309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information
Consciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and see what lights up when conscious awareness is taking place. A complete understanding of this would...
24 Mar 20251h 20min
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking
We often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are different from our own. Today's guest, psychologist/philosopher Alison Gopnik, argues that we needn't look ...
17 Mar 20251h 9min
AMA | March 2025
Welcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patre...
10 Mar 20252h 58min
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails
A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it...
3 Mar 20251h 16min
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans
It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and ...
24 Feb 20251h 12min
305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychology
Political outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-informed, entirely rational, and perfectly self-interested. Alas, real human beings are messy, emotiona...
17 Feb 20251h 17min
Bonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matter
The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed sweeping cuts to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institu...
12 Feb 20251h 10min
304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Science
It is a feature of many human activities - sports, cooking, music, interpersonal relations - that being able to do them well doesn't necessarily mean you can accurately describe how to do them well. S...
10 Feb 20251h 16min
