Episode 34 of Books and Ideas is an interview with Bruce M Hood, author ofSuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable.Dr. Hood is a developmental psychologist with a long-standing interest in why people believe weird things. In SuperSense he argues that innate cognitive structures (how we think without being taught) give people a natural tendency toward belief in the supernatural. Our intuitive sense of how the world works is often at odds with the findings of modern science.
In this interview we discuss the evidence for these conclusions and their implications.
Episode 65 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jaak Panksepp, PhD, author ofAffective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. Dr. Panksepp has done pioneering work on the neural origins of emotions. In this interview we discuss how his work challenges some of the common assumptions about emotions and some of the important implications of his discoveries. New listeners may want to go back and listen to Episode 11 for an introduction to the neuroscience of emotion.
Natalie Morris, wife of Tee Morris, fiction writer and author of Podcasting For Dummies died unexpectedly yesterday. Tee has a seven year-old daughter.
Tee is one the people who helped me get started in podcasting. I know I can’t do anything to lesson the pain he feels, but thanks to Scott Sigler I can contribute to a fund to help with the financial burden.
This episode is more personal than most because I share some of the story of my rescued German Shepherd Jake, and of course, Kyla talks about rescuing a Boston Terrier named Bill (pictured above) led her to start a publishing company.
Episode 32 of Books and Ideas is an interview with Sheril Kirshenbaum, co-author (with Chris Mooney) of Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future. The focus of our interview was on why it is increasingly important that scientists become skilled at communicating what we do to political leaders and to our fellow citizens. Our future depend on solving complex problems (such as global warning and energy issues), which will require accurate scientific knowledge. Unscientific America provides a fresh look at the on-going problem of scientific illiteracy while offering practical suggestions about how we can re-incorporate science into mainstream culture. It calls on scientists of all ages to embrace the role of citizen-scientist.
The Science & Entertainment Exchange: a program of the National Academy of Sciences that provides entertainment industry professionals with access to top scientists and engineers to help bring the reality of cutting-edge science to creative and engaging storylines.
Last week I announced the new iPhone (and iPod Touch) application for the Brain Science Podcast. This week we are launching a similar application for the Books and Ideas podcast. It features access to all episodes the episodes going back to December 2006, episode transcripts, and direct links to this website, my email and our new voice mail line at (206) 984-0358.
The new Brain Science Podcast application is now available in the iTunes Store. You will need an iPhone or an iPod Touch to use the application but it does offer several useful features:
Listen to any episode without downloading it via iTunes*
Read episode trancripts right on your iPhone or Touch
One click links to the website, email, and the new phone-in line at 206-984-0358.
Background play*
*Note: Streaming audio works best with a WiFi connection.
Episode 34 of Books and Ideas is an interview with Bruce M Hood, author of SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable.Dr. Hood is a developmental psychologist with a long-standing interest in why people believe weird things. In SuperSense he argues that innate cognitive structures (how we think without being taught) give people a natural tendency toward belief in the supernatural. Our intuitive sense of how the world works is often at odds with the findings of modern science.
Listen to Episode 34 of Books and Ideas
Listen to Episode 65
Episode 64 of the Brain Science Podcast is our 
