What Do Mirror Neurons Really Do? Interview with Dr. Gregory Hickok, author of The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition.
Neuroplasticity and Healing: Discussion of The Dalai Lama's visit to UAB for the scientific symposium on Neuroplasticity and Healing.
Eighth Annual Review Episode: 2014 Neuroscience Highlights.
Eastern Philosophy and Western Neuroscience: Interview with Dr. Evan Thompson, author of Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy.
Norman Doidge on Brain Plasticity: Interview with Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Recoveries and Discoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroscience.
Michael Gazzaniga, Father of Cognitive Neuroscience: Interview with Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, author of Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience.
Brain Anatomy Revealed: A whirlwind tour of brain anatomy based on the book, Beyond the Zonules of Zinn, by David Bainbridge.
Dr. Ed Taub Revolutionizes Stroke Rehab: The first half of an inteview with Dr. Edward Taub, creator of contraint-induced movement therapy.
More on CI therapy with Dr. Ed Taub: The second half of an interview with Dr. Edward Taub, creator of constraint-induced movement therapy.
How Do You Feel? with Bud Craig: Interview with Dr. Bud Craig, author of How Do You Feel?: An Interoceptive Moment with Your Neurobiological Self.
Neurobiology of Placebos: Interview with Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti, author of Placebo Effects: Understanding the Mechanisms in Health and Disease..
Phenomenology and Embodied Cognition: Interview with Dr. Anthony Chemero, co-author of Phenomenology: An Introduction.
Neural Reuse and Embodied Cognition: Interview with Dr. Michael Anderson, author of After Phrenology: Neural Reuse and the Interactive Brain.
9th Annual Review of Neuroscience: Review of some key ideas of each of the 10 episodes released in 2015.
Andy Clark on Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind: Interview with Dr. Andy Clark, author of Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind.
Placebo Research Update with Fabrizio Benedetti: Interview with Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti, author of Placebo Effects and The Patient's Brain.
Primary Consciousness and Experience with Jon Mallatt: Interview with Dr. Jon Mallatt, Co-author of The Ancient Origins of Consciousness.
Neuropsychology and the Study of Memory: Interview with pioneering neuroscientist, Dr. Brenda Milner (Encore).
Honoring William Uttal's Contributions to Cognitive Neuroscience (Encore).
Counting Neurons with Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel: Interview with the author of The Human Advantage: How Our Brains Became Remarkable.
Remembering Jaak Panksepp: We remember Jaak Panksepp, pioneer of affective neuroscience.
Lisa Barrett on How Emotions Are Made: Interview with Dr. Lisa Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made.
Why Reading Science Matters: Discussion of the book, Language at the Speed of Sight, by Dr. Mark Seidenberg.
Seth Grant's Latest Research: Interview with Dr. Seth Grant.
John Medina on Aging Well: Interview with Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules for Aging Well: 10 Principles for Staying Vital, Healthy, and Sharp.
Jeff Hawkins explores a new theory of cortical function: Interview with Jeff Hawkins.
Brain Science Review of 2017: Highlights from 2017 and a few ideas from this years annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Memory and Perception: Interview with Dr. Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, author of The Forgetting Machine: Memory, Perception, and the "Jennifer Aniston Neuron."
Michael Graziano explains peripersonal neurons: Interview with Dr. Michael Graziano, author of The Spaces Between Us: A Story of Neuroscience, Evolution, and Human Nature.
Creativity with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg: Interview with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, author of Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation.
Language in the brain: Interview with Dr. Angela Friederici, author of Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity.
The reading brain with Maryanne Wolf: Interview with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century.
Biological Mind with Alan Jasanoff: Interview with Dr.. Alan Jasanoff, author of The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are.
Lessons from the Lobster: Eve Marder's Work in Neuroscience: Discussion of a biography by Charlotte Nassim.
Eve Marder interview (encore from 2009).
Dean Burnett on the happy brain: Interview with Dr. Dean Burnett, author of Happy Brain: Where Happiness Comes From, and Why.
Explore the synaptome with Seth Grant: Interview with Dr. Seth Grant, author of the new paper, “Architecture of the Mouse Brain Synaptome.”
