Life of Brain

We should award frequent travel miles to your brain. After all, it’s evolved a long way from the days of guiding brachiation from tree-to-tree to become the three pounds of web-surfing, Sudoku-playing powerhouse it is today. But a suite of technologies may expand human brains further still. From smart pills to nano-wires: discover the potential – and peril – of neuro-engineering to repair and enhance our cognitive function. Also, how our brains got so big in the first place: a defense of the modern diet. Guests Bill Leonard - department chairman and professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University Michael Gazzaniga - neuroscientist and director of the University of California – Santa Barbara’s SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. Author of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique Ian Pearson - futurologist at Futurizon Steven Rose - biologist and director of the Brain and Behavior Research Group at the Open University in London. Author of The Future of the Brain: The Promise and Perils of Tomorrow's Neuroscience Ed Boyden - neuroscientist at MIT’s Media Lab and Department of Biological Engineering Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Om Podcasten

The surprising connections in science and technology that give you the Big Picture. Astronomer Seth Shostak and science journalist Molly Bentley are joined each week by leading researchers, techies, and journalists to provide a smart and humorous take on science. Our regular "Skeptic Check" episodes cast a critical eye on pseudoscience.