Shows
BRAINLANDDISCOVERING EISENSTEIN: Part 1 - Life and films.This is the first of two episodes on the life, work and collaborations of Soviet film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein. Ian Christie has researched and written about Eisenstein for more than 40 years. In this wide ranging conversation, we talk about the influence of his troubled childhood, the importance of drawing throughout his life, the international fame that resulted from his second film 'Battleship Potemkin' (made a century ago) and his early theoretical writing on montage. We discuss his 3 year trip abroad, including Hollywood where he became a friend of Chaplin, the profound effect on his thinking and work...
2026-01-211h 00
BRAINLANDAN ARTIFICIAL HISTORY OF NATURAL INTELLIGENCE: Time travelling the mind.In this episode David Bates discusses his recent book An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence: Thinking with machines from Decartes to the digital age', a masterly survey of the history of intelligence and its aids. The book is the summation of 20 years of scholarship, a kind of time travel of the mind, and the range of topics we cherry-pick include the influence of automata on Descartes's thinking and pocket watches on Kant's, Spinoza's 'bloodworms', Peirce's hypothesis as 'emergency thought', Hughling Jackson on the brain as a continuously evolving organ, the origin of the notion of brain plasticity, Wolfgang' Köh...
2026-01-1748 min
BRAINLANDWILLIAM SARGANT AND HIS 'SLEEP ROOM': Shrinks, spooks and medical hubris.In this podcast novelist and journalist Jon Stock discusses his latest book 'The Sleep Room: A very British Medical scandal', is a factual account of psychiatrist William Sargant (1907-88 ) that focusses particularly on Sargant's controversial 20 year 'sleep room' regimen for mental illness that combined continuous narcosis, high dose mixed antidepressants, major tranquillisers and ECT, sometimes extending over several months. We talk about Sargant's early life and the influence of his strict methodist father, who sparked an interest in conversion and, later in brainwashing, a subject that brought him to the attention of intelligence services at the height of the...
2026-01-1459 min
CAPOLAVORO!FEDERICO FELLINI'S DREAMWORKFrank Burke is a leading film scholar with a long interest in Italian director Federico Fellini (1920-1993). Few artists were more obsessed with their dreams than Fellini. In this conversation we talk about his early interest in puppets and circus, and his jobs, before moving into film, as an illustrator and caracaturist. Drawing was always an important part of his preparation for movies but he also kept a graphic, drawn dream diary in the '60s and '70s, at the suggestion of Jungian analyst Ernst Bernhard. We discuss his interest in the work of another analyst, James Hillman...
2026-01-0153 min
BRAINLANDMANHANDLING THE BRAIN: How did damaging the brains of the mentally ill ever seem a good idea?In this festive episode Ken reads 'Manhandling the Brain', his essay on the origins of mid-20th century psychosurgery, an attempt to understand how, for over 20 years, so many people thought it such a good idea to damage the brains of the severely mentally ill and the lessons that can be learned.Participants:Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.ukFull text of the essay with bibliography and references are here, preceded by an essay on the early days of the EEG and more: http...
2025-12-2838 min
BRAINLANDTHE HORROR! The anatomy of fear in film.In this episode film critic/writer Matt Glasby and artist Barney Bodoano discuss their innovative book on horror movies 'The Book of Horror: The anatomy of fear in film'. After talking about their gateway into their horror obsession Matt takes us through his seven 'scare tactics', techniques used by film makers to evoke shock, dread, revulsion etc. including specifically filmic techniques such as 'dead space'. Barney talks about how he chose an evocative image to represent each film and his decision to use charcoal and chalk as his medium. Their book scores each of 37 films on each of the 7...
2025-12-1853 min
BRAINLANDHORROR ON THE BRAIN: The neuroscience behind sci fi and horror.Austin Lim's book 'Horror and the Brain' uses work from the horror and science fiction genres as a way into discussing a neuroscience and a range of related stories. We discuss why on earth so many people inflict the feelings provoked by horror fiction on themselves ans talk about a range of brain structures that play a role in fear, emotion and attachment behaviour (with a diversion into love, oxytocin and prairie voles). We talk about the amygdala, insula and the pathways that include them and the systems triggered by disgust and the uncanny, moving from the real story...
2025-12-1144 min
BRAINLANDDREAM WARRIORS: Exploring the world of the surrealists...In 1924 French poet Andre Breton wrote that ‘Surrealism is based on the belief in the omnipotence of dreams, in the undirected play of thought’. Surrealism grew out of the anarchistic DaDa movement triggered by the carnage of WW and was fueled by Freud's writing on the unconscious. Roland Penrose was a leading surrealist artist and also a key figure in bringing the movement to the UK in the 1930s and setting up the Institute of Contemporary Art. Photographer Lee Miller's work was also often surreal in composition and intention, including her accidental discovery of the 'solarisation' technique whilst working with...
2025-12-0547 min
BRAINLANDDREAMWORKS: Fellini's dream obsession, from graphic diaries to movies.Frank Burke is a leading film scholar with a long interest in Italian director Federico Fellini (1920-1993). Few artists were more obsessed with their dreams than Fellini. In this conversation we talk about his early interest in puppets and circus, and his jobs, before moving into film, as an illustrator and caracaturist. Drawing was always an important part of his preparation for movies but he also kept a graphic, drawn dream diary in the '60s and '70s, at the suggestion of Jungian analyst Ernst Bernhard. We discuss his interest in the work of another analyst, James Hillman...
2025-12-0154 min
BRAINLAND'...PERCHANCE TO DREAM: On the neuroscience of sleep and dreaming...In this wide ranging conversation Mark Solms talks about his seminal research in the '80s on the effect of brain lesions on patient reports of dreaming. After a brief visit to Charcot and Wilbrand in the late 19th century, we discuss the research of Dement and colleagues in the 1950s, when it was discoverd that every 90 minutes or so during sleep our EEG is more like the awake state, with asociated rapid eye movments (REM). We discuss Jouvet's work in the '60s in which the origin of REM sleep was found to be in the brain stem...
2025-11-2759 min
BRAINLANDMUSIC OF THE SPHERES: Exploring the strange power of plainchant.In this podcast we discuss the music called plainchant or plainsong - what it is, how did it arise and what effect does it have? We discuss the modal nature of the music, possible links to earlier Jewish intoning and the importance of resonance in recording. Bernard describes his research project in which subjects record their responses, relating to memory, emotion and transcendence. Three short extracts of the recordings he used are included in the podcast and fuller versions can be accessed through the links below. Some results are included before a diversion into philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch an...
2025-11-1247 min
BRAINLANDNEUROPSYCHIATRY AFTER DARK: Service development as 'social sculpture'?Joseph Beuys was a radical post-war German artist who worked in unusual media and in the 1970s developed the notion of ‘social sculpture’ based on the concept that everything is art and every aspect of life could be approached creatively. For episode 17 this season Hugh Rickards, a younger neuropsychiatric colleague from the English Midlands, read and discussed his essay 'The lost tribes of neuropsychiatry'. At the end of that Hugh asked if he could ask me about my experience of creating a neuropsychiatry service in the ‘80s and ‘early ‘90s, with the help of a lot of colleagues, in a National...
