Dr. Amy Williams is a NASA geobiologist and astrobiologist searching for one of the biggest answers in human history — are we alone in the universe?As part of the Curiosity and Perseverance rover teams, Amy helped uncover the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars — long-chain alkanes up to 12 carbons long, potentially fragments of ancient fatty acids, the same molecular building blocks that make up living cells on Earth.Her work on NASA’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument and upcoming Mars Sample Return mission could soon bring those ancient Martian molecules back to Earth — offering humanity its first real chance to detect extraterrestrial life.Expect to learn how scientists distinguish living from non-living chemistry on other planets, what these discoveries mean for the origin of life on Earth, why Mars may once have been a twin of our planet, how life might survive deep underground today, and how finding life beyond Earth could transform our understanding of who we are.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:20 Exploring Life on Mars: Recent Discoveries05:18 Understanding Organic Carbon: A Clue to Life?08:20 The Significance of Long-Chain Alkanes11:12 Potential Biosignatures: Evidence from Perseverance14:06 Dating Potential Life: Challenges and Methods17:28 Mars Sample Return: The Future of Martian Exploration20:20 Panspermia vs. Independent Life: The Debate23:14 The Quest for Life: Optimism and Evidence26:13 The Importance of Earth: Stewardship and Survival33:48 The Challenges of Human Mars Exploration38:12 Funding and Research in Space Science39:49 The Search for Life on Mars45:11 Implications of Discovering Life Beyond Earth56:11 Future of Space Exploration and Responsible Research...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Dr Kent Kiehl is a neuroscientist and clinical psychologist whose groundbreaking work has transformed how we understand psychopathy, morality, and the criminal mind.He’s the man who put an MRI scanner inside a truck and drove it into prisons across America — scanning over 5,000 inmates to uncover what makes a psychopath’s brain different. His discoveries reveal what happens when empathy, fear, and conscience fail to activate, and how these neural differences shape crime, punishment, and free will itself.Expect to learn how psychopathy develops in the brain, why psychopaths can understand right from wrong but don’t feel it, what brain areas govern impulse control and empathy, how neuroscience is being used to predict reoffending, and what treatments are showing promise — from cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness to emerging ideas like psychedelic-assisted therapy and neuromodulation.We also explore the ethics of brain-based sentencing, whether “evil” is a medical condition, how early interventions could prevent psychopathy before it forms, and what Kent’s research means for the future of law, morality, and the human condition.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro — Meet the Psychopath Whisperer04:35 What It’s Like to Sit Across from a Killer09:20 How Psychopathy Is Measured (The PCL-R Explained)14:15 Inside the Criminal Mind: Empathy, Fear & Free Will19:40 Building a Mobile MRI Lab to Study 5,000 Inmates25:30 What Brain Scans Reveal About Conscience and Control31:25 Predicting Crime: The Neuroscience of Recidivism37:50 Brain Circuits of Morality and the “Oh Damn” Signal44:10 Can Psychopaths Change? Punishment vs Treatment50:55 The Prison Programs That Actually Work57:30 Mendota: The Model That Cut Youth Homicides to Zero01:03:45 Neuroplasticity, Mindfulness & the Science of Change01:10:05 tDCS, Psychedelics & Future Prison Therapies01:16:40 Trauma, Brain Injury & The Two Types of Psychopaths01:23:25 Ethics of Neuroscience Behind Bars01:29:55 Retribution vs Rehabilitation: Rethinking Justice01:36:50 AI, Brain Data & The Future of Neurolaw01:43:30 Can Neuroscience Rewrite the Legal System?01:50:20 Dream Study: Scanning Death Row01:56:30 What Psychopathy Teaches Us About Being Human01:59:15 Outro...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Jonny Miller is the creator of Nervous System Mastery, a transformative training program that teaches thousands of people how to regulate stress, unlock emotional resilience, and reconnect with their bodies. He’s also the host of The Inner Frontier podcast and a TEDx speaker whose work bridges neuroscience, trauma, and the physiology of calm.
Emotions aren’t what you think they are — they don’t live in your “mind,” but in the dynamic language of your body. Jonny’s journey from burnout and grief to embodied mastery reveals that the key to peace, creativity, and connection lies not in suppressing emotion, but in learning to listen to it.
Expect to learn why emotions are predictions from the body, not reactions from the brain, how interoception and the vagus nerve shape your inner world, what really causes anxiety and how to retrain your nervous system to feel safe again, why emotional suppression creates “debt” in the body, the hidden physiology of flow states, how blood flow and micro-constriction may encode our sense of control, why co-regulation with others is the most powerful stress medicine, how to build real resilience instead of numbness — and much more…
Timestamps:
03:00 Mastering the Nervous System
05:53 The Impact of a Chaotic Nervous System
08:51 Agency and Nervous System Regulation
11:33 Personal Journey and Life Events
14:48 Grief and Emotional Mastery
17:45 Introspection and Self-Regulation
20:44 Emotional Fluidity and Processing
23:48 Navigating Rejection and Fear
26:41 The Role of Relationships in Regulation
37:47 Understanding Loneliness and Connection
39:09 Nervous System Mastery Practices
42:03 The Relational Dojo: Practicing Connection
42:51 Descriptive Experience Sampling: Inner Awareness
44:27 Interoception and Self-Understanding
47:04 Emotions, Sensations, and Decision Making
48:58 Flow States and Central Nervous System Optimization
54:47 The Body's Predictive Processing
59:08 Connection Between Body and Mind
01:04:19 Meditation Practices and Overcoming Box-Ticking
01:09:34 Exploring Meditative Practices
01:10:34 The Role of Psychedelics in Personal Growth
01:12:36 Therapeutic Benefits of MDMA and Ketamine
01:15:01 Navigating Risks and Benefits of Psychedelics
01:17:49 Psychedelics and Personal Pathways
01:20:15 The Intersection of Psychedelics and Meaning
01:23:28 Legislating Psychedelics: A New Approach
01:26:39 The Future of Psychedelics and AI
01:29:15 Exciting Frontiers in Neuroscience and Parenting
...
