logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2023
35m 41s

Finale - How Are We Wired?

The Bertarelli Foundation
About this episode

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 Machin and producer Dr Eva Higginbotham as they uncover how our brains get wired up with Brain Prize 2023 winner Professor Christine Holt. Plus, hear them reflect on some of their favourite moments - and key takeaways - from the show.

With special thanks to Christine Holt.

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
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
Jul 2023
Focus - When We're Unconscious
What does it mean to be in a coma? How can we tell if someone on life support is actually conscious? And how can scientists use synchronised heart rhythms to predict which comatose patients are likely to wake up? In this focus episode of How We’re Wired, join producer Dr Eva Higg ... Show More
23m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2025
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 2025
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
Oct 31
Jane G. Goldberg, "Wired for Why: How We Think, Feel, and Make Meaning" (2025)
WIRED FOR WHY: How We Think, Feel and Make Meaning. (Self-Published 2025) spans eighteen chapters exploring everything from how we manage to stay alive against all odds, to why language separates us from other species, to whether death might be a metaphor. It's a journey through ... Show More
1h 3m
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
Oct 9
Why Brains Need Friends w/ Dr. Ben Rein
This week, Scott sits down with Dr. Ben Rein, a Stanford neuroscientist and one of today’s most engaging science communicators. Dr. Rein has spent over a decade studying the neuroscience of social interaction, and his new book, Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social ... Show More
1h 3m
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
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
Oct 27
Women's Brain Health: Environment, Hormones, Menopause & Neuronal Pruning with Dr. Sarah McKay
Dr. Sarah McKay, a brilliant neuroscientist, takes us on a thrilling adventure into the intricate dance between hormones and the female brain during menopause. She shares her personal quest to unravel how those mischievous hormonal shifts tweak women's brains from 40 onwards, rev ... Show More
1h 36m
Oct 3
Enter One of the World’s Quietest Rooms
Inside one of the quietest rooms in the world, host Rachel Feltman meets artist-in-residence Seth Cluett at the historic anechoic chamber at Bell Labs to explore the science of silence and sound perception. From popping balloons in total silence to hearing your own nervous system ... Show More
20m 5s
Sep 4
Is curiosity the key to ageing well?
Psychologists have traditionally believed we become less curious as we age, but recent research has shown that curiosity actually becomes more targeted and specific in our later years. To find out why this happens, and how maintaining broad curiosity into older age can help keep ... Show More
16m 6s