2025-11-0642 min
BRAINLANDDANTE, DOPAMINE AND ME: Neuro-poetic and other explorations into language.In this podcast Kimberly Campanello, a poet, novelist and academic, talks frankly about her early onset Parkinson's disease and how this lead her to pursue her Italian roots in Puglia. On a visit there, to her great grandmother's village, she literally discovered Dante's 'Comedia', which she is currently 'reversioning' - a method that involves processing the original Italian, a range of translations and commentaries, plus her life experience, coloured by her condition. She discussed making creative use of the effects of Parkinson's and the beneficial effects of her writing on her motor function, similar to the benefits of walking...
2025-10-3149 min
BRAINLAND'THE BURDEN': The life and times of the Burden Neurological Institute and Hospital.The Burden Neurological Institute (and Hospital) opened its' doors in 1939 and closed in 2000. In this wide ranging conversation, Jonathan Bird and Ken Barrett, neuropsychiatric alumni, chew the fat about the history of 'The Burden', the research home of Grey Walter who featured in the last Brainland episode. We discuss the unusual origin, Frederick Golla, the first director, the impact of the war, a wide range of characters who worked there and the work they did. A bit niche? Absolutely, but hey, that's Brainland!Participants:Jonathan Bird, Retired Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, Bristol.Ken Barrett...
2025-10-2656 min
BRAINLANDGREY WALTER: Maverick genius of cybernetics and the EEGGrey Walter was an important figure in mid-20th century neurophysiology and cybernetics and this episode brings together professors of history of science and AI to discuss his life and work. We talk about his early personal and academic life, moving on to his work as a pioneer of the clinical applications of the EEG, particularly at the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol. After setting the scene, we discuss his creation of the earliest EEG frequency analyser and brain mapper (the toposcope) before moving onto his influential book 'The Living Brain' and, in Cornelius's phrase, the 'vital abstraction' paradigm...
2025-10-211h 02
BRAINLANDCIRCLING AROUND EXPLICITNESS: Adventures in the 'thatosphere'.In this conversation philospher Raymond Tallis talks about his new book 'Circling Around Explicitness: The heart of human being'. Ray's book opens with a quote from German philosopher Friedrich Schelling ‘Uniquely within us nature opens her eyes and sees that she exists.’ What follows is an exploration of the meaning of 'thatness', his attempt to, in his words, 'eff the uneffed'. Our circling alights on a number of thinkers who he believes oversimplify misrepresent being, how 'the blob and the brain' become 'the bloke' . Donald Hoffman, Phillip K. Dick and Martin Buber get a mention, not all favourable, as does...
2025-10-0736 min
CAPOLAVORO!SEASON ONE TRAILERIntroducing the Capolavoro podcast: 20 movies from 20 different directors, from Luchino Visconti’s influential 1943‘Ossessione’ to Maura Delpero’s brilliant 2024 ‘Vermiglio’. If you want to know more about post-war Italian cinema the Capolavoro podcast is a great place to start.Participants:Russ Kilbourn, Professor of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) http://rjakilbourn.com/Ken Barrett, UK based visual artist, writer, podcaster and short film producer http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/The film and the movie poster we discussed: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064116/Theme musi...
2025-09-1601 min
CAPOLAVORO!ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968)In this extended series finale we talk about 1968 film 'Once Upon a Timer in the West', Sergio Leone's operatic and big budget return to the Spaghetti Western. Russ discusses the script, elements of the story assembled from earlier westerns, the main characters and the cinematography. We discuss the central role of Claudia Cardinale and a problematic scene with Bronson, Fonda's inspired casting against type and Robard's masterly performance. Morrecone's score is centre stage and we discuss his inclusion of a musical theme for each of the main characters ( a practice common in opera) how rehearsals of set pieces were...
2025-09-1650 min
BRAINLANDMONTALE'S CRUCIBLE: The life, loves and poetry of an Italian Nobel Laureate.Earlier this season we recorded an episode on poetry and neuroscience in which Eugen Wassiliwitzki pointed out that in German the grammar produces many more internal rhymes and rhythms. This is perhaps even more true of Italian. The leading Italian poet of the last century is probably Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale. Jonathan Galassi has been reading, researching and translating Montale for decades. In this podcast he talks about Montale's background, influences, politics, religion and love-life. Jonathan reads one of his most famous poems in Italian and in his translation and one of his own from his collection 'North...
2025-09-1634 min
BRAINLANDCHANGING HOW WE CHOOSE: The new science of morality.How can current thinking in psychology and neuroscience, about how we make decisions, inform our understanding of moral questions and make for a better society? That question is central to David Redish's book 'Changing How We Choose'. In this podcast David defines neuroeconomics and explains why applying science and engineering models to moral questions is useful, 'engineering' relating to applying what is learned from science to the real world situations. He talks through 'deliberative', 'procedura'l and 'instinctual' decision making systems, underpinned by different neural structures. He explains two key games that help inform his discipline, the 'prisoner's dilemma' and...
2025-09-1053 min
BRAINLANDCHANGING HOW WE CHOOSE: The new science of morality.How can current thinking in psychology and neuroscience, about how we make decisions, inform our understanding of moral questions and make for a better society? That question is central to David Redish's book 'Changing How We Choose'. In this podcast David defines neuroeconomics and explains why applying science and engineering models to moral questions is useful, 'engineering' relating to applying what is learned from science to the real world situations. He talks through 'deliberative', 'procedura'l and 'instinctual' decision making systems, underpinned by different neural structures. He explains two key games that help inform his discipline, the 'prisoner's dilemma' and...
2025-09-0953 min
CAPOLAVORO!NOSTALGIA (2022)In Mario Martone's 2022 movie, based on Ermanno Rea's 2016 novel, 'nostalgia' is not a bittersweet reflection on the past but an obsessive need to return to the Naples of the main character's youth. We talk about the contrast with 'Gomorah', another movie involving the Camorah discussed earlier in the series, and the excellent award winning performances, particularly Pierfrancesco Favino as Felice and Aurora Quattrocchi who plays his elderly and infirm mother. The effective and unusual (in terms of presentation) use of flashback gets a mention and the central importance of the old district of Sanità where is is shot. We a...
2025-08-3026 min
BRAINLANDOH FOR THE WINGS OF A DOVE: From choirboy to Operatic Maestro.In this specially extended episode of the podcast we speak with Jonathan Dove, one of the most performed contemporary opera/classical composers working today. He talks about his first steps in music, making up tunes on the piano well before taking formal lessons, his organ playing in church, often improvising, and the great contribution of London schools' music provision to his education. Jonathan tells us of his years he worked as an accompanist and arranger, particularly for operas, before focussing on composing in his late '20s. He shares aspects of his composition practice, including creating a mood or...
2025-08-301h 07
BRAINLANDRE-ANIMATING FREUD: Sigmund at the moviesIn this podcast we talk about the way Freud has been depicted in the movies, particularly the 1962 John Houston film 'Freud: The Secret Passion'. Ian discusses Houston's complicated relationship with the star, Montgomery Clift, Sartre's early involvement with the script, the film's 'film noir' feel, Jerry Goldsmith's music, with a detour into avant garde composers work on horror films. Ian characteries the film as a big game movie about the unconscious and we go on to discuss the 2011 David Cronenberg film 'A Dangerous Method' about Freud's rift with Jung, and the struggle of Jung's patient and subsequent lover to...