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Get Professional High Quality Talk Therapy at BetterHelp. 10% off your first month of therapy with this link - https://betterhelp.com/giantsshoulder (Paid Partnership by BetterHelp)Terrence Deacon is a neuro-anthropologist at UC Berkeley and author of The Symbolic Species and Incomplete Nature, two landmark works exploring how life and mind emerge from the physical world.Deacon’s work connects thermodynamics, evolution, and neuroscience to tackle one of science’s biggest questions — how matter can give rise to purpose, meaning, and consciousness. From the physics of snowflakes to the biology of living cells to the mystery of human thought, he shows how energy flow and self-organization can create the building blocks of life and mind.Expect to learn why the brain is not a computer, how information becomes meaning, what it takes for life to maintain order in a universe that tends toward chaos, the difference between homeodynamic, morphodynamic, and teleodynamic processes, how the first cells may have formed, why “absence” can have causal power, why AI systems don’t yet have true “aboutness,” and how understanding these principles could reshape how we think about life, consciousness, and artificial intelligence.Timestamps00:00 Intro & The Origins of Brains02:35 How Many Times Did the Brain Evolve?07:10 Could Life Have Evolved with Different Chemistry?11:40 Before DNA: The Mystery of LUCA17:20 How One Genetic Code Took Over the Planet23:45 Proto-Life and the First Self-Making Systems30:15 Why Evolution “Falls Up”: Creativity Through Redundancy38:10 From Thermodynamics to Life: The Physics of Purpose45:50 Snowflakes Remember the Sky: How Order Emerges from Chaos52:40 Homeodynamic, Morphodynamic, and Teleodynamic Life59:20 When Chemistry Starts to Care: The Birth of Normativity01:05:30 From Matter to Mind: The First Steps of Sentience01:13:00 Why Movement Creates Mind01:20:45 Language, Symbols, and the Explosion of Human Consciousness01:28:20 Can AI Ever Be Truly Sentient?01:36:00 Why the Brain Is Not a Computer01:42:30 Meaning, Mind, and the Future of Consciousness...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )[Brain.FM](http://brain.fm/): Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)[Consensus.AI](http://consensus.ai/): https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants ShoulderSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Dr. William B. Miller Jr. is a physician, evolutionary biologist, and author of The Microcosm Within, Bioverse, and The Sentient Cell — books redefining how we understand life, evolution, and consciousness itself.He believes every cell is intelligent — sensing, deciding, and creating information from within. His groundbreaking theory of Cognition-Based Evolution reframes evolution not as a blind process of random mutations, but as a self-organizing, information-driven system guided by cellular minds.Expect to learn why cells—not genes—are the true engines of evolution, how microbes shaped the origins of consciousness, why cancer is a breakdown of cellular cooperation, how bioelectric communication could unlock regeneration, what makes Michael Levin’s living “Xenobots” so revolutionary, why AI can’t be conscious without boundaries or self-made information, and how this new understanding of life may reveal genuine purpose in the universe.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:20 Exploring Life's Biggest Questions
04:55 The Consciousness of Cells
07:39 Understanding Consciousness and Doubt
10:30 Cells and Their Preferences
13:21 The Self-Generated Nature of Information
16:11 The Continuum of Consciousness
19:13 Collaboration and Competition Among Cells
22:01 Cancer: A Disease of the Self
24:58 Understanding Cancer Through Niche Construction
27:39 Therapeutic Avenues in Cancer Research
30:23 The Role of the Brain in Consciousness
33:20 Conscious Cells and Space Exploration
36:05 The Implications of Sending Life into Space
47:35 Understanding Consciousness and Its Boundaries
52:28 Cells as Problem Solving Entities
55:27 The Variance of Human Experience
59:14 The Senome and Sensory Capacity
01:05:13 Cognition-Based Evolution Explained
01:10:45 The Role of Cognition in Evolution
01:16:31 Cognition Before Cells: A Debate
01:19:11 AI and Consciousness: A Distinction
01:26:19 The Future of Consciousness and AI
...
