Birth of a Parent

When a baby is born, a parent is born too. But what if that’s more than a metaphor? Birth of a Parent explores the emerging science of how parenthood transforms the human mind. Host Michael Feigelson speaks with leading scientists, writers, and thinkers to investigate whether becoming a parent is one of life’s most profound – and least understood – developmental stages.

By following the podcast, you support our message and never miss an episode.

Production by Studio Becq, sound design and mixing by Felix Richel, theme by Daniel Galili. This podcast is part of the Early Childhood Matters platform by the Van Leer Foundation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 2 - The Mom Brain Revolution (with Susana Carmona) Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

For centuries, scientists studied what pregnancy does to the body. Almost nobody studied what it does to the brain. Neuroscientist Susana Carmona helped change that, uncovering evidence that motherhood reshapes the human brain in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.

Shownotes:

Susana's book A Mother’s Brain brings together the latest research on how pregnancy and motherhood reshape the brain, body and identity.
Susana leads the NeuroMaternal Lab in Madrid, where much of the research discussed in this episode is conducted.
Browse Susana's scientific publications on pregnancy, the maternal brain and parental neuroplasticity.
One of the world's largest biomedical databases, the UK Biobank, was used in studies showing that pregnancy leaves measurable, long-term signatures in the brain.
Several of Susana's findings relate to changes in the brain's Default Mode Network, a network involved in self-reflection, memory and understanding other people.
The London Taxi Driver Study is the classic neuroscience study showing that the adult brain changes in response to experience.
This podcast is part of the Early Childhood Matters platform by the Van Leer Foundation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 1 - A Human Metamorphosis (with Oren Harman) Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Three quarters of animal species undergo metamorphosis. Why are we so sure humans don't? Historian of science Oren Harman takes us from butterflies to starfish in search of an answer, and toward a surprising way of thinking about what happens when a baby turns someone into a parent.

Shownotes:

Much of the conversation draws on Oren Harman's exploration of metamorphosis across the natural world in his book Metamorphosis: A Natural and Human History.
Long before founding psychoanalysis, a young Sigmund Freud spent weeks dissecting hundreds of eels in an unsuccessful search for their reproductive organs at the Zoological Station in Trieste.
Oren reflects on Ludwig Wittgenstein's famous proposition: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent," from Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
This podcast is part of the Early Childhood Matters platform by the Van Leer Foundation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trailer - Birth of a Parent Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

When a baby is born, a parent is born too. But what if that's more than a metaphor? Birth of a Parent explores the emerging science of how parenthood transforms the human mind. Host Michael Feigelson speaks with leading scientists, writers, and thinkers to investigate whether becoming a parent is one of life's most profound – and least understood – developmental stages.

By following the podcast, you support our message and never miss an episode.

The first episodes will be available from 22 July. Follow the podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.