2025-08-2651 min
BRAINLANDNEUROCINEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Cinema creators in the act of creation.Finnish film director Pia Tikka began studying the psychology and later the neuroscience of film making 25 years ago and is currently studying the experience and process of cinematographers and film editors.she talks about how writings of Soviet film maker and theorist Sergei Eisenstein has been particularly influential, particularly following his later interactions with neuropsychologist Luria, Gestalt psychologists and developmental psychologist Vigotsky. Pia talks about her concept of 'enactive cinema' and describes her current five year project studying cinematographers and film editors using microphenomenological and other methods. We also talk about the importance of narrative and the way stories...
2025-08-2248 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS (1978)In this episode we discuss the 1978 film - ‘L'albero degli zoccoli’, 'The tree of wooden clogs', directed, scripted, shot and edited by Ermano Olmi. We talk about the four stories that make up the film, the way in which Olmi slowly evokes the lives of his protagonists, all local people rather than professional actors ,and the extraordinary performances he gets from them. Russ talk about the links that have been made to this film and the neorealist cinema of the late '40s and early '50s including underlying political messages and ths subtle why these are handled here. We d...
2025-08-2130 min
BRAINLANDWHILE THE MUSIC LASTS: Life, loss and musicology.In this podcast, Emily talks about how she came to write 'While the music lasts', her very personal account of her response to the death of her father, one of the key inspirations for her career choice. Her book documents how for several months after his death she avoided music as it made her angry and how eventually her musicologist training helped her navigate that period. This included an in depth look at the musical Boulanger sisters, the younger of whom died at 24. Emily talks about her father and their relationship and how going through his overloaded music stand...
2025-08-1541 min
BRAINLANDRE-ANIMATING FREUD: The Neuropsychoanalyst can see you now...Mark Solms is a clinical neuropsychologist, neuroscientist and psychoanalyst. In this wide-ranging conversation Marks talks about his career path and the influence of a brain injury in family member when Mark was a child. Mark talks about Freud's pre-psychoanalytic work as a neuroscientist and neurologist and his own ongoing retranslation of Freud's neuroscientific writing. We discuss Mark's discovery of the brain lesions that supress dreams (not those relating to REM sleep) and how this lead to his interest in the affective rather than cognitive nature of consciousness. We discuss the work of Panksepp and Damasio and Mark outlines the...
2025-08-1252 min
CAPOLAVORO!VERMIGLIO (2024)In this episode we discuss the 2024 multi-award winning film 'Vermiglio' written and directed by Maura Delpero, set in Trentino and based on interviews and her own family history. We discuss the casting, of many untrained local children and adults alongside experienced professional actors, the extraordinary colour palate, inspired in part by paintings by nineteenth century artist Giovanni Segantini and the unusual mix of very familiar music (such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons) with a more spare modernist score by Matteo Franceschini. A great contemorary classic worth seeing at the cinema if you can. Participants:Russ...
2025-08-1126 min
BRAINLANDNEUROPSYCHIATRY REVISITED: The lost tribes.In this podcast Hugh Rickards reads his unpublished essay, 'The Lost Tribes of Neuropsychiatry', raising a number of interesting issues relating to neuropsychiatric services in the UK, and their lack. We chew over some of the issues raised including causes for the abandonment of poeple with chronic mental disorders arising directly from brain disease or damage, and whether the still small discipline of neuropsychiatry has facilitated this. Hugh talks about the historic shift away from the brain in psychiatric nurse training and how some centres are revertng to joint RMN/RN courses. Ken talks about the origins of the...
2025-08-0535 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS (1970)In this episode we discuss the penultimate film of Vittorio De Sica, one of the giants of Italian cinema. 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' (1970) is based closely on the 1962 semi-autobiographical novel by Georgio Bassani andtells the story of a group of people, mostly in the Jewish community in Ferrara, as racial laws are introduced in fascist Italy in 1938 and the aftermath in 1940s. We discuss similarlities and differences between the novel and the film, the period cinematography, role of the music by De Sica's son Manuela, the acting and more. Anotehr holocast film but from a very different perspective...
2025-07-3130 min
BRAINLANDYOUR BRAIN ON VISUAL ART: Exploring the world of visual neuroaesthetics.In this conversation we survey the field of contemporary visual neuroaesthetics. After defining terms, Ed talks through a current project by way of illustration before discussing the so-called 'aesthetic triad', dopamine and opioids, prediction models and computational neuroscience. We talk about neuro-investigation including recent techniques for processing an applications of EEG, a much more portable tool than fMRI and other scans.Participants:Ed Vessel, Eugene Surovitz Assistant Professor, Deprtment of Psychology, City College of New York, part of CUNY. https://www.edvessel.comKen Barrett, visual artist, writer and former psychophysiologist.http...
2025-07-2952 min
BRAINLANDTODAY IS ALWAYS YESTERDAY: Contemporary art through the lens of BrazilIn this wide ranging conversation Michael Asbury discusses the history of Brazil and the way contemporary art has interrogated the legacies of colonialism, slavery, treatment of indigenous peoples and management of natural resources, and, more recently, demonisation by right wing political figures. We also take a deep dive into the concept of 'anthropophagia' and the multi media 'Tropicalia' movement. Artists discussed including Meirelis, Oticica, Obá, Bispo do Rosario and the influence of art produced in psychiatric institutions on Brazilian contemporary art. Like Michael's book, a terrific introduction to contemporary art, done the Brazilian way.Participants:
2025-07-0953 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE NIGHT PORTER (1974)After discussing Liliana Cavani's backstory, which included documentaries on the 3rd Reich and women in WW2, we unpick the unusual mix of storylines in 'The Night Porter', an English languarge film that, despite a critical mauling in the US and UK on release, has endured and perhaps increased in stature. After discussing the extraordinary lead performances, the marketing use made of critical accusations of depravity, and much else, Russ talks us through some of the more recent critical thinking on the film. Participants:Russ Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario...
2025-07-0934 min
CAPOLAVORO!OSSESSIONE (1943)In this podcast we talk about Visconti's first feature film, based on the James M. Cain the novel 'The postman always rings twice', though set in the Ferrar region of Italy. Hated and banned by the fascists, the film survives because the director kept a copy, but it had to wait until 1977 for its US release as film rights hadn't been obtained to use the novel. We talk through the acting, great cinematography and visual story telling, Visconti's politics, background and use of operatic music in his films (including this) and the positive critical response to the film. In...
2025-06-2630 min
BRAINLANDEXPANDING MINDSCAPES: A psychedelic world tour.In this wide ranging conversation Erika discusses the evidence for psychedelic use over millennia and world-wide. We talk about her investigation into and opportunity to speak with Humphry Osmond, the British psychiatrists who coined the term 'psychedelic', and introduced Aldous Huxley to mescaline. We roam from Canada to India, West Africa, Cold War Czechoslovakia and Sartre's bad trip before moving on to South America, the CIA and the influence of psychedelics on 60s and 70s music and art, ending with a look to the future. Really fascinating conversation.Participants:Erika Dyck, Professor, Canada Research...
