How we learn to read (and why some struggle): what neuroscience teaches us about a transformative human technology | Bruce McCandliss

In this episode, we explore the fascinating neuroscience behind how children learn to read with Bruce McCandliss, director of the Stanford Educational Neuroscience Initiative. Key topics include: • How our brains "recycle" visual and language circuits to create reading expertise • The crucial threshold when reading shifts from effortful to automatic • Why some children struggle more than others to develop reading fluency • How teachers can tailor instruction to help struggling readers • The p...

Om Podcasten

This award-winning show from Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is a field manual for anyone who wants to understand their own brain and the new science reshaping how we learn, age, heal, and make sense of ourselves.Each episode, host Nicholas Weiler sits down with leading scientists to unpack big ideas from the frontiers of the field—brain-computer interfaces and AI language models; new therapies for depression, dementia, and stroke; the mysteries of perception and memory; even the debate over free will. You’ll hear how basic research becomes clinical insight and how emerging tech might expand what it means to be human. If you’ve got a brain, take a listen.