Matrescence and the brain
Scientists who study the mind and brain have always been drawn to periods of intense change—to those life stages marked by rapid transformation. Infancy is one of those periods, of course. Adolescence...
26 Juli 20231h 18min
From the archive: Bat signals
We're still on summer break, but we wanted to share a favorite interview from our archives. Enjoy! ---- We've got something special for you today folks: bats. That's right: bats. Ever since Thomas Na...
12 Juli 20231h 19min
From the archive: The eye's mind
We're taking a little summer break right now, but we wanted to share a favorite essay from our archives. Enjoy! --- Welcome back folks! Today, we've got an audio essay for you. I won't say too too muc...
28 Juni 202313min
The octopus and the android
Have you heard of Octopolis? It's a site off the coast of Australia where octopuses come together. It's been described as a kind of underwater "settlement" or "city." Now, smart as octopuses are, they...
14 Juni 20231h 25min
Revisiting the dawn of human cognition
There's a common story about the human past that goes something like this. For a few hundred thousand years during the Stone Age we were kind of limping along as a species, in a bit of a cognitive rut...
1 Juni 202356min
Medieval monks on memory, meditation, and mind-wandering
You know the feeling. You're trying to read or write or think through a project, maybe even just respond to an email, when your attention starts to drift. You may not even notice it until you've alrea...
17 Maj 20231h 2min
Species of conversation
We humans are social animals—and that takes work. As we move through the world, we have to navigate around other people's desires, needs, and beliefs. Much of this work happens in conversation—through...
3 Maj 20232h 1min
Minding plants
Let's start with a little riddle: What kind of organism has no eyes, no mouth, and no brain, but—arguably—has a mind? Most of the work on non-human minds has, naturally, focused on animals—apes, dogs...
19 Apr 20231h 13min
