Author Antonya Nelson is a vivid portraitist of the trials and triumphs of contemporary American women. Her ironically titled "Happy Hour," is the chronicle of a hectic love affair, given a subtle reading by Mia Dillon. Some mild sexual content. There were book clubs long before Oprah, and American master Edith Wharton skewers the self-important society ladies who make up this reading club, and their pompous celebrity guest, in "Xingu." The delicious reading is by multiple Emmy-winner Christina Pickles, who also had a word with us backstage at Wharton's Massachusetts home, The Mount.
Warning: this section gets gorey. We'll start off with fatality, trauma, and bear attack. Neurologists Robert Sapolsky and Antonio Damasio weigh in on 19th century philosopher William James, and his theory of emotion (and of bears), which says “emotion is a slave to physiology.” Then we'll look at sensations of feeling that hang on long after the physiology goes away. Radio Lab takes a field trip to the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (a collection of medical oddities), and finds a photograph of the severed feet of Civil War soldiers (pictured, on the right.). Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C., CP 1043. And then we'll speed back into the present-day to see brain doctor V.S. Ramachandran solve the case of a painful phantom limb. Pain relief by but mere smoke and mirrors.
In this episode of the Brain Science Podcast we explore the recent research that has established, contrary to long-standing dogma, that our brains our able to change throughout our lives, based on our experience. The reference for this episode is Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley. This book describes the 2004 meeting between the Dalai Llama and several leading neuroscientists. To learn more about these meetings go to the Mind and Life Institute website. All the studies that I mention in the podcast are referenced in the back of the book.
1-15-07 In this episode, we talk to Philip Tirman, M.D. about his new book, The Wine and Food Lover's Diet. Tirman, a sports doctor, turned his attention to nutrition when he was fighting his own battle to lose weight. He's written a diet that he says will appeal to foodies- and allows you to have a glass of wine with dinner. Our Worst-Case Scenario this week helps you deal with that nightmare customer, and finally we talk to Mario Garza about the Stuff on my Cat phenomenon.
Perhaps the hard problem will disappear. I consider how the discovery of neurotransmitters has changed our understanding of the role of emotions in consciousness. We now know that neurotransmitters provide two-way signaling between our brains and the rest of our bodies, producing our experiences of emotions and feelings. Though there is still a tendency to regard logic as superior to emotion, researchers like Antonio Damasio are showing that emotions play an essential part in decision making and other aspects of intelligence.
Few women in the history of music have inspired as much controversy as Yoko Ono. Some say she broke up The Beatles. Others say she saved John Lennon. Joining us is Larry Kane, the journalist whose latest book is "Lennon Revealed," and Allan Kozinn, New York Times classical music critic and Beatles authority.
An anonymous reader writes, "Last month the New Yorker ran the article 'Manifold Destiny', by Sylvia Nasar, author of 'A Beautiful Mind.' Now a renowned Harvard mathematics professor, Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, is claiming the article defamed him. His attorney wrote the New Yorker a letter (PDF) threatening that Yau will have 'no choice but to consider other options' if Nasar, her co-author, and the New Yorker fail to undo the damage done."
How does the brain produce a thought? Or experience a unitary, whole, synchronized perception of a cup of coffee? For neuroscientists, this is the Mount Everest of questions. We have a look at one possible theory (that a thought is like lots of little neurons singing together in harmony) and then visit neurologist Christof Koch to ask: who conducts the brain chorus? Koch thinks he knows, and he tells us of the cutting edge work of one of science’' great thinkers, Francis Crick...an inquiry which lasted until his dying day.
EVENT SUMMARY: In 2001, Congress enacted legislation to phase-out the estate tax by 2010. The repeal is effective for only one year, however. The estate tax—referred to by some as the "death tax"—affects the wealthiest 2 percent of the population and represents a progressive source of federal revenue and a key incentive for charitable giving. Prior to 2001, the movement to repeal the tax was a primary focus of reform debates, but its elimination seemed highly unlikely. How, then, did the legislation suddenly sail through Congress? And how did so many Americans become opposed to a tax that would never affect them? At this Brookings briefing, Yale professors Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro will discuss the history of the estate tax and analyze the reform movement through the philosophical arguments that framed it and the interests that drove it. They are the authors of a new book, Death by a Thousand Cuts (Princeton University Press, 2005), that is based on extensive interviews conducted with the relevant policymakers and political players. Following their presentation, a panel will discuss their findings and offer insights into the broader implications of the tax reform debate.
Sylvia Nasar's A beautiful mind (Simon and Schuster, 1998) explores some of these questions, and at its best provides considerable enlightenment. Its greatest success is a discussion of Nash's "illness": the treatments he had to endure, the support of his friends, his ambivalence to his return to "rationality". Nasar went to considerable lengths to find out what happened to Nash during this period; her discussion is sensitive and thought-provoking. Her style is reportorial rather than analytical, but she raises many significant issues. Nasar also does a good job of exposing both the Econometric Society's handling of Nash's nomination to be a Fellow, and the machinations behind the award of his Nobel prize. If I interpret footnote 101 in Chapter 48 correctly, the credit for unmasking the Nobel committee is due to a reporter for a Swedish newspaper, but Nasar conducted many additional interviews and learned a lot more about what happened.
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