Braincast

Free will

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The ship of free will is sinking – at least some influential brain researchers say so. Braincast 13 examines backgrounds and backdoors of one of the most controversial topics between our ears.

MP3 File Duration 17:01

This is just great: Woody Allan about his psychotherapy.

NEWS

SHOWNOTES

It´s a pity to talk over this song: Alexander Blu and Concert. Very nice in beat and music as well is Coming Clean by Milo Firewater. We end with Trauma on the Dancefloor by Briareus – on a nearly optimistic note.

First posted 08/30/08

Best before

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For decades they told us our brains were doomed, its cells vanish and we would become more dense every day. This is not invariably the case. That and more good news in a Braincast about the date of expiry.

MP3 File Duration: 16:00

As promised you´ll find those interesting rat brain robots here.

NEWS

SHOWNOTES

We start nice and smooth with another great song from Deep Sea Dust: Lazy finger, continue with a little Jazz and Hyperion by Deerfoot and finish – for the higher note and to pacify those Jazz-Rock-haters among you – with the great piano of Jon Schmidt and All of me.

First posted 22/08/08

Basics: Structures

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Limbic system, amygdala or neocortex – what does that actually mean? In Braincast 11 we are talking structure and layout of the brain. It might be a little dry. But it is imporatant.

MP3 File Duration: 16:12

The link of the week goes to a great series of lectures ofColumbia University.

NEWS

SHOWNOTES

This episdode´s soundtrack starts with Christophe Goze and Breathing – beautiful as always. The second, rather quite title is David by Gary. Last, an easy listenig piece: Just Gone by Electrix.

First posted 08/08/08

Development

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The 10th episode – a small anniversary with a closer look on the development of toddlers. It shows that TV is not that good, love is essential and experience is everything. And that even kids five months old wonder about grammatical mistakes.

MP3 File Duration: 18:25

NEWS

SHOWNOTES

We begin with ericP and Waves In The Moonlight, continue quite funky with So Long from Katzengold change the style completly with Electrix and When Pluto plays PingPong, and finish with another style-U-turn via piano and Jon Schmidt`s All of Me.

First posted 7/25/8

Love

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Real feelings at Braincast: vital, neurological and hormonal insights about infatuation, love and being dumped. Featuring voles and fidelity, homosexuality and hypothalamus, orgasms in scanners and bad news for men.

MP3 File Duration: 19:22

NEWS

SHOWNOTES

First song is Traveler Alive from Chance´s End, second the promising Some Day I Will from Christophe Goze. The hidden track is Paul Borth with Paul in Love.

First posted 7/12/8

Basics: Braincells

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This Braincast looks deep into the structure of our brain: what do brain cells look like, how do they operate, how do they communicate and – just a tiny start – how do meaning and decission emerge from that?

MP3 File

Here the link to the wonderful animation The Inner Life of the Cell.

SHOWNOTES

We start with 3pm´s and DreamWonders, second is Gary and Downtempo1 and the grande finale is performed by Chance´s End and Production to Perfection.

First posted 6/28/8

The Phantom Body

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Are we our body? Or does it just carry us through the world? Braincast 7 is about this internal relationship of brain, body and mind. This is much more complex than it feels like, and has some strange side-effects, e.g. an orgasm in a foot.

MP3 File

As promised the great TED-Talk with Jill Bolte Taylor talking about her stroke.

SHOWNOTES

We start with the beautiful David Emeny and Black Dust and end with CRS Official and Vanish.

First posted 6/21/8

Reward System

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Man is driven by emotions. So the reward system promises heavenly joy once we reach our goal. This makes it rather a motivational system – and it´s one of the best ideas of evolution.

MP3 File

Come and visit the Bionic Body Shop – the future´s so bright – I gotta wear shades ...

SHOWNOTES

Christophe Goze and People Smiling kick of this episode and DigiTube close it with Storm Brewin.

Reposted from 6/07/08

A short History of Brain Science

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The brain once was a cooling system and a soul organ. It consisted of cavities and gear wheels. Today we know better for we screen even the tiniest structures. Here a brief (historical) summary of models and methods.

MP3 File

This is - as soon as Google has finished – the video with Dr. Helmut Wicht, rewarded lecturer at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität of Frankfurt, and me, dissecting a brain. So this is what it really looks like. It´s not translated yet, but ... isn´t a picture worth a thousand words ...

SHOWNOTESOur look into the history of neuroscience starts on the piano with Rob Costlow and Reflections, becomes more technical with Project M and Love´s labour and finishes very easy with the Cool Rhythm of Brian Butler.

Reposted from 5/30/08

Intelligence

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One of the most important application of the brain is intelligence. In this episode we talk about definitions, benchmark data and background, about where and what for.

Carl Zimmer interviews legendary neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga on bloggingheads.tv – very interesting.

SHOWNOTES

We start with a wonderful piece of ambient: Katie Turner and Slow. Completely different, but wonderful as well: Eve from Jr. To avoid becoming to slow, next a rather untypical song from Dreamweaver, called The Rhythm / Club Mix. We finish quitly and beautiful with Katzengold and Strandgut.

Reposted from 5/24/08