WaterCooler Neuroscience

Latest Episodes:

BTAB S1, EP24 – Tea’s effect on the brain Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

Tea is an almost universal drink across the world with tea trading having shaped huge portions of history. This episode won't be that grand but the hosts are going to break down a recent study that investigated how heavy tea drinkers have their brain networks altered in both the structure and function over the course of decades of drinking. Wilf and Jordana talk about what you can expect from drinking tea and when claims just need to be left alone

BTAB S1, EP23 – How do our brains handle emotional music? Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

Music doesn't always have to be emotional, music can just be a boring collection of notes and yet that is very rare. Even the beginning melody of a sound can bring about an enormous range of emotions for people, depending on the context, social situations and culture. This episode brings you a discussion of how different music was used to colour the perceptions and moods of participants watching a short video. The hosts unpack what we can tell about how we understand music both with brain data and without, and we also discuss how some brain imaging findings can be very deceptive.

Think Fast S2, EP36 – Baby bats babble with Dr Ahana Aurora Fernandez Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

You may not expect the babbling of baby bats to be a topic for a neuroscience podcast but this week we are talking about how social calls in bats go through clear developmental stages without bats ever teaching one another. Bats learn calls, both for hunting, crying out and social calls not through being taught like humans are but by just copying others around them. Our guest Dr Ahana Aurora Fernandez has spent years in the jungles of Panama learning how bats of both genders learn the male bat mating call but then only males use it once they get to maturity. What is behind this mystery? To find out more tune in or check out our website www.watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk

BTAB S1, EP22 – Why do quails prefer their left eye? Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

Everyone knows that humans have two hemispheres and there are famous cases of brains being split and conditions like Alien Hand Syndrome developing which bring forth arguments about if we have two or more personalities in our heads. Birds also have two hemispheres but their hemispheres are less connected than mammals and this leads to unusual differences in information processing. Quails are particularly special in having their hemispheres be more separate in a neurological sense before they mature and after maturity have better hemisphere communication. This means quails can prefer certain eyes, and by extension certain hemispheres, for processing information. Wilf and Jordana attempt to unpack this very confusing line of research

Think Fast S2, EP35 – The brain’s story tracker with Dr Brendan Cohn Sheehy Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

Our brains tell stories about everything, from how we got to work to how we have spent the last decade of our life. In this episode, we are talking about how our brains and more specifically the hippocampus tracks the way that characters in stories move from scene to scene. Brendan walks us through his research and also how we can understand the pattern of activity we see for the main character versus the many different patterns of activity that we find for the side characters in the background. To find out more tune in or check out our website www.watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk

BTAB S1, EP21 – Why do we cry? Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

Crying is a normal human function seen in people all across the world but there is quite a bit of difference in how and when people cry depending on their physiological, psychology, culture and gender. In this episode, we unpack the psychology and neuroscience behind crying to see what the research says about crying, and what is just 'common knowledge'

Channel update from our host Wilf Nelson Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

A channel update for October 2021 by Wilf Nelson

WC.FM Break Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

Hi, Wilf Nelson has just completed his thesis and is taking a short break to complete his PhD. We will be returning with new episodes in October and if you want to let us know if any topics are particularly interesting or important than check out the website at www.watercoolerneuroscience.co.uk and message us there.

Think Fast Academia and Industry, EP9 – Your future boss (maybe) part 2 with Bimal Lakhani Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

This episode brings the conclusion of Wilf's interview with Dr Bimal Lakhani. Wilf and Bimal focus in this part of the interview on how corporate culture can clash with the scientific method, and how common that can be. They also talk about what the difference is in key skills when working for a university and when working for a company. It boils down to one key concept, soft skills. Find out why in a company lab having well developed soft skills is the key to working well, and it isn't just to play politics.

Think Fast Academia and Industry, EP8 – Your future boss (maybe) part 1 with Bimal Lakhani Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

For the next part of September's releases in the Academia and Industry series, we are talking with Dr Bimal Lakhani. A postdoctoral researcher who was trained in universities but moved to work in a corporate lab. He talks about his experience of moving from the labs he trained into labs that focus on product development and how he views himself compared to the other scientists who are now employed full time by university labs. Bimal is also a senior scientist and is as high up as it gets without being a chief or board member. That means Bimal is the equivalent of your future boss for any scientist looking to make the jump. Wilf, gently, grills Bimal on what it is like to run a corporate lab and how his staff work differently in that environment compared to their PhDs.

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