2025-06-2445 min
CAPOLAVORO!LAMERICA (1994)In this podcast we discuss Giani Amelio's neglected 1994 film on Albanian migration to Italy, 'Lamerica', multi award winning at the time and still resonant. The conversation moves from the opening, a fascist propaganda film about Italy colonising Albania in the 1930s, to a discussion of the mass migration that followed the collapse of the repressive communist regime at the end of the 1980s. We talk about the two lead performances, one by an extraordinary first time actor aged 80. We discuss the historical background and various scenes, particularly a rusting freighter loaded with thousands of migrants (Albanian extras) and a...
2025-06-2030 min
BRAINLANDIMPROV! When the process is the product.David Escobebo has been involved in improv theatre for over 25 years, beginning in California and more recently in Chester, UK where he has recenty compelted his PhD thesis on the subject. We talk about the social and educational roots of improv is 1930s Chicago and it's evolution into performance/theatre leading to 'Second City, contrasted with the UK where it was a 'revolutionary act against theatre'. We talk about some of the leaders in the field and their views before David talk about how he arrived at his own 'six principles of improv' (and you heard them here first...
2025-06-181h 03
BRAINLANDPSYCHEDELIC OUTLAWSIn this podcast, Joanna talks about working with and studying the patient support group 'Clusterbusters' for over a decade and their willingness to become 'outlaws' to obtain or grow illegal psilocybin to treat severe 'cluster' headaches too often after appalling treatment by the medical profession. We discuss the sociology and politics of psychedelics, and medical research generally, reflecting on the many forces that act on researchers in supposedly objective science. We also talk about the members of the current US administration who have spoken openly and positively about their use of psychedlics and contrast this with the way drug...
2025-06-1249 min
BRAINLANDNEUROPSYCHIATRY: Second Coming or Unholy Alliance?In the special extended 50th episode of the podcast we bring together four of the leading figures in Neuropsychiatry over the last 40 years for a wide ranging discussion that considers the varying definitions of neuropsychiatry, behavioural neurology and neuropsychology and who needs them. We discuss trailblazers in the field over the last century or so, including Solomon Carter Fuller, an African American neuropathologist and neurologist who spent a year working with Alzheimer. Adolph Meyer, Charcot and Freud (a surprise and controversial appearance) also got a look inbefore a discussion of the pivotal role played by Alwyn Lishman and his book 197...
2025-06-111h 28
CAPOLAVORO!THE GREAT BEAUTY (2013)In this podcast we explore what is generally agreed to be Paolo Sorrentino's masterwork, La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty, 2013). Russ talks about why he decided to write a book about his movies and why he thinks this, and Il Divo, are his stand out works. After outlining the plot, we talk about the cinematography, most striking scenes the religious and seculalr themes in the movie. We discuss Jep, the main character's, at times disparaging treatment of women, and the fact that Sorrentino is not averse to objectifying. The movie is in part a walk around Rome and her...
2025-05-2431 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE ICICLE THIEF (1989)Nichetti's film ( 'Ladri di Saponette' is the Italian title) is both an affectionate homage of 1940s neorealism and a critique of the effects of consumerism, and particularly Berlusconi's media, in 1980s Italy. Russ discusses the social historical background to the making of this film before we talk about Nichetti's background in circus, children's TV and adverts in addition to film directing. The film within the film is repeatedly interupted by TV adverts and cuts to a family watching at home until characters from one medium/story spill into the others. Comic moments are highlighted - definite spoiler alert for...
2025-05-1334 min
BRAINLANDPOETRY AND THE NEUROAESTHETICS OF SURVIVALIn this wide ranging conversation we talk about current views on the subject of 'aesthetics', as covering judgements well outside of the arts (choosing a partner, home etc..) and why studying brain and other physiological responses to individually meaningful poems can be a valuable research tool. We talk about the importance of piloerection responses (goosebumps-shivers) across a wide range of species and the tool Eugen and his colleagues have developed and used to measure this, alongside a range of more traditional measures, some of the studies undertaken, and their results.Participants:Eugen Wassiliwizky, Post-doctoral...
2025-05-1338 min
CAPOLAVORO!CARO DIARIO (1993)In this podcast we talk about Nanni Morreti's 1994 film 'Caro Diario' ('Dear Diary'), in which the director plays himself. Russ explains the three chapter structure, the first following him around Rome on his Vespa, the second a trip around Italian islands with a friend and the last an account of a year in which a chronic itch was eventually diagnosed as a malignancy, a lymphoma (successfully treated as this was over 30 years ago. All of this involves amusing encounters with a variety of friends, strangers and professionals. We talk about Morretti's politics and concerns explored in the film and...
2025-05-1029 min
BRAINLANDWHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE AN ADDICT? A philosopher tells it like it is.If you want to get a clear view of a subject ask a philiosopher who has thought deeply about it. In this podcast, philosopher Owen Flanangan speaks frankly about his experience of addiction to alcohol and tranquillisers, 18 years on, and why he felt compelled to write about his experience and analysis of the problem. We talk about substance use and creativity, identity, social cohesive, marker of major life events and as a way to make life more interesting or tolerable. We talk about AA and NA and why, during his first period of recovery he avoided them, but also...
2025-05-0857 min
BRAINLANDUPSIDE DOWN IN A HOOP: Processing change through writing, dance and circus skillsTricia is a dancer, teacher and the author of two historical novels based around dance and dancers. In this podcast she talks about the experience of dancing solo and in a group and her writing. Her most recent book, and a related performance piece, is a memoir/journal of the final days of her parent that also tracks her regular attendance at a circus school alongside memories of her childhood and youth. We discuss her route into dance and the seminal influence of time spent learning contemporary in Amsterdam in the 1970s. She tell us about 'The Green Table...
2025-05-0142 min
CAPOLAVORO!GOMORRAH (2008)In this episode we discuss Matteo Garrone's 2008 adaptation of journalist Roberto Saviano 2006 book about the Naples mafia (Camorra). Russ talks about the way the book is adapted, dipping into the many activities of the Camorrah, from drugs to toxic waste disposal whilst also following younger characters aspiring to that lifestyle. We talk about the striking cinematography and lack of traditional soundtrack music, as such, contrasted with in scene pounding techno/dance. Garrone's casting of people familiar with the life they depict also gets a mention, plus the hopeful conclusion, at least for two of the characters....
2025-05-0125 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW (1964)In this podcast we talk about Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1964 film 'The Gospel According to Matthew' ('Il vangelo secondo Matteo' is the title in Italian) the unusual cast selection (non-actors), Italian locations and a Jesus depicted with more than a hint of Che Guevara. Russ talks about Pasolini's route to this film, via novels and poems and ealrier films, including a short film depicting the crucifixion in less than reverent terms, and the remarkable fact that the catholic establishment embraced a film by a gay marxist athiest. We discuss the locations, unusual visuals, links to amateur passion plays, stand out...
2025-04-2428 min
BRAINLANDYOUR BRAIN ON DANCE: Navigating the complex world of dance neuroscience.Following on from the last episode, today we consider how neuroscientists investigate the brain in relation to dance. Peter talks about his background as a classical musician before branching into the psychology and then neuroscience of dance. He explains the complexity of the subject - the many variables at play during dance and between dancers - and what progress has been made to understand the neural basis of dance. We talk about therapeutic uses of dance and studies of social cohesion promoted by dance. We wander into evolution and species differences and end by talking about his hopes for...
