Brain Science with Ginger Campbell, MD: Neuroscience for Everyone

This is the 17th Annual Review episode of Brain Science , celebrating the first episode which aired on December 15, 2006. We review the highlights of 2023, which included both new guests and the return of several favorites. Episodes Released in 2023: BS 204 (Encore) and BS 205 featured molecular biologist Guy Caldwell, PhD from the University of Alabama. Caldwell uses the tiny roundworm C. Elegans...

In the this episode of Brain Science we talk with neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell about his new book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will . While many neuroscientists and philosophers argue that free will is an illusion, Mitchell argues that the ability to make meaningful choices is part of our evolutionary heritage. He also addresses the important issue of determinism, siding with those phy...

This month's episode of Brain Science features Thomas Metzinger, author of "The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self." Metzinger is a philosopher with a longstanding interest in Philosophy of Mind with a focus on incorporating the findings of neuroscience. We discuss the implications of the discovery that consciousness is a biological process generated by the interaction of...

This episode of Brain Science features the return of molecular biologist Seth Grant . We briefly review his decades of research into the complexity of the protein structure of the synapse and then we focus on his most recent paper, which describes how the life-span of synapse proteins appears to change as animals age. Grant reflects of the significance of this finding both for animal research and...

This episode is our first review of neurotransmitters since episode 8 way back in 2007. We start with some basics of neuron function and brain anatomy, but the meat of the episode is a discussion of neurotransmitters and how they work. The key idea is that a simple molecule, such as dopamine, can have a wide variety of effects because of the existence of multiple receptors. This episode is appropr...

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Luiz Pessoa, author of The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together. This is Pessoa's first book aimed at a general audience and it provides a concise overview of our current understanding of basic brain function. However, he also explains the limitations of the traditional modular view of the brain. A key...

This month's episode is an interview with Cambridge Psychology professor Sander van der Linden , author of " Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity ." We discuss the important topic of how techniques like appealing to emotion contribute to the spread of misinformation. Dr. Campbell reflects on why this topic is important. Links and References: Foolproof: Why Misi...

This month's episode is an encore presentation of an interview with neuroscientist Luiz Pessoa discussing his fascinating book " The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration ." We explored the surprising role of the amygdala in decision making and learned that cognition and emotion are deeply intertwined at every level. Links and References: The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From I...

This month we have an intriguing interview with Dr. Paco Calvo from the Minimal Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Mercia in Spain. We talk with him about his new book Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Intelligence. We discuss the scientific evidence for plant intelligence while acknowledging that intelligence and consciousness are not the same. It is interesting to think of plants as d...

In this follow-up interview with molecular biologist Dr. Guy Caldwell we learn more about how the tools of molecular biology are used to unravel questions in neurobiology and provide hope for better treatments for problems like Parkinson's Disease . Links and References: Guy Caldwell, PhD (University of Alabama) LinkedIn  BS 204 Encore of 2009 interview The Worm Shack Mew, M., Caldwell, K. A., & C...

This month's episode is an encore presentation of an interview with Dr. Guy Caldwell from the University of Alabama. Dr. Caldwell explains how tools from molecular biology make it possible to use the famous C. Elegans roundworm to improve our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease. Dr. Caldwell will return to Brain Science next month to give us an update on his work....

This month's episode (BS 203) celebrates the 16th Anniversary of Brain Science with the annual review episode. This is a listener favorite providing highlights and key ideas from the episodes of Brain Science that were posted in 2022. Topics included hearing, grief, emotion, embodied cognition, consciousness and more. Note: This month's episode transcript is FREE.   Please Visit Our Sponsors: Mast...

The idea that meditation is a "mind science" is popular, but in this interview Canadian philosopher Evan Thompson argues that this claim does not stand up to either scientific or philosophical scrutiny. As one of the pioneers of the Embodied Cognition movement Thompson reminds us that the Mind is not restricted to the Brain and we must also consider how other recent discoveries in neuroscience fai...

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with WA (Bill) Harris, author of Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built . We explore how the human brain develops from the fertilized egg up until birth. There are some surprises along the way, including the fact that we actually have more neurons before we are born than we will ever have again! Links and References: Zero to Birth: How the...

This month's episode is a discussion with the editors of a fascinating new book Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning . We explore how embodied cognition challenges long standing dualist approaches to both cognition and learning. Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate also share some of the innovative approaches that improve both how we teach and how we learn. Links an...

This month's episode is an interview with Batja Mesquita, author of " Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions ." This is an important book because it describes the evidence that Emotions are not just something people experience "from the inside out," but they also occur between people, which means that culture plays a critical role. We also explore why it is important to appreciate why people fro...

This month's episode of Brain Science is a free encore playing of my interview with Evan Thompson about his book Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind . We discuss how the enactive approach to embodied cognition offers potential clues to the mystery of how the brain can generate Consciousness. A free episode transcript is also available. This is the 2nd of two free encore...

This is the free transcript for Episode 197 with Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies . For unlimited access to all transcripts and the entire back catalogue of Brain Science sign up for our Premium Subscription . You can cancel any time.

This month's episode of Brain Science features an encore playing of my interview with Dr. Frank Amthor, author of Neuroscience for Dummies and Neurobiology for Dummies . It is a great episode for newbies and will be a good review for longtime listeners. This is a FREE sample of my Premium content and the episode transcript is also FREE. Links and References: Essentials of Modern Neuroscience by Fr...

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Hakwan Lau, author of In Consciousness we Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience . Lau talks about shortcomings in current theories about how the brain generates consciousness, but he also introduces something he calls perceptual reality monitoring.  Although this is a somewhat technical discussion it is accessible to l...

This month's episode is an interview with David J Anderson from Cal Tech. We talk about his new book The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide US . We talk about how emotion CAN be studied in animals by using methods that focus on brain states rather than verbal descriptions. Dr. Anderson also explains why this experimental work is essential to developing more effective treatment of mental illne...

The neuroscience of grief and grieving is a relatively new field, but one that offers practical discoveries for people of all backgrounds. This month we talk with Mary-Frances O'Connor , author of The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How we Learn from Love and Loss . We talk about what has been learned from a variety of approaches, including both brain imaging and, surprisingly even from...

In this month's episode of Brain Science I explore two big picture questions: What does it mean to claim that the Mind is "embodied?" and How does this change our understanding of our place in the world? The conversation was inspired by the book "Out of the Cave: A Natural Philosophy of Mind and Knowing" by Mark L Johnson and Donald M Tucker. This episode builds on several previous discussions of...

This month's episode of Brain Science is an interview with Nina Kraus, author of " Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World ." Dr. Kraus has spent 30 years exploring how the brain processes sound. We explore why sound processing involves much more that just the auditory cortex as well how the sounds we experience change our brains, both for better and for worse. Links and R...

This is our 15th annual review episode, which highlights the guests and key ideas we have shared in 2021. Interviews included return visits from Jeff Hawkins and David Eagleman. New guests including Anil Seth and Antonio Damasio, who both emphasized the importance of our bodies (not just our brains) in understanding Consciousness. Available soon: Free Transcript! Full Episode List: BS 180 Bruce Go...