Buy His Great Books
The Sentient Cell: The Cellular Foundations of Consciousness: https://amzn.to/431VoQf
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Gualtiero Piccinini is a philosopher and consciousness researcher whose work is reshaping how we understand our own inner lives.Using descriptive experience sampling — a method pioneered by Dr. Russell Hurlburt — he has uncovered startling truths about the mind. A random beep interrupts your day (or even your sleep), forcing you to capture what was happening in your awareness just moments before. The results reveal that our intuitions about our own inner voice, imagery, and thoughts are often wrong.Expect to learn why many people never inner speak at all, why we don’t have a single “stream of consciousness” but multiple spotlights of awareness, how sleep may contain surprising fragments of consciousness outside of dreams, why your memory of your own experience is far less reliable than you think, how aphantasia challenges our understanding of mental imagery, why inner speech and thought are not the same thing, and how careful first-person science could unlock the mystery of consciousness itself.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:20 Exploring Consciousness During Sleep06:10 The Nature of Thoughts in Sleep09:15 Descriptive Experience Sampling Methodology12:22 Consciousness Beyond Dreams15:13 The Spectrum of Consciousness18:12 Awareness and Thought Patterns21:19 Creative Insights from Sleep24:12 The Complexity of Inner Experience26:52 Multiple Streams of Consciousness34:06 Understanding Short-Term Memory and Consciousness36:12 The Distributed Nature of Consciousness39:53 Inner Speech vs. Unsymbolized Thoughts43:02 Defining Inner Speech and Thinking49:10 Aphantasia and Inner Experience52:46 Object Recognition and Mental Imagery62:01 The Future of Inner Experience Research01:04:45 The Evolution of Psychological Science01:06:20 Exploring Aphantasia and Visualization01:09:57 Cognitive Differences and Aphantasia01:14:01 Development of Inner Experience01:22:09 Future Directions in Inner Experience Research...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Dr. Anna Ciaunica is a philosopher and cognitive scientist, Principal Investigator at the University of Lisbon’s Centre for Philosophy of Science and Research Associate at UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. She leads INTERSELF, a project on how interactions with humans and artificial agents reshape our self-model, and collaborates with Michael Levin on “From Cells to Selves.”
Consciousness isn’t just in your head—**biology is cognition the whole way down**. From co-embodiment in the womb to the immune system’s quiet influence on mood and meaning, Anna reframes mind as a body-wide process and the self as something we enact with our nerves, guts, skin and others.
Expect to learn why the “self” may begin before birth, how co-embodiment and maternal–fetal synchrony shape first-person experience, why “the brain is not mental” reframes cognition as a cell-level, body-wide system, how depersonalisation differs from psychedelic ego dissolution, how interoception and precision weighting tune the felt boundary between “me” and “not-me,” why inflammation and sickness behaviour can alter mood, agency and reality-feel, what a Markov blanket is in human terms, how avatars, robots and social media recalibrate the self, whether single cells display proto-cognition and what neurons uniquely add, how to build a minimum viable self in AI (body, homeostasis, immune-like error correction and development), practical ways to stay embodied in a digital world, what this lens means for therapy (vagus, gut–brain, immune), and much more…
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:50 Cognition and Biological Systems
08:36 The Evolution of Intelligence
15:50 Challenging Traditional Definitions
29:08 The Ingredients of Cognition
39:53 The Balance of Inner and Outer Worlds
51:42 The Development of Self-Awareness
56:57 Sickness Behavior and Disconnection from Self
01:03:17 The Cell's Plan for Survival
01:09:33 The Nature of Self-Organizing Systems
01:16:44 Collective Intelligence and Self-Preservation
01:22:15 Conscious AI: The Quest for Understanding
01:33:53 The Developmental Turn in Understanding Human Mind…
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Check out Sentia Spirits the future of drinking (Use Code GIANT10 for 10% discount off your first purchase: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Adam Safron is a cognitive neuroscientist and former research fellow at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, now a staff scientist with Michael Levin at Tufts’ Allen Discovery Center. He’s the architect of the Integrated World Modeling Theory of consciousness and known for provocative work on rhythmic neural entrainment in trance and orgasm.Psychedelics don’t just make you see things — they loosen high-level assumptions in the brain’s predictive model, opening a window for insight, flexibility, and lasting change. We connect this to the Free Energy Principle, the brain’s inner “movie screen,” and why rhythm, attention, and context can shift who we are and how free we feel.Expect to learn what the Free Energy Principle really means in plain English, how generative models, prediction errors, and precision shape perception and action, why the precuneus/PCC may serve as an inner canvas for conscious scenes, the difference between posterior stream and prefrontal access (continuous experience vs discrete sharing), how psychedelics via 5-HT2A and REBUS/ALBUS relax some priors (and strengthen others), why set and setting and mystical-type experiences predict outcomes, how trips can increase “degrees of freedom” (a practical take on free will), what rhythmic entrainment reveals about flow, meditation, and orgasm, what DMT’s “entities” might say about world-models, how bioelectric intelligence informs consciousness, whether AI needs an inner world and a “body dashboard” to align with human values, simple practices to gain mental room to move this week, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro03:00 Understanding the Free Energy Principle05:54 Application Beyond Biological Systems11:08 Generative Models and Consciousness18:13 The Dark Room Problem23:06 Generative Models in the Brain36:09 The Brain's Generative Models41:46 The Role of Bioelectricity in Unity49:35 Psychedelics and the Free Energy Principle57:07 Psychedelics: Strengthening and Weakening Beliefs01:07:58 Psychedelics and Serotonin Receptors01:11:49 Compassion in Psychedelic Therapy01:13:30 Exploring Consciousness with Psychedelics01:17:28 DMT Experiences and Entities01:24:12 The Nature of Reality and Consciousness...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Philip Ball is one of the world’s most brilliant science writers and the author of over 30 books, including How Life Works, The Book of Minds, and Beyond Weird — a radical rethinking of quantum mechanics that has become a modern classic.A former editor at Nature, Philip has spent decades translating the frontiers of biology, physics, and consciousness into ideas that challenge our deepest intuitions about life, mind, and reality.
