ASCEND Brain Bites

Dr. John Cryan is a world leader in researching how your all of the microbes in your gut can influence your thoughts and feelings! Dr. Dan Nemeth and Christian Holt chat with Dr. Cryan about the science of all of this GUT-BRAIN connection! 

Dr. Dan Nemeth sits down with Mireia Guerau-de-Arellano, PhD to talk about how intricate your immune system is and how, when it goes wrong, can lead to a serious disease called Multiple Sclerosis.    Host/Producer: Dan Nemeth, PhD Cohost/Editor: Christian Holt     

Dr. Nemeth and Sam McGovern chat with crow behavior expert, Dr. John Marzluff, about why and how our neighborhood crow friends are so gosh darn smart! We discuss the neuroscience behind crow behavior! 

Parental Warning: This episode contains themes and discussions of drug use, addiction, and its concequences.  Dr. Dan and Dr. Lorena talk with NYT-bestselling author and world leading addiciton neuroscientist, Judith Grisel, about the neuroscience of addiction.  If you want to learn more about addiction, check out https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/parents-educators  for more info!  Also if you...

You may have gotten a taste of how your brain can trick you in our Illusions episode! Here is a full-feature release of the entire interview we had with Dr. Macknik! Hope you enjoy!

Our special guest, Mia Amato, tells Dan and Dr. Lorena Areal all about how our brains perceive music and how music is connected to our memory!! 

Danny and new co-host, Dr. Lorena Areal, dive into the wild world of illusions and how your brain processes sensory information! We interview a world expert neuroscientist specialized in visual illusions, Dr. Stephen Macknik!

Melissa and Danny delve into how memory is formed and how neuroscientists can study memory formation. How did scientists find this out and how are flies involved?  

Melissa and Danny wish you a Happy Thanksgiving by deciphering the age old myth about Thanksgiving: Does the tryptophan in turkey really make you sleepy? We also talk about how gratitude and Black Friday shopping affect your brain!

Melissa and Danny discuss the neuroscience of Halloween! Such as how you get scared, if Zombies are plausible, and why eating human brains is bad!

This time we talk about the senses of hearing, sight, and touch. Our hearing changes over our lives, as evidenced by the high-pitched sounds that adults can't hear. We also talk about how our eyes see color and why some people are color blind. Have you ever felt your phone vibrate, but when you check it, there's no message? Listen to hear about the recent theories behind the phantom vibration phen...

Join us as we explore the senses of taste and smell! How do our chemical senses work? Can our senses change or trick us? We interview Dr. Tricia Meredith from Florida Atlantic University about her research on the sense of smell of sharks! So, can a shark really smell a drop of blood a mile away?

Our brain cells, called neurons, communicate with other neurons and cells in the body by sending electrical signals. Today we talk about how that electrical communication works and how it differs from the electricity we use to power our homes. We also speak to Dr. Michael Yetman about his research about how the different types of neurons communicate in the cerebral cortex.

When it comes to brains, is bigger always better? In this episode, we discuss the differences between brains across the animal kingdom. In general, bigger brains mean smarter animals. However, we talk about new research that shows that densely packed brains can also lend smarts to animals with small brains, like certain birds.  We also interview Chelsea Bennice about the unique brain of the octopu...