Neuroscience on the wireless

Last Thursday's episode of the Radio 4 programme In Our Time featured a very interesting discussion about recent developments in neuroscience research. Presenter Melvynn Bragg was joined by psychologist Martin Conway of Leeds University, cognitive neuroscientist Gemma Calvert of the University of Warwick and philosopher David Papineau of Imperial College, who talked about the concept of the grandmother cell, new findings which show that the brain makes decisions before we are consciously aware of them, and the relationship between mind and brain. (Download MP3, 20Mb; thanks Ross!)

The most recent episode of Radio 3's Music Matters was a special edition of the programme in which Tom Service talks to scientists and musicians who are involved in research about how music is processed in the brain. Among those featured in the programme are Ian Cross, the director of the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge, Stefan Koelsch, a psychologist at Sussex University who researches the links between music and emotion, and neurologist and Musicophilia author Oliver Sacks. (Download MP3, 41Mb.)

More like this

In Thursday's episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme  In Our Time, presenter Melvyn Bragg was joined by Vivian Nutton, Jonathan Sawday and Marina Wallace (professors of the history of medicine, English and art, respectively) for a fascinating discussion about the history of the brain. The 45-minute…
Imagine listening to a piece of music, and perceiving a rattle of pots and pans instead of the harmony of the combined component sounds; or developing an insatiable desire to play the piano after being struck by lightning; or to be able to reproduce a complex piece of music after hearing only…
Welcome to the 26th edition of Encephalon, the neuroscience blogging carnival. Encephalon #1 was posted almost exactly a year ago at my WordPress blog, so this edition marks the carnival's first anniversary. First, let me draw your attention to two new neuroscience blogs. Both authors are…
To continue the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science theme, I present the text of a recent open letter I signed to the AAAS concerning their new journal Science Advances. Thanks to Jonathan Tennant for spearheading this effort. You can read more about the rationale behind…

The Music Matters podcast is not available to listeners outside of the UK. I'd very much like to listen, as some of my own research deals with the influence of music on emotion. Is there another source from which I could obtain an mp3 of the podcast?

I thought the MP3s could be downloaded from anywhere. I can't find them anywhere else I'm afraid.