Expect to learn how quantum mechanics might shape the behavior of living systems, why genes are not blueprints and biology isn’t a machine, how brain organoids are raising ethical and philosophical dilemmas, what quantum biology really means, why the brain isn’t just a prediction engine, how science misunderstands minds (including alien and artificial ones), what makes consciousness so slippery, and how the stories we tell about science shape what we believe is real — and what we believe is possible.
Timestamps:
03:40 The Prolific Writer: Philip Ball's Journey
06:29 The Art of Science Communication
09:36 The Process of Writing: From Research to Publication 12:33 Exploring Quantum Mechanics: A New Perspective 15:49 Understanding Quantum Features: Superposition and Entanglement
18:31 Quantum Computing: The Role of Observation
21:46 The Nature of Information in Quantum Mechanics 40:38 The Nature of Information in Quantum Particles
42:40 Exploring Quantum Biology
49:36 Quantum Effects in Consciousness
56:18 Defining Minds and Consciousness
01:01:46 Agency and Cognition in Living Beings
01:14:59 Evolution of Cognition and Mindedness
01:17:33 Understanding Agency Across Species
01:20:40 The Concept of Umwelt and Perception
01:25:11 The Future of Biotech and Consciousness
01:31:43 Ethics of Brain Organoids and Consciousness
01:42:23 The Controversy of Genetic Manipulation
01:44:59 The Complexity of Genetic Screening
01:51:59 Navigating Genetic Research and Regulation 02:07:49 The Future of Biology and Genetic Understanding
...
📚 RECOMMENDED READING
How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology: https://amzn.to/4lPLyaG
Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different: https://amzn.to/4lOS3uA
The Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens: https://amzn.to/4oVTMAZ
…
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Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqe
Follow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder
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Jon Perry is a science animator and educator, creator of Stated Clearly — the YouTube channel that turns messy biology into crisp, visual explanations, with more than fifty million views and a devoted audience of curious skeptics.
StatedClearly Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@StatedClearly
Jon’s mission is simple and radical: fix our definitions. When we call cells “intelligent,” or label xenobots “robots,” we smuggle minds into places they don’t belong. From a slime-mold maze rebuilt with LEGO and gravity to de-extinction hype and NASA’s search for life, Jon shows how precise language changes the experiments we run, the technologies we build, and the stories we tell about nature.
Jon's original slime mold video: https://youtu.be/2Thytf95wGU?si=_K1YDwL8TbrF4YQ8
Expect to learn why slime-mold “maze solving” might not be evidence of cognition, how simple physics can mimic problem-solving, the crucial difference between adaptation, learning, and intelligence, why some definitions would make tap water look smart, how to test for learning without minds, what xenobots really are (and aren’t), why “de-extinction” is mostly marketing, how NASA’s definition of life misled search strategies, how operational definitions steer funding and ethics, and how getting the words right can reboot entire fields of biology.
...
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:30 Michael Levin Slime Mold Debate
05:20 Intelligence vs. Instinct
08:20 The Role of Language in Science
11:12 Rethinking Intelligence as a Spectrum
14:05 Xenobots and Anthrobots: A New Frontier
17:25 Defining Life: The Challenge of Boundaries
20:10 Observational Science vs. Hypothesis Testing
39:59 Exploring Bioelectricity and Cell Behavior
43:49 The Impact of Michael Levin's Research
48:34 Understanding Gene Expression in Cells
55:51 The Emergence of Adaptive Behaviors in Cells
01:03:17 Ethical Considerations in Synthetic Life
01:03:48 The Controversy of De-Extinction and Colossal Biosciences
01:10:16 The Science of De-Extinction
01:13:03 Genetic Editing and Its Implications
01:18:58 The Marketing of De-Extinction
01:24:55 The Reality of Recreating Extinct Species
01:30:39 Future of Genetic Research and Funding
01:35:48 Funding Science: Challenges and Opportunities
01:45:27 The Future of Gene Editing and Ethical Considerations
...
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Follow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
David Papineau is a philosopher of mind at King’s College London and author of Thinking About Consciousness and The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience, a leading voice who has shaped today’s mind–brain debate from the academy to the airwaves.He argues that consciousness isn’t something mystical added to the brain—it’s what the brain is doing—and that the “hard problem” is a conceptual trap that sneaks in dualism. In this episode, we put materialism on trial, stress-test it with neuroscience, and ask what it means for meaning, morality, animals, and AI.Expect to learn the strongest arguments for why consciousness is not fundamental, how causal closure and mental causation actually work, why the hard problem may be a mirage, what Mary really learns when she sees red, how zombies mislead us, what aphantasia and inner speech reveal about the diversity of inner experience, where the boundary of consciousness might lie across animals, plants, bacteria—and even organs, whether AI could ever “care” and what architecture it would need, how perception might be qualitative beyond representation, what split-brain, blindsight, anesthesia and psychedelics teach us about the self, what evidence would falsify materialism, how to reconcile meaning and ethics without magic, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:03:30 The Causal Closure Argument for Materialism00:06:29 Challenging the Channeling Metaphor of Consciousness00:09:16 Exploring the Hard Problem of Consciousness00:12:20 Arguments for Consciousness Being Fundamental00:15:18 The Knowledge Argument and Mary’s Experience00:17:50 Introspection and the Nature of Consciousness00:20:46 The Sociological Context of Consciousness Research00:23:31 Defining Consciousness: The Need for Clarity00:46:24 Exploring Theories of Consciousness00:47:42 Methodological Approaches to Consciousness Research00:50:27 Defining Consciousness: The Importance of Clarity00:55:16 Empirical Research on Consciousness00:59:50 Challenges in Consciousness Research01:02:11 Consciousness Across Different Organisms01:06:22 Consciousness vs. Intelligence: A Comparative Analysis01:10:44 The Nature of Consciousness: A Spectrum or a Cutoff?01:14:44 Integrating Experience: Consciousness in Bacteria and Beyond01:19:37 Phenomenal Consciousness: A Vague Concept?01:22:57 Heuristic Responses vs. Conscious Subjectivity01:28:35 Illusionism vs. Materialism in Consciousness01:34:31 AI and Consciousness: The Future of Machines01:49:53 Moral Considerations in AI and Animal Welfare...Buy David's Books (They're Great!)Thinking about Consciousness: https://amzn.to/4mw9ujZPhilosophical Devices: Proofs, Probabilities, Possibilities, and Sets: https://amzn.to/4mr3o44The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience: https://amzn.to/3KcsjLu...Supports the Channel Through these Links!Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Get 10% off your Genetics Test and screen for over 2000+ conditions (Use Code EVAN10): https://nucleusgenomics.sjv.io/LKE9Ea
Dr. Robert Plomin is one of the world’s leading behavioural geneticists and the author of Blueprint, a game-changing book that argues your DNA isn’t just important — it’s the blueprint of who you are.