2025-04-161h 01
CAPOLAVORO!LA CHIMERA (2023)In this episode we unpack the delights of Alice Rohrwacher's 2023 movie 'La Chimera', a film about 'tomboroli' (tomb robbers) in the 1980s. Russ discusses the social and historical background, and the way the film explores attitudes to and roles of women and other aspects of Italian society then and now. We explore the various storytelling techniques Rohrwacher employs and the interwoven themes, including Orpheus and other mythological references.Participants:Russ Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) http://rjakilbourn.com/Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer, podcaster and...
2025-04-1632 min
CAPOLAVORO!MARTIN EDEN (2019)In this episode we discuss Pietro Marcello's 2019 film 'Martin Eden', based on Jack London's semi-autobiographical coming of age novel published in 1909. Russ unpacks some of the historical and political backstory of story, as filmed. Unconventional flashback-like sequences are highlighted and ambiguity over the time period in which the action takes place discussed. We compare and contrast the novel and film. We discuss the excellent acting, especially by the lead Luca Marinelli (unrecognisable in his latest role as Mussolini in eight part 'M: Son of the century'). Russ concludes by explaining why he feels the work of Russian literary theorist...
2025-04-1032 min
BRAINLANDTRANSFORMING MENTAL STATES INTO DANCE: Evolving German Tanztheatre in London.Adrian Look, London-based choreographer and specialist in German 'Tanztheatre', talks about the origin of Tanztheatre within the 1920s Germany expressionist movement, tand aken to the next level by Pina Bausch in the modern era. Adrian talks about his unusual entry into dance, after a background of sport and philosophy. He discusses his reasons for coming to London, to be free of the over-respectful approach to the Bausch legacy, his experience as a dancer and his approach to choreography. We talk about his work on the 'Brainland' project, as an example of his working method (working with dancers of a...
2025-04-0133 min
BRAINLANDDECONSTRUCTING CONSCIOUSNESS: A philosophy for the science of animal consciousnessIn this podcast philosopher Walter Veit outlines five elements of conscious experience he believes can be scientifically explored,why and when, in evolutionary terms, those elements first appeared. He explains his concept of 'pathological complexity', which of those five may have appeared first, and the ethical imperatives that underpin animal consciousness research. After talking about slugs, octopuses and corvids we end with a discussion on how his approach may assist in creating machines that are in some sense conscious.Participants:Walter Veit, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Reading, UK. External Member...
2025-03-2545 min
CAPOLAVORO!LOVE AND ANARCHY (1973)This episode explores Lina Wertmuller's 1973 film Love and Anarchy (D'Amore e D'Anarchia), the first female director they've discussed. Wertmuller's route to direction is outlined, including her early career with an avant garde puppets theatre, then work with Fellini, before we unpick some of the detail in this exhuberant film. Set in and around a legal brothel in prewar fascist italy, the film tells the story of an anarchist from the sticks who comes to the city to assassinate Mussolini. Excellent performances and some unusual story telling make for a highly watchable and thought provoking film.Participants:
2025-03-2431 min
CAPOLAVORO!THE CONFORMIST (1970)In this episode Russ and Ken talk about Bertolucci's 1970 film The Conformist (Il Conformista), based on Alberto Moravia's 1947 novel of the same name. Set in fascist Italy, mainly before WW2, it tells the story of Marcello whose desire to conform makes him embrace and become a willing puppet of the regime and a plot to kill a prominent antifascist living in Paris, but that only scratches the surface of this tale. The 29 year old cinematographer later went on to win 3 Oscars, including one for Apocalypse Now. Lots more interesting stuff. Take a listen...Participants:Russ...
2025-03-1731 min
CAPOLAVORO!L'AVVENTURA (1960)In this episode Russ and Ken talk about Michelangelo Antonioni's classic genre defying masterpiece 'L'Avventura' from 1960. After discussing the use of black and white in art house cinema in this period Russ outlines how the film has been critically interpreted as a kind of filmic philosophical investigation of existentialism by a director who, for the time, seems unusually aware of female sensibility. We also talk about various unconventional spects to the film making including shot choice, editing, music, sound and storytelling.Participants:Russ Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario...
2025-03-0431 min
BRAINLANDEVOLUTIONARY BIOCHEMISTRY: New perspectives on the chemistry of you.In this podcast, Nick Lane talks about his path to research in the rarefied field of evolutionary biochemistry, before describing some of the pioneers of biochemistry and the aesthetic pleasure he takes in their experimental designs. He gives a jargon free account of the Krebs cycle, the central metabolic pathway of life and the basis of his most recent book 'Transformer'. We discuss the origin of mitochondria, the mind boggling number of chemical reactions that takes in them each second and the possibly far reaching consequences of electrical and magnetic fields they generate (a possible source of the EEG...
2025-02-2150 min
CAPOLAVORO!I VITELLONI (1953)In this episode Russ and Ken discuss 'I Vitelloni' a Federico Fellini Classic from 1953, his first international success. We talk through the story, the main characters and what gives it classic status, including Fellini's use of humour, visual composition and characters. It's the story of a group of small town 'loafers' avoiding responsibility whilst hoping for better as Italy's post war economic boom kicks in, Religious imagery and characters get a mention (including a monk up a tree) and the includion of gay characters. To finish ther is some chat about film makers who credit its influence, including Scorsece...
2025-02-1932 min
CAPOLAVORO!ROME, OPEN CITY (1945)In this podcast we set the scene for the series by discussing cinema under Mussolini including the creation of Cinecittà in Rome. We then talk about the director, and writers of 'Rome, Open City' (including Federico Fellini), the plot (execution of a priest and pregnant woman, based on true events that occurred only months before the film was made), problems in production, excellent performances, classic shots and the film's reception, followed by a wider discussion of sound and music in this period of Italian cinema.Participants:Russ Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film, Wilfrid Laurier U...
2025-02-1234 min
BRAINLAND I FEEL I AM NOT IN MY PERFECT MIND: Alzheimer's and cognitive decline in movies.In this podcast we complete the series on memory and cinema with an in-depth look at the way Alzheimer's disease/progressive cognitive impairment has been depicted in the movies this century. Raquel discusses her unusual route to studying and writing about this subject, via the work of a contemporary Spanish poet, then, before focussing on the three very different films listed below, we talk about the way different cultures represent the subject and the marked and predictable gender differences is the cinematic representation of cognitive decline. We explore the way several biopics, including 'Iris' and 'Still Alice' highlight disability...
2025-02-0852 min
BRAINLANDSOLARIS: Probing the Lem/Tarkovsky masterwork.Film historian and science fiction specialist Mark Bould discusses the Lem novel and Tarkovsky film 'Solaris'. After an in depth exploration of the life and work of Lem and Tarkovsy, Mark outlines the plot discusses the unusual way in which Tarkovsky tells the story. We discuss traumatic memory and the links to earlier gothic stories and hauntings. We take a detour into the role of the EEG in the story and the possible origins of that before exploring Tarkovsky's use of sound in the film. We conclude with a brief discussion of the 2002 Soderburgh remake of Solaris, it's place...
