• Ep86 "What are emotions?"
    Jan 6 2025

    Are emotions something that happen to you, or are they bodily signals we interpret? Does everyone show emotions in the same way -- that is, are there particular markers of the face or the body that always mean anger, sadness, or joy? And what does this have to do with Charles Darwin, the truth about facial expressions, or the movie Inside Out? Join Eagleman with this week's guest, neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of hundreds of papers and "How Emotions are Made", for a deep dive into the truth about our feelings.

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    50 mins
  • Ep39 rebroadcast "What is the future of AI relationships?"
    Dec 30 2024

    Why are our brains so wired for love? Could you fall head over heels for a bot? Might your romantic partner be more satisfied with a 5% better version of you? How does an AI bot plug right into your deep neural circuitry, and what are the pros and cons? And what will it mean when humans you love don’t have to die, but can live on in your phone forever? Join Eagleman for a deep dive into relationships, their AI future, and what it all means for our species.

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    38 mins
  • Ep10 rebroadcast "Why is it so hard to spot a counterfeit bill?"
    Dec 23 2024

    What do charlatans have to understand about human perception? Why are you so bad at recognizing a real penny among fakes? What did Eagleman have to do with the redesign of the Euro, and why did he campaign to the European Central Bank that all their bills should be blank with a single hologram in the middle? In this episode, explore the crossroads of perception and deception. Brief appearance from special guest Adam Savage.

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    36 mins
  • Ep85 "What is a Thought?"
    Dec 16 2024

    Brains bear thoughts like a peach tree bears peaches. Even for meditators it's almost impossible to stop the firehose of words and images and ideas. But what in the world is a thought, physically? How can you hear a voice in your head when there's no one speaking in the outside world? And what does any of this have to do with a small marine animal who eats its own brain? Join Eagleman for this week's deep dive into our inner life.

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    37 mins
  • Ep84 "Why do brains love music?"
    Dec 9 2024

    How can we understand music's effect on human brains? Is music universal or does it rely on your experiences? How is music similar to a language? Can music be leveraged to help anxiety, dementia, or Parkinson's disease? What does any of this have to do with Stevie Wonder on the high hat, or the relationship between music and color? Join Eagleman with guest Daniel Levitin -- neuroscientist, musician, and author of This Is Your Brain on Music and I Heard There Was A Secret Chord.

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    47 mins
  • Ep83 "Why Do Your 30 Trillion Cells Feel Like a Self?" Part 2
    Dec 2 2024

    Does our sense of self emerge from our brain's skill at lumping things into unchanging categories? What can we learn watching a caterpillar brain transition to a butterfly brain? Can we think of a memory as a pattern that stays alive and has its own life? Does an ant colony have a sense of self? Join Eagleman and biologist Michael Levin at Tufts – one of the most energetic and original thinkers in the field -- to dive into new territories of the self.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Ep82 "Why Do Your 30 Trillion Cells Feel Like a Self?" Part 1
    Nov 25 2024

    Every cell in your body changes, so why do you have a sense of continuity of the self – as though you're the same person you were a month ago? What does this have to do with the watercraft of the Greek demigod Theseus, or the End-of-History illusion, or why you go through so much trouble to make things comfortable for your future self, even though you don't know that person? And if there really were an afterlife, what age would your deity make everyone for living out their eternities? Join this week for a two-parter about the mysteries of selfhood.

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    29 mins
  • Ep 81 "How close are we to longevity?"
    Nov 18 2024

    Two certainties are death and taxes; a third is that people will work hard to avoid them both. But why is it so difficult to extend our lifespan? We know how to do it in worms and mice; why is it tricky in humans? Why do so few companies study longevity? What does the near future hold? What would it be like if everyone lived a much longer life? Join Eagleman this week with longevity expert Martin Borch Jensen to discuss the hopes and challenges of longevity science.

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    53 mins