Plomin’s groundbreaking twin studies revealed that nearly every psychological trait — from intelligence and personality to mental illness and addiction — is significantly heritable. Now, he’s at the forefront of a new revolution: polygenic scores that can predict your future from birth… or even before.
Expect to learn how polygenic scores are reshaping psychology and medicine, what your genome can reveal about your intelligence, mental health, and personality, why traditional ideas about nurture are collapsing, the shocking truth about educational inequality, how gene editing and embryo selection are becoming real-world tools, what role companies like Orchid play in designing future generations, why Elon Musk might be building babies in Gattaca labs, and whether free will can survive in a world where your genes know you better than you know yourself.
...
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
3:00 Introduction to Nucleus Genomics and Genetic Testing
9:06 In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Screening
14:52 The Role of Polygenic Scores in Decision Making
20:47 Screening for Monogenic Disorders
26:49 The Transition from SNP Chips to Whole Genome Sequencing
33:37 The Evolution of Genetic Testing
39:50 Navigating Parental Choices in IVF
45:55 Probabilistic Nature of Genetic Traits
53:54 The Future of Genetic Predictions
1:02:17 Capitalism and Ethical Dilemmas in Gene Editing
1:07:25 Gene Editing: Possibilities and Concerns
1:14:05 CRISPR Babies and Ethical Boundaries
1:22:26 Recreational Drugs and Genetic Insights
1:30:49 Neurodivergence and Genetic Selection
1:36:16 Exploring the Low End of Polygenic Scores
1:41:39 AI's Role in Genetics
1:48:30 Understanding Genetic Risks and Carrier Genes
1:54:32 The Intersection of Genetics and Athleticism
2:04:59 Genetic Diversity and Predictive Power
2:14:50 Understanding Non-Shared Environment
2:22:37 The Impact of Randomness in Life
2:34:40 Concluding Thoughts on Genetics and Environment
...
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Dr. Ryota Kanai is a neuroscientist, AI entrepreneur, and CEO of Araya—lead investigator in Japan’s Moonshot to free humans from the limits of body and brain by 2050. He’s a pioneer of non-invasive brain–machine interfaces, the Internet of Brains, and architectures aimed at conscious AI, and he’s the author of Will AI Become Conscious?.Consciousness, he argues, isn’t magic—it’s the brain’s internal simulation engine. Kanai is turning that insight into technology: thought-controlled cybernetic avatars, emotion-aware robots that sense and respond to our feelings, and mind-to-mind links that could transform how we communicate, learn, and work.Expect to learn why the brain is a prediction machine and what that means for building conscious AI, how non-invasive BMIs already decode intent and where the big breakthroughs must come from, what the Internet of Brains actually enables beyond faster chat, whether “skill upload” is science or sci-fi, why cybernetic avatars might change jobs before they change bodies, how emotion robots read human states (and how not to be fooled by them), the simplest way to grasp the global workspace and free-energy ideas, how to test for machine consciousness without a Turing Test, what neurorights and “neural firewalls” should protect, the cultural differences shaping neurotech in Japan vs. the West, the milestones to 2030/2050, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro03:05 The Moonshot Goal: Liberating Humanity06:00 Understanding Brain-Machine Interfaces09:00 The Future of Thought Decoding12:01 Envisioning 2050: A Technological Landscape14:55 Connecting Brains to AI: Implications and Possibilities17:52 The Ethics of Neural Technology20:38 Adoption and Acceptance of Neural Implants23:46 Medical Applications vs. Augmentation26:46 The Future of Memory Augmentation29:54 Exploring Personality Modification32:45 Long-term Safety and Efficacy of Neural Implants35:38 General Purpose Neural Implants38:28 The Quest for Consciousness in Neural Technology47:47 Decoding Multimodal Information49:36 The Concept of the Internet of Brains51:50 Exploring Brain-to-Brain Communication54:18 Philosophical Implications of Consciousness55:21 Navigating Intrusive Thoughts in Communication56:42 Consumer Applications of Brain-Computer Interfaces58:30 Entertainment and Gaming in Brain-Computer Interfaces01:02:22 Potential of Non-Invasive EEG Devices01:04:18 Conscious AI: The Future of Machine Awareness01:10:05 Integrating Consciousness Research into AI01:18:09 Mathematical Definitions of Consciousness01:22:07 The Geometry of Experience and Consciousness01:27:51 Exciting Future Technologies in Brain-Computer Interfaces...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Professor Adam Zeman is a Neurologist at the University of Exeter and the scientist who coined the term aphantasia — the “blind mind’s eye” — after a patient suddenly lost the ability to visualize following heart surgery.Since then, he has led the global investigation into why some minds picture nothing while others see in IMAX 8K, uncovering what this hidden spectrum of imagination reveals about memory, dreams, emotion, creativity, and even consciousness itself. He is also the author of Consciousness: A User’s Guide, A Portrait of the Brain, and The Shape of Things Unseen.Expect to learn why up to 5% of people can’t form mental images, how hyperphantasia floods the mind with cinema-like detail, why imagination is our brain’s “default mode,” how differences in the mind’s eye shape autobiographical memory and emotional vividness, why aphantasics still dream in pictures, what hallucinations and delusions reveal about the creative