logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2022
42m 25s

Brains

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by comedian Alan Davies and neuroscientists Prof Uta Frith and Prof Sophie Scott. They discover the secret to why humans are such social creatures and why two brains are definitely better than one. Our brains are wired to learn from and mimic other brains we come into contact with, even though most of the time we don't even realise that is what they/we are doing. The subtle cues we get from other people and the information in their brains, affects our own wiring and experience of the world. With this incredible complexity, might we ever be able to create an artificial brain that mimics our own and the human experience?

Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Up next
Dec 24
The North Pole Unwrapped - Russell Kane, Felicity Aston and Lloyd Peck
In this Christmas episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Brian Cox and Robin Ince head to the North Pole to explore the dazzling science behind the northern lights, the extreme adaptations that help animals - and even Santa Claus - survive the Arctic cold, and how the Earth’s magne ... Show More
42m 22s
Dec 17
Monkey Business - Robin Dunbar, Dave Gorman and Jo Setchell
In perhaps the monkiest Infinite Monkey Cage episode there’s ever been, Brian Cox and Robin Ince attempt to uncover the secrets of love, lust and friendship in primates. Swinging by to offer a hand (or tail) are evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, anthropologist Jo Setchell, ... Show More
42m 30s
Dec 10
Head in the Clouds - Owain Wyn Evans, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Amanda Maycock
Robin Ince and Brian Cox look up to the heavens as they try to ‘de-mistify’ the foggy science of clouds. They’re joined by Cloud Appreciation Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney, climate scientist Amanda Maycock, and former weather presenter and drummer Owain Wyn Evans, for a whi ... Show More
42m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
Can we grow a conscious brain?
<p>Philosophers have long pondered the concept of a brain in a jar, hooked up to a simulated world. Though this has largely remained a thought experiment, CrowdScience listener JP wants to know if it might become reality in the not-too-distant future, with advances in stem cell r ... Show More
35m 46s
Jul 2023
Bodies, brains and computers
We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of the sensory innovators and technological pioneers who are develo ... Show More
27m 36s
Dec 2022
Memory And The Brain
Our brains are magnificently complex - and highly fallible. This hour, neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova explains how to keep our brains healthy and what to do when something goes wrong. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Poli ... Show More
50m 9s
Nov 2016
Mind Reading
Whether it's gossiping over a drink, teaching our children, or politicians debating we use words to communicate with each other and share ideas. It’s what makes us human. But what if we can’t? Could it be possible to broadcast our thoughts directly from our brains without the nee ... Show More
26m 59s
Mar 2021
The Theory of a Thousand Brains
<p>In this episode, we talk with Jeff Hawkins—an entrepreneur and scientist, known for inventing some of the earliest handheld computers, the Palm and the Treo, who then turned his career to neuroscience and founded the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience in 2002 and Nume ... Show More
39m 36s
Feb 2023
Science | Let’s Talk about Brain Myths 2
<p>Learn about 6 brain myths and what the reality about them is in a new Let’s Talk Science episode from English Plus Podcast. We’ll learn whether our brains are objective, if we have 5 independent senses, if our brains are too smart for magic tricks, if there are super foods tha ... Show More
34m 26s
Jul 2021
The Ever-Changing Brain with David Eagleman and Brian Eno
What does drug withdrawal have in common with a broken heart? Why is the enemy of memory not time, but other memories? How can a blind person learn to see with her tongue or a deaf person learn to hear with his skin? Why did many people in the 1980s mistakenly perceive book pages ... Show More
57m 52s
Sep 2021
39. Brains Love Stories: How Leveraging Neuroscience Can Capture People's Emotions
tail spinning
24m 1s
Nov 2008
Neuroscience
Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the relationship between the mind and the brain as they discuss recent developments in Neuroscience. In the mid-19th century a doctor had a patient who had suffered a stroke. The patient was unable to speak save for one word. The word was ‘Tan’ whi ... Show More
41m 58s