Author: This Is Your Brain producer

The brain and the heart are in constant communication, sending signals that control and respond to each other, so it’s no surprise that what’s good for one is what’s good for the other. Dean Robert Harrington, an esteemed cardiologist and the new dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, joins us today to explore the fascinating conversations that go on between these two most important organs. From the electrical signals sent from the brain to the oxygenated blood flow the heart sends back, find out what keeps both organs going—and what happens when something disrupts that balance. Turns out you really can…

Forget the standard IQ test — that only measures a very narrow definition of intelligence. Meet psychologist Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at Harvard, and one of the foremost thinkers and writers in the fields of education, cognition, and multiple intelligences. His fascinating research into different kinds of intelligence (there are 8!) has the potential to revolutionize education, turn our kids into better citizens, and help us all identify our purpose in life. Learn more about our 5 minds, and how our education system should help us to move the needle from “I” to “we” not just personally,…

Pain can be felt anywhere in the body, but it all originates in the same place: the brain. Lorimer Moseley, a professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of South Australia and a specialist in how the brain produces pain signals, joins us today to talk about how pain is created as a protective strategy. Your brain, which is constantly monitoring your environment for signs of danger vs safety, sends pain signals when it detects a painful stimulus (a process called nociception). Moseley studies how to retrain the brain when it continues to send pain signals long after the damaged…

Babies and toddlers have truly outstanding brains — they absorb information broadly, quickly, and indiscriminately as they learn about the world, with processing speeds that leave AI-powered robots in the dust. Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of Philosophy at U.C. Berkeley, has been studying baby brains for decades, and she joins us today to talk about how we could look to them to make computers smarter. Phil Stieg: Hello, I’d like to welcome Allison Gopnik, a global authority in cognitive science and an expert in the study of children’s learning and development. She is a professor of…

Your early experiences literally change the way you think and feel about the world — they even shape what you see and hear. Dr. Chantel Prat, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at the University of Washington, studies how variations in brain wiring make each of us unique individuals and drive our understanding of each other, and of the world.In this episode, learn which parts of the brain are “experience-expectant” (waiting for input on how to develop), and why trade-offs in the brain are responsible for our personalities, our learning styles, and our values. The answers begin to explain how three…

Bonus clip from Training to Be Yourself with Dr. Chantel Prat. In this bonus segment, Dr. Chantel Prat describes in detail some of the research she conducts at the University of Washington including how to determine if you are a “carrot” learner or a ”stick” learner. You can test yourself at home using the on-line versions of her experiments (see the links on the right). She emphasizes that understanding how our brains are different – and the “tradeoffs” that result from those differences – can be crucial to our mental health. Phil Stieg: You talk a little bit about the…