brain, how imagination connects to empathy and storytelling, the cultural impact of naming aphantasia, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:25 The Birth of Aphantasia05:32 The Journey to Recognition10:08 Understanding Aphantasia's Prevalence12:44 The Implications of Labeling14:33 The Complexity of Imagery18:10 Variability in Inner Experience22:31 Acquired vs. Congenital Aphantasia29:54 Neural Mechanisms of Aphantasia30:44 Spectrum of Aphantasia33:02 Exploring the Genetic Basis of Aphantasia37:31 Developmental Insights into Aphantasia42:13 The Complexity of Mental Imagery49:10 The Co-evolution of Perception and Imagery52:16 Potential Benefits of Aphantasia57:29 The Trainability of Visualization Skills01:02:48 The Nature of Memory and Imagination01:06:07 Aphantasia and Autobiographical Memory01:08:48 Emotional Memory and Aphantasia01:12:42 Aphantasia in Therapy and Education01:18:05 Aphantasia and Consciousness01:23:39 Future Directions in Aphantasia Research...📚 RECOMMENDED READINGThe Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination …Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Alex Hutchinson is a physicist, elite endurance athlete, and author of Endure — one of the most widely respected books on the science of human performance ever written.Fatigue isn’t a failure of the body — it’s a protective illusion cast by the brain. And Alex has spent the last decade exposing the hidden limits that shape our endurance, our suffering, and our potential.Expect to learn why the brain — not the muscles — is the true governor of performance, how pain, thirst, heat, and oxygen deprivation are all perceptions, how world-record freedivers trick their brains into ignoring suffocation, why some athletes can lift cars in moments of hysterical strength, how the brain decides when you’re “done,” how brain zapping may change the future of sport, why elite performers can override mental fatigue, what separates champions from mortals, and why exploration might be the final expression of the endurance instinct.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro02:25 The Fascination with Endurance Feats 05:15 Faith Kipyegon's Four-Minute Mile Attempt 08:21 The Role of Pacers and Aerodynamics 11:19 Nike's Innovations in Performance 14:26 Mental Strategies in Endurance Racing 17:09 Personal Stories of Overcoming Limits 30:00 The Unheard of Improvement in Running 31:26 The Role of Perception in Performance 33:12 Breaking Mental Barriers in Running 35:30 The Pressure of Expectations in Competition 38:32 The Champion Mentality: Rising to the Occasion 40:13 The Inner Game of Tennis and Performance Psychology 44:11 The Mystique of Race Day Energy 52:58 Understanding the Central Governor Theory 56:35 The Controversy of Fatigue Perception 01:03:31 Reframing Feelings for Better Performance 01:05:00 Understanding Fatigue Through Predictive Frameworks 01:10:26 The Role of Wearables in Running Performance 01:18:29 Diane Van Deren: Running Without Time Constraints 01:26:10 The Impact of Inner Monologue on Endurance Performance 01:34:01 Exploring the Spectrum of Visualization 01:36:41 Understanding the Central Governor Theory 01:41:18 The Concept of Brain Training in Endurance 01:51:26 Ethics and the Future of Enhanced Sports ...📚 RECOMMENDED READINGEndure: Mind Body & Curiously Elastic: https://amzn.to/47dMLFeThe Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map: https://amzn.to/4mMHaur…Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Thomas Metzinger is a professor of theoretical philosophy, consciousness researcher, and author of The Ego Tunnel, Being No One and The Elephant and the Blind — some of the most radical books on the nature of the self and reality ever written.Download a FREE copy of The Elephant And The Blind HERE: https://thomasmetzinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Metzinger_MIT_Press_2024-1.pdfHe’s spent decades exploring the hardest questions in neuroscience and philosophy: What is consciousness? Is the self an illusion? Could AI ever suffer? And what happens when our models of reality — including ourselves — break down?Expect to learn why your “self” is just a transparent model your brain mistakes for reality, how out-of-body experiences (and virtual reality) reveal the fragility of personal identity, why conscious AI might be the greatest ethical threat of the next century, how meditation and psychedelics dissolve the illusion of “I”, why freedom of mind is under attack from attention-hacking technology, what it means to have a contentless conscious experience, why Metzinger believes we should ban synthetic consciousness — and what happens when you try to visit your girlfriend 85 kilometers away… without your body.Timestamps:00:02:50 Transformative Experiences and Their Impact00:05:38 Exploring Out-of-Body Experiences00:08:57 The Nature of the Self00:11:43 Phenomenology of Consciousness00:14:38 The Role of Mental Imagery00:17:35 Ketamine and Consciousness00:20:30 Therapeutic Aspects of Out-of-Body Experiences00:23:24 Understanding the Self and Consciousness00:26:38 The Complexity of Selfhood00:29:27 Phenomenal Representations and Their Transparency00:32:21 Cognitive Agency and Mathematical Operations00:45:46 Mathematics and Psychoactive Substances00:49:15 Exploring Inner Experience and Phenomenology00:52:05 Suffering and Experience Sampling00:58:25 The Eternal Playlist Thought Experiment01:03:21 Reflections on Past Generations and Happiness01:10:32 The Impact of Social Media on Connection01:17:56 AI Companionship and Future Relationships01:18:48 Cognitive Offloading and AI's Impact on Development01:20:10 Teaching AI Philosophy: A Historical Perspective01:21:34 The Influence of Industry on AI Regulation01:22:57 The Attention Economy and Emerging Intimacy01:23:28 Philosophical Discoveries Through AI Interactions01:25:18 Social Hallucinations and AI's Role in Perception01:28:55 Virtual Reality and the Blurring of Reality01:31:08 The Future of Social Media and AI Avatars01:33:34 Global Regulation Challenges in AI Development01:35:55 The Risks of AI and Human Manipulation01:39:15 The Uncertain Future of Humanity and AI01:41:15 Finding Meaning in a Declining World...