2025-01-2158 min
BRAINLANDSEASON 1 FINALE: Brainland at the Messina Cinema and Opera Festival 2024.The Brainland podcast began by exploring the historical background of our opera "Brainland". At the end of 2023 we filmed a scene from the opera, directed by Chaira D'Anna and choreography by Adrian Look, in collaboration with Morely College and the Old Operating Theatre Museum in London. The film was nominated in the best short film category at the Messina Cinema and Opera Festival in Sicily, in December 2024, and won the Special Jury Prize! Before the awards were announced artistic director, Ninni Panzera, agreed to sit down with Chiara and I and answer some questions about the festival. Chiara translated...
2024-12-1744 min
BRAINLANDLITERARY THEORY FOR ROBOTS: The weird and wonderful origins of machine language.In this wide ranging conversation we discuss the varying roots of contemporary computer language, from medieval Arabic phiosophy and divination machines, via the religious search for a universal language, to punch cards in 19th century industry. We talk about Babbage and Lovelace's work on mathematical and reasoning engines and their link to Turing's universal machine in the 1940s. Dennis describes little studied literary templates in the late 19th century before moving to Propp's 'morphology of folk tales' in the Soviet era and how that impacted aviation safety in later years. We conclude with a discussion of the impossibility of...
2024-11-2746 min
BRAINLANDCURIOUS MINDS: What good is curiosity?In this podcast philosopher Perry Zurn discusses ‘Curious Minds’, the book he wrote with his twin Danni Bassett. We talk about their unusual upbinging, home schooled in a large family that encouraged curiosity, then negotiating the more restrictive world of academia. They view curiosity as ‘edgework’, an exploration of connections between ‘nodes’ of information. We discuss ‘busybodies’,’ hunters’ and ‘dancers’. three curious behaviours they identified, and research evidence that supports them. The effect of language on curiosity gets a mention (Eg differences between First Nation and modern languages), and how curiosity plays out in non-verbal domains (such a sport and visual art) with a d...
2024-11-2135 min
BRAINLANDSCREEN TIME 2: Sci-fi cinema's art of memory.This is part 2 of the conversation with Russell Kilbourn on memory and movies. In part 1 we talked about the way memory is treated in literature and movies but we didn't have time to discuss memory in sci-fi movies so Russ agreed to return. In this podcast we discuss the varying treatment of memory in the genre. Eg: removing memories (Total Recall, Severance and particularly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind); inserting false memories (Blade Runner); repurposing memories (Strange Days, and particularly Solaris and La Jetee). La Jetée led to an interesting discussion about the strange and interesting Canadian f...
2024-11-0835 min
BRAINLANDWHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?: Memory, the brain and our sense of self.In this podcast Veronica O'Keane and Ken Barrett share cases and discuss some of the themes explored in Veronica's book 'A Sense of Self'. We explore the various structures in the brain essential for memory to function, talk about the importance of place to memory (we often remember where we where if not when) and recent findings on how our brain does that, the role of the frontal lobes and the hidden area of cortext called the insula, before with interesting detours into nostalgia and memory in the work of Irish writer Samuel Beckett.Veronica O...
2024-10-2350 min
BRAINLANDOBJECTS WITH SOUL: The strange power of puppetry in healthcare.In this podcast puppeteer and academic Cariad Astles talks about how she got interested and trained in puppetry, before discussing her experience of puppetry in China and Africa. We explore why puppetry tends to be viewed as a practice for children in the UK (Cariad blames protestantism) before talking about a number of healthcare applications of puppetry including training medical students and nurses, in psychotherapy (citing an especially powerful project in Chile), health education including promoting empathy, in dementia and autism. Cariad concludes by speculating on how robotics and AI may impact puppetry and its applications in the future...
2024-10-1858 min
BRAINLANDSCREEN TIME: Cinema's art of memoryIn this conversation we talk about the earliest representations of memory in classical, latin, literature (the original 'art of memory') then move, via St Augustine, to Proust and his madeleine. Russell describes how the representaion of memory, the 'flash back', appeared in the first years of film-making but identifies the real innovations in Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941). We move on to what made Fellini and Bergan masters in the use of memory before coming up to date with last year's excellent 'All of Us Strangers' . We end with an extended discussion of the ethics of memory in film, in...
2024-09-1800 min
BRAINLANDMOOD MUSIC: Could Shostakovich change your mind?In this extended podcast Stephen Johnson shares his experience of the healing effects of Shostakovich’s music during dark periods in his life, both as a youth and later when coping with depression. He recalls his often solitary teenage years, when his passion for the music of Shostakovich took root, fueled by a prodigious ability to recall music, and text. He goes on to discuss the composer’s life, music and unlikely survival during the Stalin purges. Stephen also describes interviewing people who knew the composer, for a BBC documentary, including a member of the orchestra during the famous perf...
2024-08-3054 min
BRAINLANDTHE VITAL SPARK: The Evolution of Imagination.In this conversation we discuss Stephen's ideas about the evolution of imagination and improvisation. After defining terms Stephen's talks about his idea of the 'second universe', the link between dreams and storytelling and his view that drawing, dance and gesture preceded language in evolution. We talk about the difference between 'hot' and 'cold' cognition and explore the necessary conditions for improvisation then end with a discussion of cultural differences in the importance attached to improvisation, contrasting particularly the USA and China.Participants:Stephen Asma, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia College, Chicago, USA. www.stephenasma.com
2024-07-2348 min
BRAINLANDTHE VITAL SPARK: The Creative Brain.In this wide ranging conversation Anna outlines the particular difficulties involved in researching the psychology and neuroscience of creativity. We talk about the popular idea that the right hemisphere is the creative brain (it isn't), links between mental health and psychedelics to creativity, and the possible contribution of the default mode network. We also discuss the special quality of creativity in the context of humour. In an afterword we talk about some of the problems involved in research that engages the popular press, bypassing peer review, but also the 'status bias' that can colour even peer review.
2024-07-1859 min
BRAINLANDOBJECTS WITH SOUL: The strange power of puppets in opera.In this podcast Hayley talks us through the early history of puppets in opera, including the eighteenth century fashion for opera composed specifically for puppets. She goes on to describe the conclusions reached in her doctoral research, applying musicological thinking to marionette operas in our era, conclusions she considers applicable more widely to cinema and animation. These include her theory 'performance networks and poetic synchronicity. She talks about her experience of various performances and her conviction that the movement of puppets, expertly 'played', are inherently musical. Participants:Hayley Burton Richards, musicologist, musician, educator, Head o...
2024-07-0249 min
BRAINLANDYOUR BRAIN ON RELIGION: Exploring the neuroscience of religious experience.In this podcast, after outlining some of the positive and negative of religious behaviour, Patrick discusses the key areas currently being studied in order to better understand the cognitive neuroscience of religion. These include REM sleep, the effects of psychedelic substances and the default mode network. ‘Decentering’, a key aspect of his team’s approach to the subject is explained along with the possible involvement of predictive processing. He discusses why he believes religion to be a ‘transformational technology’ and the impact of brain pathology on religiosity. Participants:Patrick McNamara, Professor, Department of Psychology...
