Author: This Is Your Brain producer
Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times journalist Alissa Rubin talks with Dr. Stieg about the helicopter crash that seriously injured her, and the long road to healing her body and her brain. Dr. Stieg: I’m happy to have my patient, the New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Alissa Rubin. As our special guest in 2014 Alyssa was seriously injured and nearly killed in a helicopter crash in the Middle East. Her skull was fractured in addition to many serious injuries so often with traumatic brain injury, we hear about the events, but have no idea about…
Many of us worry about memory loss, but it’s surprisingly important to forget. Scott Small, MD, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia, says pruning our memories is good for us. We all know “forgive and forget” is key to emotional health, but forgetting is also critical to cognitive health. Find out why a healthy dose of forgetting is not a pathology, but a way of clearing away extraneous information and improving our more important memories. Plus… why their memories keep chimps in a state of rage and fear, while forgetting makes bonobos so happy. Phil Stieg: Hello,…
The hemispheres of the brain are responsible for different views of the world – one literal, narrow-beam, and maybe a little angry, and the other broad-minded, nuanced, and appreciative of beauty. Psychiatrist, philosopher, and literary scholar Iain McGilchrist has spent his career studying how the two hemispheres of the brain work, together and separately, to forge our understanding of our world. Plus…the curious case of Mr. Phineas Gage. Phil Stieg: Hello. I’d like to welcome Professor Iain McGilchrist, a psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist, and literary scholar from Oxford University. Everyone knows that our brains are made up of left and right…
Extreme athlete Wim Hof has set records for immersion in icy water, and he recommends it for physical and mental health. Find out why his wife’s suicide drove Hof to master controlled hyperventilation — in breathtaking cold — to become happy, strong, and healthy. (Everything else, he’ll tell you, is BS.) Surprisingly, heart and brain science just may support the Wim Hof Method. Plus… contrasting Ice with Fire. Plus…contrasting Ice and Fire with a firewalking story courtesy of Jim Metzner of “Pulse of the Planet” Phil Stieg: Hello and welcome to Wim Hof, or better known as The Iceman. Clearly…
Dancer and neuroscientist Julia Basso, PhD, wants us all to dance — together or separately, it’s all good. Dancing with a partner creates a synchrony that’s remarkably like that between a mother and infant, and even dancing alone benefits body and brain alike. Find out how dance produces new neurons and engages brain processes, and why it is that joyful movement optimizes brain function. Plus… Dance for Parkinson’s Disease! Phil Stieg: Hello. I’d like to welcome to Dr. Julia Basso, director of the Embodied Brain Laboratory at Virginia Tech. She is also a trained improvisational dancer. Today we are going…
Sound may be the least understood of the five senses, with music the most mysterious of all. Neuroscientist Nina Kraus of Northwestern University takes us on a tour of how the brain processes music, and explains the lifelong benefits of music education. Find out how music can help offset the effects of poverty, and how concussion distorts the perception of music in the brain. Plus… Why you really should make your child take piano lessons!Dr. Kraus’ Lab – www.brainvolts.northwestern.eduDr. Kraus’ new book – Of Sound Mind – https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/sound-mindPhil Stieg: Hello and welcome to Dr. Nina Kraus, professor of communication sciences,…