📚 RECOMMENDED READINGThe Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self: https://amzn.to/3UEcS0ABeing No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity: https://amzn.to/41i7X9k…Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Steven Kotler is a peak performance expert, flow state researcher, and New York Times bestselling author of The Rise of Superman, Stealing Fire, and The Art of Impossible — books that have transformed how we understand human potential.
Flow isn’t just a feeling — it’s a measurable, trainable state of consciousness that radically enhances performance, learning, and even our sense of self. In fact, it may be one of the most addictive — and transformative — states the brain can enter.
Expect to learn what flow actually is at a neurobiological level, how it boosts learning by up to 500%, why the U.S. Department of Defense is studying it, how it warps our perception of time and self, why flow could help unlock the mystery of consciousness itself, how to use clear goals and challenge-skills balance to trigger flow, why this state is addictive in all the right ways, how Kotler writes books in flow, why the future may be built on cooperative group flow, how to measure and train flow in your own life — and much more…
Timestamps:
03:10 Defining Flow: A Complex Concept
06:05 The Characteristics of Flow
09:10 Flow and Its Addictive Nature
11:58 Neurodynamics of Flow and Consciousness
15:10 Complexity Science and Flow
17:46 The Free Energy Principle and Flow
21:06 Flow vs. Trauma: Decision Making in Critical Moments
27:28 The Dynamics of Flow in Action Sports
30:15 Understanding Flow as a Spectrum
34:30 Neurobiology of Flow States
40:34 Operationalizing Flow in Research
50:03 Flow Triggers and Their Impact
57:41 The Flow State Experience
58:35 Creativity and Productivity in Flow
01:00:24 The Energy Dynamics of Flow
01:02:41 The Flow Cycle and Recovery
01:04:39 Optimizing Flow for Cognitive Work
01:05:56 Physical Activity and Flow
01:08:48 Evolutionary Perspectives on Flow
01:11:27 Flow and Pain: The Endorphin Connection
01:15:13 Future Research Directions in Flow
01:22:41 Technology, Flow, and Group Cooperation
...
📚 RECOMMENDED READING
The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer: https://amzn.to/4g2wXYt
The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance: https://amzn.to/418UrVt
Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work: https://amzn.to/47Cf00q
…
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Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)
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Mark Solms is a neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, and author of The Hidden Spring, one of the most influential books on consciousness in recent years.He revolutionised sleep science by proving that dreaming isn’t confined to REM sleep, and he founded the field of neuropsychoanalysis — bridging Freud with modern neuroscience. Today, his radical claim is that consciousness begins not with thoughts in the cortex, but with feelings deep in the ancient brainstem.Expect to learn why dreams are inseparable from consciousness, what dreaming reveals about the brain’s hidden functions, why feelings are the fundamental form of awareness, how cortical blindness can vanish in dreams, why consciousness is not optional but essential for survival, how the brainstem generates our inner life, whether AI could ever truly be conscious, and why the first computers that “give a damn” may be closer than you think…Timestamps:00:00 – Trailer & Introduction02:15 – Why Dreams and Consciousness Are Intertwined05:10 – The Mystery of Dream Narratives08:02 – Why Blind People Still See in Their Dreams11:15 – Do Dreams Protect Our Sleep?14:00 – Why Feelings Are the Core of Consciousness17:22 – Consciousness as a Survival Necessity20:05 – The Cortex Myth: Why Thinking Isn’t Enough23:11 – Brainstem Circuits That Generate Awareness26:20 – Are Animals With Brainstems Conscious?29:40 – Could Artificial Intelligence Become Conscious?33:05 – Building Computers That “Give a Damn”36:45 – How Dream Science Rewrites Freud’s Legacy40:12 – What Dreams Reveal About Mental Health44:00 – Why Psychoanalysis Still Matters in Neuroscience47:33 – The Hidden Spring: A Blueprint for Consciousness52:18 – Consciousness Without a Cortex: What It Means for Patients56:04 – What the Science of Dreams Gets Wrong59:42 – From Dopamine to Desire: The Chemistry of Dreaming1:04:20 – Can We Ever Explain the Strange Logic of Dreams?1:08:35 – Why Consciousness Will Always Be About Feeling1:12:48 – How Solms Thinks About AI and Mental Health1:17:15 – Consciousness, Free Will, and the Human Condition1:21:09 – What People Misunderstand About Freud Today1:25:44 – Where Consciousness Research Is Heading Next1:29:58 – Final Thoughts & Why Dreams Still Matter...📚 RECOMMENDED READINGThe Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness: https://amzn.to/41bH1Ii…Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Dr. Merlin Monzel is a neuroscientist and one of the world’s foremost researchers on aphantasia — the condition where individuals live without the ability to visualize mental images.
