WaterCooler Neuroscience

Latest Episodes:

Think Fast S2, EP7 – AI and Romance with Dr Paul Eastwick Part 1 Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

Today's episode is with Dr Paul Eastwick discussing how we can use AI/Machine learning to start to understand the beginning of romantic relationships and why some people start to stay together and others don't. This is a traditionally near-impossible task for humans to figure out, there are thousands of variables that go into two people meeting and forming the relationship they will have and humans are not very good when we have to process lots of variables at once. We get bias, we pick things we want to be important and ignore things we don't like. Machines don't have that problem and machines understand data in very different ways, in this episode we look at how machines process relationship questionnaires and what is really important for why two people hook up. This show is sponsored by NeuroCatch Inc., an objective quick measure of brain health available today. If you would like to know more about NeuroCatch Inc. please go to our website www.watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk.

Think Fast Academia and Industry, EP2 – Where do all the PhDs go with Ryan D’Arcy Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

In this episode our series on Academia and Industry continues with the next part of my interview with Professor Ryan D'Arcy and how people can begin to transition from academic laboratories to industry laboratories. What challenges and what benefits lie ahead? This show is sponsored by NeuroCatch Inc., an objective quick measure of brain health available today. If you would like to know more about NeuroCatch Inc. please go to our website www.watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk.

Think Fast S2, EP6 – How relationships change and end according to a psychologist with Dr Nicole Barbaro Feb 11, 2021

Show notes

This episode concludes my interview with Dr Nicole Barbaro where we discuss how fully formed and ending relationships change in both the anxiety to commit and the anxiety to separate. We also talk about how psychology views relationships and the influences that other scientific fields have given to psychology when we try to study romance. This episode will also continue our discussion of what myths and memes about relationships are true but usually with very small effects that do not mean the different sexes and genders are never going to see eye to eye.

Think Fast S2, EP5 – Psychology meets romance with Dr Nicole Barbaro Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

Nicole Barbaro brings you the modern psychological view of relationships; how do humans bond, where do we stumble and in the end how do we end relationships? You probably know all of these things from your own life but when we are talking about science it has to be replicable, it has to work for the whole population and we normally want it to survive a statistical analysis or two. I cannot promise a flattering view of relationships in this episode, but I can promise the scientific view.

Think Fast Academia and Industry, EP1 – Where do all the PhDs go with Ryan D’Arcy Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

Many PhDs and university researchers will leave their positions after five years to move onto corporate office and laboratory jobs which in academia is known as moving to industry. This episode is the start of a new mini-series coming out fortnightly on Mondays where I break down what the move from academic labs to corporate jobs looks like and where the prizes are greater and what traps lie along the way. Joining me is returning guest Prof Ryan D'Arcy who is both a CSO and Professor bringing his rare perspective on both sides of the debate to see what bridges the two worlds

Think Fast S2, EP4 – Psychiatric care in the US, a brief introduction with Awais Aftab Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

Today's episode is with Dr Awais Aftab who is a practising psychiatrist in the U.S.A. Today he is talking about what someone can expect from the American psychiatric service in its many different forms from the state level to the countrywide federal level. We also talk about how care is approached when treating people with psychiatric disorders that can be treated as part of everyday life and what treatment is like for those with conditions so severe they have to be committed involuntarily for their own safety. This episode does not discuss ways to improve the service or discusses if the current systems are 'correct', the only intention is to talk about what is there right now.

Think Fast S2, EP3 – Parkinsons in your gut with Prof. Per Borghammer Jan 21, 2021

Show notes

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes the loss of movement in people. The dopamine circuits that span the brain begins to deteriorate and a person will become more rigid, lose fine motor control and eventually even aspects of cognitive and emotional processing. Much is being done to treat Parkinson's around the world but today we are studying how to better understand the beginning of the disease. Prof. Borghammer has the amazing title of being a Nuclear Medic and uses radioactive isotopes to measure the metabolism of dopamine not just across the brain but also in our intestines. The intestines have a complex neural structure of their own and research spanning decades is now showing that dopamine degeneration may begin outside of the brain.

Think Fast S3, EP3 – How does sleep affect our emotions, and why it doesn’t always make you grumpy Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

Emotions are a bit of a minefield when you run a science podcast. Emotions are constant for human beings so everyone knows what they are and can talk about their emotions all day but scientists have very precise ways to discuss emotions. This means you end up talking a lot about terms and techniques that seem to just be making an everyday thing needlessly complex. In this episode, we do a bit of myth-busting and talk about what all the terms from emotion and mood through to valence and affect mean. We also talk about how our guest studies emotion data from a sleep deprivation lab and the surprising findings we find what shows how we act and think doesn’t always match how we feel or say we feel.

Think Fast S2, EP2 – Why do children bring the law with Meltem Yucel Jan 14, 2021

Show notes

This episode we are talking about the kinds of moral behaviours that children show as they grow up. Children develop their morals over time and one big question is whether children are moral because they want to be, to uphold altruism and Justice or because they are afraid of being punished and would like to get a reward for getting someone else in trouble. We don't exactly know is the clear question and that is what this episode is going to explore. We are talking with Meltem Yucel about her work on how we can understand if children are or are not moral in the way we would judge adults. There is also some interesting extra content on the 'Theory of Puppets' which was a fun extra I had during recording

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