2024-06-3036 min
BRAINLANDA MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH: The story of a movie.'A Matter of Life and Death' (AMOLAD) is a 1946 film by Michael Powell and Emerich Pressberger. Peter Carter, a bomber pilot is returning from the last raid of the war. His plane and parachute are shot up so he decides to 'jump rather than fry' and has a last conversation over the radio with June, an American radio operator before jumping, as he expects, to his death. He doesn't die but washes up on a beach and as a love story unfolds between him and June he is menaced by recurrent episodes (clinically, complex partial epileptic seizures though the...
2024-06-2339 min
BRAINLANDTHE VITAL SPARK: A director's tale.This is another in the Vital Spark series exploring facets of creativity with a range of artists and academics. In this conversation Italian director, actor and teacher Chiara D'Anna speaks about her work and creative process, beginning with images, physical and emotional atmosphere before involving words. We discuss her acting in film, particularly with Peter Strickland (Duke of Burgundy and Berberian Sound Studio) and her training and teaching in commedia dell’arte, an Italian tradition of theatre she outlines for us. We talk about her evolving one woman show and the differences in performing in Italian or English, particularly in...
2024-05-1338 min
BRAINLANDBRAINWAVES: Hans Berger and the discovery of the EEG.In this special extended edition of the podcast, we take a deep dive into the life and work of Hans Berger, the German psychiatrist who discovered the EEG a century ago this year, the inspiration for a major character in the opera Brainland. Cornelius Borck is a leading German historian of medicine and science and an expert on Berger and his work. In a wide ranging conversation he describes the scientific backdrop to Berger’s discovery, his early career and personality, how the discovery came about, why it took him 5 years to report his findings and why he was de...
2024-04-2358 min
BRAINLANDOBJECTS WITH SOUL: The strange power of puppetry.Why do we respond to puppets? That's what this episode explores, with the help of Pia and Ana, academics who approach the question from different perspectives. We discover what is meant by the 'uncanny valley' and how it links puppetry to robots (and zombies!) and discuss if 'conceptual blending' might be useful. Does the old notion of 'suspending disbelief' hold water? Ana talks about her project using a viewer's direction of gaze to explore this question in relation to puppetry.Participants:Pia Banzhaf, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, Department of Linguistics , Lanuages and Culture...
2024-04-2137 min
BRAINLANDPOEMS, CHATBOTS AND EPILEPSY: Understanding and ameliorating life with seizures.In this conversation poet and visual artist Andrea Mbarushimana and neurologist/poet Heather Angus-Leppan talk about their project exploring the value of chatbots to help people cope with and better understand their epilepsy. The project began by collecting over 1700 questions about the condition posted by people living with epilepsy. Heather describes how Andrea was integral to the project, facilitating workshops with people living epilepsy. Andrea shares poems written during the project, including two from the perspective of those chatbots! Heather also shares a moving poem about one of her patients. Participants:Andrea Mbarushimana, p...
2024-04-1631 min
BRAINLANDFEELING GROOVY: Exploring the brain's response to music.Peter Vuust is that rare combintion - a professional musician and composer, and a professor of neuroscience investigating how our brain responds to music. This wide ranging conversation includes why we humans are so attracted and responsive to music, the link between groove and predictive cognition, the Mozart effect, the tingle/chill factor in music, and how to get more out of atonal music. As if that weren’t enough, Peter shares a track of his upcoming album (he can be seen and heard in several bands at the Aarhus Jazz Festival in July). P...
2024-04-0449 min
BRAINLANDOBJECTS WITH SOUL: The strange power of puppetry.Those animated objects, puppets, can work powerfully on our emotions and generate empathy, seemingly tapping into some very basic part of our psyche and, perhaps, neurology. Which is the main reason why we are devoting two podcasts to this subject. In this podcast Claudia Orenstein, a leading authority on puppets and physical theatre worldwide discusses the various ways objects are deployed in performance, including their use in ritual, education and entertainment, for adults as well as children. A number of examples are described as she shares her lifelong passion for the subject and there is also an interesting theoretical...
2024-03-2136 min
BRAINLANDNO HAMMER NEEDED: The wonderful world of neurointeractive art.Since completing her degree in interactive art 30 years ago Luciana Haill has worked at the cutting edge of the field. She recounts how childhood meningitis got her interested in the brain and Grey Walter's 'The Living Brain' the EEG - she sold her car in order to buy a portable EEG recorder, her tool for exploring the boundary of consciousness. More recently, her obsession with lost historical artefacts led her to create the Arts Council funded 'Apparitions' app - the app recreates lost landmarks when a phone is pointed at the original site (such as the 900 fo...
2024-03-1340 min
BRAINLANDBRAVE NEW WORLDS : Your neural interface awaits...In this podcast Professor Andrew Jackson talks about how he came to be, literally, at the cutting edge between the human central nervous system and new neuro-technologies. After explaining ‘neural interface’, he discusses how the field is starting to change the management of paralysis and epilepsy. There is also an interesting discussion about the effects of exhsiting current tech, including possible implications of Google's acquisition of FitBit and how social media is already effectively modifies behaviour. He also shares a lockdown project – 'closed loop' music generated by and modified in real time by brain oscillations (with some samples included). ...
2024-02-2241 min
BRAINLANDYOUR BRAIN ON BEAUTY: Welcome to the world of neuroaesthetics...In this podcast neurologist and academic Anjan Chatterjee opens up the world of neuroaesthetics, from basic definitions and a taxonomy of aesthetics, including individual responses to the built environment, to neurological correlates of our responses to beauty. The influence of expectation and beliefs regarding value of objects/works of art are also touched upon, and the way neuroimaging results reflect this effect. Some current projects of the Penn Centre for Neuroaesthetics also get a mention, including a study using the arts in a structured way to aid recovery and readjustment of veterans. Participants:An...
2024-02-1439 min
BRAINLANDMUSIC AND THE DEEPEST PART OF YOU...In this podcast we give the brain a rest and take an excursion into the music world. Trevor Ford, Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, talks to Stephen Brown about his journey from the East End of London to a career as a professional flautist, organist and choir master (an organiser of the annual 'Messiah from Scratch' at the Albert Hall) alongside, accountancy, business management and editing. They discuss the benefits he and Stephen gained from the free music tuition available to children of working class families in the East End in the 1960s and the...
2024-02-0949 min
BRAINLANDTHE VITAL SPARK: Tourette syndrome and creativity.'The Vital Spark' is an occasional series exploring different facets of creativity.Hugh Rickards, in conversation with Stephen Brown and Ken Barrett, talks about Tourette's syndrome, including a suggested association with increased levels of creativity. After outlining why he was first attracted to Neuropsychiatry (Oliver Sacks' fault) and to do research on this condition, Hugh goes over what we mean by Tourette's, it's overlap with OCD and the little we known about it's causes. We unpack possible links to creativity, performer Tourettes Hero gets a mention (see link below), Hugh and Ken share their own experience of...
2024-01-2736 min
BRAINLANDCOMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY IS IN THE BUILDING: Brain information processing and the future of psychiatry.In this podcast Ken Barrett is in conversation with Professor David Redish. David explains what is meant by ‘computational psychiatry’ and the concept of ‘computational breakdown', with a great falling bridge analogy, before going on to outline how this approach is being applied to addiction and depression. Our discussion ranges over aspects of memory, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) and sleep, and much else, before considering possible pitfalls of the approach.Participants: A David Redish, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota. https://med.umn.edu/bio/david-redishKen Bar...