For decades, millions of people didn’t know they were missing anything — until science caught up. Dr. Monzel’s groundbreaking work is revealing what happens when the mind’s eye goes dark, and how it changes memory, emotion, identity, imagination, trauma, and even consciousness itself.
Expect to learn what mental imagery is really for, why people with aphantasia can still dream vividly, how missing imagery affects autobiographical memory and emotional recall, why traditional therapy might fail aphantasic patients, how aphantasia might protect against PTSD, how memory becomes a script instead of a scene, what brain scans reveal about connectivity between the hippocampus and visual cortex, whether imagination can be trained or restored, and why studying aphantasia may offer deep insights into the nature of consciousness — and what makes us feel like a self at all.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:45 The Function of Mental Imagery
06:29 Discovering Aphantasia
08:53 Awareness and Miscommunication
14:32 The Role of Education in Aphantasia
17:15 Dreaming and Aphantasia
22:08 Memory and Aphantasia
29:15 Emotional Content in Memories
34:00 Extreme Sports and Aphantasia
36:10 Neuroanatomy of Aphantasia
43:26 Spatial Memory vs. Object Memory
45:39 Exploring Non-Visual Solutions for Aphantasia
47:14 Developmental Aspects of Aphantasia
49:53 Emotional Processing in Aphantasia
52:08 Aphantasia and Mental Health
54:47 Involuntary Mental Imagery and Focus
59:18 Understanding Hyperphantasia
63:00 Objective Measures of Mental Imagery
01:09:06 Unanswered Questions in Aphantasia Research 01:16:06 Future Research Directions and Ethical Considerations...
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Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)
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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
Dr. Nicole Rust is an emotion neuroscientist and author of Elusive Cures, a bold new book exploring why neuroscience still hasn’t solved brain disorders — and how we can change that.
Despite decades of research and billions of dollars spent, conditions like depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia remain without true cures. Rust argues that part of the problem is how we think about the brain — not as a simple domino chain of causes and effects, but as a self-looping, complex system more like a hurricane. Fixing it isn’t about finding a single “broken piece,” but about helping the brain relearn its way back to health.
Expect to learn why our traditional models of mental illness are flawed, how feedback loops in the brain make treatment harder, why emotions aren’t localized to one brain region, the staggering advances that now let scientists record from a million neurons at once, how psychedelics may unlock childhood-like plasticity, why pairing them with therapy is key, how AI is transforming neuroscience, the future of mental health research, and much more…
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
03:20 – Can We Actually Cure Brain Disorders?
06:05 – The Precision Medicine Problem in Epilepsy
08:35 – Migraines: A Modern Success Story
10:20 – Are All Brain Disorders Even Curable?
12:15 – Why We Can’t Eliminate Negative Emotions
13:40 – Alzheimer’s vs. Psychiatric Disorders: Why One is Easier to Target
15:30 – The Domino Theory of the Brain — and Why It’s Wrong
18:10 – Feedback Loops: How the Brain Defies Simple Fixes
21:05 – Antidepressants, Complexity, and the Butterfly Effect
24:00 – Why Psychiatry Hasn’t Found Biological Fingerprints Yet
26:55 – Studying Mood: From Brain Circuits to Gut Bacteria
30:10 – The Gut–Brain Connection in Emotional States
33:02 – Redefining ‘Cause’ in Neuroscience
36:14 – How Psychedelics Affect the Brain (and Why Research is Hard)
39:45 – The Cultural and Regulatory Barriers to Psychedelic Studies
43:30 – Are We Studying Psychedelics at the Right Speed?46:18 – Why Mental Health Isn’t Just a Brain Problem
49:12 – The Role of Environment in Brain Disorders
52:05 – Could Psychedelics Transform Mental Health?
56:28 – Neuroplasticity: The Brain’s Built-In Adaptation System
1:00:15 – Why Cures Might Not Be Universal
1:03:42 – The Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis
1:06:50 – Spectrums vs. Phase Transitions in Depression
1:11:14 – Rethinking How We Define ‘Normal’ Mood
1:14:22 – How Definitions Shape Mental Health Treatment
1:18:35 – The Brain–Body Conversation We’re Not Having Enough
1:22:14 – Quantum Mechanics, Continuums, and Consciousness
1:25:33 – Why Theories of Mind Matter for Cures
1:28:56 – What Science Still Doesn’t Know About Mental Health
1:33:44 – The Next Big Breakthroughs We Should Be Chasing
1:37:02 – Final Thoughts & Where Mental Health Science Goes Next
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Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)
Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084
Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )
Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqe
Follow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249