Neuroscience of Emotion: A discussion of The Neuroscience of Emotion: A New Synthesis, by Ralph Adolphs and David J. Anderson.
Twelfth Annual Review Episode: A look back at topics covered in 2018.
Understanding the Brain with John Dowling: Interview with Dr. John Dowling, author of Understanding the Brain: From Cells to Behavior to Cognition.
Successful Aging with Psychologist Alan Castel: Interview with Dr. Alan Castel, author of Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging.
Neuroscience and AI with Paul Middlebrooks: Interview with Dr. Paul Middlebrooks, creator and host of the Brain Inspired podcast.
Can fMRI Read Your Mind?: Interview with Dr. Russell Poldrack, author of The New Mind Readers: What Neuroimaging Can and Cannot Reveal about Our Thoughts.
Donald G MacKay, author of Remembering: What 50 Years of Research with Famous Amnesia Patient H.M. Can Teach Us about Memory and How It Works.
Patricia Churchland discusses her latest book Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition.
Kevin J Mitchell, author of Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are.
Neuroscience of Consciousness (part 1).
Joseph LeDoux, author of The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains.
Michael Graziano, author of Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience.
Christof Koch, author of The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed.
Thirteenth Annual Review Episode.
Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde talk about the neuroscience of magic (encore).
Stephen Macknik describes a new visual prosthesis.
Stanislas Dehaene, author of How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine . . . for Now.
Cecilia Heyes, author of Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking.
Doug Fields, author of The Other Brain: The Scientific and Medical Breakthroughs That Will Heal Our Brains and Revolutionize Our Health (encore)
Andreas Nieder, author of A Brain for Numbers: The Biology of the Number Instinct.
Matthew Cobb, author of The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience.
György Buzsáki, author of The Brain from Inside Out.
Virginia Campbell, author of Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origin of Certainty.
Georg Northoff, author of The Spontaneous Brain: From the Mind–Body to the World–Brain Problem.
Carol Tavris, co-author of Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts.
Seth Grant on Synapse Complexity: Interview with Dr. Seth Grant.
Bernard Baars, author of Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity, and collaborator David Edelman.
Peter Sterling, author of What Is Health? Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design.
Fourteenth Annual Review episode: a look back at 2020.
Bruce Goldstein, author of The Mind: Consciousness, Prediction, and the Brain.
Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, author of The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention.
Iris Berent, author of The Blind Storyteller: How We Reason About Human Nature.
Jeff Hawkins, author A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence.
Mark Solms, author The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Origins of Consciousness.
Stephen Fleming, author of Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness.
Mark Humphries, author of The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds.
David Eagleman, author of Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain.
Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.
Antonio Damasio, author of Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious.
David Badre, author of On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done.
Fifteenth Annual Review episode: a look back at 2021.
Nina Kraus, author of Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World.
The Embodied Mind: exploring the implications of embodied cognition.
Mary-Frances O’Connor, author of The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss.
David J Anderson, author of The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide Us.
Hakwan Lau, author of In Consciousness we Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience.
Dr. Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies and Neurobiology for Dummies (encore).
Evan Thompso, PhD, author of Mind in Life: Biology. Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (encore).
Batja Mesquita, author of Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions.
Jennifer Fugate and Sheila Macrine, editors of Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning.
Bill Harris, author of Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built.
Evan Thompson, on meditation and embodied cognition.
Sixteenth Annual Review episode: a look back at 2022.
Guy Caldwell, PhD, on molecular biology and neuroscience (encore).
Guy Caldwell, PhD, on molecular biology and gene editing in C. Elegans.
Paco Calvo, PhD, author of Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Intelligence.
Encore of interview with Luiz Pessoa, PhD, author of The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration.
Sander van der Linden, PhD, author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity.
Luiz Pessoa, PhD, author of The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together.
Basics of Neurotransmitters, a review and discussion of neurotransmitters and how they work.
Seth Grant on synaptic proteins and aging: Interview with Dr. Seth Grant.
Thomas Metzinger, PhD, author of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self. (encore)
Kevin J Mitchell, PhD, author of Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.
