Ben is joined by John Vervaeke, a researcher who finds ways to integrate and synthesize information across a wide range of fields: neural stimulation technology, mindfulness meditation, altered states of consciousness… and helps researchers fro

“Your Brain on LSD” – Podcast 16: Robin Carhart-Harris

Apr 26th, 2016

Depth psychology. Jungian symbolism. Psychedelic drugs. Mystery religions. fMRI scans. Dream states vs. awake states. Functional connectomics. Animal consciousness. Neural correlates of the ego and the unconscious mind. All in a one-hour conver

“Making Better Decisions… Scientifically” – Podcast 15: Teagan Wall

Feb 16th, 2016

We all have moments of wondering, “Why did I make that decision? Why did my brain want to do that?”Teagan Wall has devoted her career to studying questions like these, and she joins Ben today to talk about the neural influences that drive us t

“The Hard Science of Consciousness Research” – Podcast 14: Bernard Baars

Jan 15th, 2016

New neuroscience discoveries about consciousness keep popping up all the time — but where’s the line between abstract philosophy and hard science?Ben is joined by Bernard Baars, one of the founding fathers of the modern neuroscience of conscio

“2014’s Nobel Prize Co-Winner” – Podcast 13: Edvard Moser

Jul 2nd, 2015

Have you ever wondered what language your brain speaks when it talks to itself? Not your inner monologue, but the coded messages that your brain uses to collect, analyze, and make predictions about your environment. What would it feel like to

“Using Light to Talk With Neurons” – Podcast 12: Michael Hausser

Jul 2nd, 2015

Ben talks with Michael Hausser, a researcher who reads and writes information to and from brain cells with laser signals. This area of neuroscience – known as optogenetics – is one of the fastest-moving fields in science today, and Hausser an

“2013’s Nobel Prize Winners” — Podcast 11: James Rothman, Randy Schekman & Thomas Südhof

Jul 2nd, 2015

Ben is joined by all three of 2013’s Nobel Prize winners in the Physiology/Medicine category — James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Südhof!All three of these guys contributed crucial pieces to a longstanding puzzle: How, exactly, do our br

“Crowdsourcing a Neuroscience Revolution” — Podcast 10: Sebastian Seung

Jul 2nd, 2015

Ben chats with Sebastian Seung, a neuroscience researcher whose latest work — in cooperation with teams at MIT, at Germany’s Max Planck Institute and at other cutting-edge institutions — is proving that an improbable-sounding dream isn’t so imp

“Learning How Brains Learn” — Podcast 9: Jeff Hawkins

Jul 2nd, 2015

On Episode 9 of the Connectome podcast, Ben is joined by Jeff Hawkins, a computer engineer and neuroscience geek who’s obsessed with understanding how the brain learns.Jeff is the inventor of the Palm Pilot and the founder of Palm Computing –

“Hallucination, Imagination, Dreams & Drugs” — Podcast 8: Oliver Sacks

Jul 2nd, 2015

On Episode 8 of the Connectome podcast, Ben talks with Oliver Sacks, renowned neuroscientist and author of such books as The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia and Hallucinations. In particular, Sacks joins us to talk about some p

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