logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
32m 25s

Focus - When Our Senses Intermingle

The Bertarelli Foundation
About this episode

How can some people taste sounds? What’s happening in the brain of those who feel other’s sensations as their own? And why might we have evolved some of these extraordinary abilities in the first place?  

In this focus episode of How We’re Wired, join producer Dr Eva Higginbotham as she explores the science of synaesthesia – from a massage therapist who can ‘feel’ other people’s pain, to the neuroscience of ‘tasting’ words.  

With special thanks CC Hart, James Wannerton, Michael Banissy, and Jamie Ward.      

How We’re Wired is a Fresh Air Production for The Bertarelli Foundation. Follow now so you never miss an episode.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Nov 2023
When We Ask You A Question
What do you want to know about the brain? What mysteries of human behaviour do you want to understand? And what incredible awards has How We're Wired won in the 13th Annual Lovies? In this special episode, Dr Anna Machin shares some good news, and asks a quick favour... Send ques ... Show More
2m 15s
Jul 2023
Finale - How Are We Wired?
How do our brains get wired up in the womb? Why is it important that nerve cells find the correct partners to form connections? And how has our understanding of this vital process changed over the last 40 years? In this special episode, join evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Ma ... Show More
35m 41s
Jul 2023
Introducing... Ocean Matters
How We're Wired season 1's final episode will be with you next week, but in the meantime, why not check out our sister podcast Ocean Matters? Our ocean is the earth's defining feature. But the blue of our blue planet is so much more than just a colour. It is rich with life and pl ... Show More
4m 36s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 12
Unpacking the Brain’s Role in Inventing Your Perception
Human brains don’t just perceive reality—they invent it. In this episode of Science Quickly, cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Yon speaks with host Rachel Feltman about how perception is an active process of prediction in which the brain constructs theories about the world that can ... Show More
15m 37s
Jul 11
Why Do We Sing? Musicologists and Neuroscientists Seek an Answer
Last year Science Quickly looked across disciplines to piece apart the science of singing. To understand why humans sing, musicologists collaborated on an international study of folk music. To understand how we sing, neuroscientists differentiated how our brain processes speech a ... Show More
24m 49s
Jul 11
Why Do We Sing? Musicologists and Neuroscientists Seek an Answer
Last year Science Quickly looked across disciplines to piece apart the science of singing. To understand why humans sing, musicologists collaborated on an international study of folk music. To understand how we sing, neuroscientists differentiated how our brain processes speech a ... Show More
24m 49s
Sep 17
Talk Tracks Ep. 18: Transcendental Meditation and Consciousness
In this episode of Talk Tracks, neuroscientist and global leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement Dr. Tony Nader turns the question of consciousness upside down. Trained at Harvard and MIT, Dr. Nader once studied the brain as the source of awareness—until his research le ... Show More
37m 22s
Aug 24
Christopher Kemp, "Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation" (Norton, 2022)
Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a jour ... Show More
50m 51s
Mar 2025
Talk Tracks Ep 5: Consciousness Beyond The Body: When a Coma Projects a Ghost
In this riveting episode of The Talk Tracks, we explore two astonishing stories that challenge our understanding of consciousness and the limits of the human mind. First, we meet Elodie, who recounts her near-death experience at 18—a moment that profoundly altered her perception ... Show More
39m 26s
Sep 26
The Dead Composer Whose ‘Brain’ Still Makes Music
In a hauntingly innovative exhibit, brain cells grown from the late composer Alvin Lucier’s blood generate sound. Set in a museum in Perth, Australia, the installation blurs the line between art and neuroscience. Host Rachel Feltman and associate editor Allison Parshall explore t ... Show More
25m 25s
Aug 18
How Our Brains Learn
Have you ever fallen asleep in school or during a work meeting? Maybe you felt your eyes glaze over as your boss or a teacher droned on and on about a topic that had no relevance to you. What's missing from these classrooms and conference rooms is engagement: A state of being abs ... Show More
1h 22m
Apr 2025
From the Internet’s Beginnings to Our Understanding of Consciousness, This Editor Has Seen It All
Senior mind and brain editor Gary Stix has covered the breadth of science and technology over the past 35 years at Scientific American. He joins host Rachel Feltman to take us through the rise of the Internet and the acceleration of advancement in neuroscience that he’s covered t ... Show More
20m 15s
Sep 9
Top Neuroscientist's New Research on After Death Communication: Dr. Tara Swart’s Exploration of Consciousness, Intuition & Extra-Sensory Abilities
Can You REALLY Talk to the Dead? MIT Neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart Says Yes—And Brings the Science to Prove It What happens when one of the world’s leading MIT neuroscientists, Dr. Tara Swart (Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan and author of THE SIGNS: The New Science of How to Trust Y ... Show More
1h 41m