2024-01-1038 min
BRAINLANDBRAINHACKING: Ethical and legal challenges posed by new neurotechnologies.In this podcast Ken Barrett is in conversation with Marcello Ienca, professor of the ethics of articicial intelligence. We discuss the ethical challenges of new neurotechnologices, including brain-computer interfaces and other wearable and implanted devices. Are our brains about to be at risk of being ‘hacked’ or ‘jacked’ and what steps should be taken to safeguard us? Marcello outlines and unpacks four human rights he believes should be protected: the right to cognitive liberty, mental privacy, mental integrity and psychological continuity. Participants: Marcello Ienca, Professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience.Deputy Dir...
2023-12-0540 min
BRAINLANDMIND WARS: Military and intelligence funding of brain science - a curious history.In this podcast Professor Jonathan D Moreno, author of the book Mind Wars, is in conversation with Ken Barrett. Their chat ranges from human experimentation, in the US in World War 2, to fears of mind control in the intelligence community in the 1950s and related experiments with LSD and mescaline, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and various specific projects up to the present day. On the subject of bioethics, we speak about the Nuremberg Code, the surprising origin of informed consent and much more, ending on an optimistic note. Participants:Ken Barrett is...
2023-11-1837 min
BRAINLANDROBOTS: Taking over or just overtaking?In this podcast Professor Phil Husbands is in conversation with Andy Platman and Ken Barrett. The chat ranges over a number of topics presented in Phil’s excellent book Robots: What everyone needs to know, including his views on the current media hysterics regarding the immediate dangers of AI, the surprisingly long history of robotics, ethical challenges of AI and autonomous robots now and in the future. He also reads an extract from his book, part of a vignette imagining robotics 600 years in the future. Participants: Phil Husbands, Research Professor of Arti...
2023-11-0638 min
BRAINLANDILLUMINATING THE SELFIn this podcast contemporary artist Susan Aldworth is in conversation with Ken Barrett. Susan has worked on collaboratively with neuroscientists and clinicians for over twenty years following a health scare. We speak about her projects based on brain imaging, epilepsy and sleep, her interest in embroidery as a story telling medium, combined with old garments, and her novel appraoch to print-making. We also take a dive into her most recent work, created in response to current political rhetoric regarding migration, exploring her own migrant, Italian, heritage. Participants:Susan Aldworth, artist. https://susanaldworth.com/
2023-10-1240 min
BRAINLANDEUGENICS: The pseudoscience that's never really gone away.In this podcast Professor Philippa Levine, formerly Walter Prescott Webb Professor in History and Ideas at the University of Texas at Austin, is in conversation with Andy Platman and Ken Barrett. We discuss the British origins of eugenic ideas and the worldwide movement that followed. Nazi eugenics, from sterilisation to euthanasia are explored, but also how these ideas took off and were applied, in different forms, worldwide, most enthusiastically in the USA but also in Scandinavia, Australia, Latin America and beyond. But that doesn't entirely capture the depth and range of subjects covered in this extraordinary conversation.
2023-09-0737 min
BRAINLANDJOYFUL ASTONISHMENT AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF OPTIMISM.In this episode Raymond Tallis, philosopher, poet and one time professor of geriatric medicine is in conversation with Stephen Brown. Their chat moves from the metaphysics of quantum mechanics to the definition of art and the language of music. Goethe's view of poetry and Scruton's thoughts on music get a mention before moving to the art of medicine, the difference between philosophical enquiry and artistic creativity and the philosophy of free will.Their conversation concludes with Ray admitting to being a philosopher of optimism before reading his poem 'Meta-sonnet for the Dark Lady...
2023-08-1440 min
LaundromatHowTo.com PodCast55 - Water Usage Tracking and Leak Alert with AlertLabs A successful laundromat requires more than just washer and dryers; it also need strong management techniques and creative approaches to reduce risks and boost productivity. In this episode, Doug MacMillan, a sales consultant from Alert Labs, talked about how Alert Labs devices can help laundromat owners manage their water problems. Alert Labs works with various properties and buildings to protect them from water leaks and manage their consumption. Over 10,000 structures, including laundromats, are serviced by them in the US and Canada. The experience of Ken Barrett in managing laundromats, emphasizes how critical it is to keep an eye o...
2023-08-0834 min
BRAINLANDTWO HEADS: Where two neuroscientists explore how our brains work with other brains (Part 2)In this podcast writer Alex Frith and illustrator Daniel Locke provide fascinating insights into the creation of their book Two Heads, produced in collaboration with Uta and Chris Frith. This is a deep dive into their creative process and a wider discussion about telling science stories using the comic format. The conversation ranged from Tintin to Dave Gibbons via Peanuts, Micky Mouse and Spider Man and the links between scientific and artistic creativity.Contributors:Alex Frith, writer. https://www.pewliterary.com/author/alex-frithDaniel Locke, illustrator http://www.daniellocke.com/Ken B...
2023-06-3033 min
BRAINLANDTWO HEADS: Where two neuroscientists explore how our brains work with other brains (Part 1)In this podcast Professors Uta and Chris Frith, in conversation with Ken Barrett, speak about their brilliant and original book 'Two Heads', a 300 page comic that tracks their neuroscientific journeys (with over 300 academic references), acknowledges the many researchers they have worked with, and outlines their current understanding of how our brains work with other brains. The book was created with writer Alex Frith and illustrator Daniel Locke who have agreed to speak with us for part 2 later in the month. We talk about the origins of their book and their wider interest in the comic medium...
2023-06-0936 min
BRAINLANDMESSAGES FROM ANOTHER WORLDBrainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators. PODCAST 2: MESSAGES FROM ANOTHER WORLDThe second storyline in Brainland focusses on Professor Hans Berger, the German psychiatrist who, in the 1920s, discovered that the brain emits rhythmic electrical pulsations, the EEG. In t...
2023-05-1711 min
BRAINLANDMANHANDLING THE BRAINBrainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators. PODCAST 4: MANHANDLING THE BRAINOne of the storylines in Brainland concerns the two leading figures of the psychosurgery movement in the middle years of the last century: Egas Moniz and Walter Freeman. In t...
2023-05-1222 min
BRAINLANDTOPSY GOES TO NORWAYBrainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, currently in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators. PODCAST 2: TOPSY GOES TO NORWAYThe opera opens with four UK brain specialists led by physiologist William Grey Walter, arriving at a US Airforce base in Gloucestershire in 1957. They are enroute to Oslo where they will visit a U...
2023-05-0516 min
BRAINLANDBRAINLAND THE OPERA - An introductionBrainland is a new opera that interweaves three stories from the history of 20th Neuroscience, created by four artists with a background in neuroscience and medicine, in development with by a range of associates. In these podcasts the creators of Brainland talk about the project and explore the historical background to those stories by speaking to academics and collaborators.INTRODUCING BRAINLANDIn this podcast the four artists who created Brainland talk about the origin of the project and their contributions. The four storylines, covered in detail in other episodes, are briefly outlined.Contributors:
2023-05-0509 min
LaundromatHowTo.com PodCast51 - Bringing Back the Human Element by Laurance CohenIn the February 2017 Edition of American Coin-Op, Laurance Cohen wrote in his column "Goin' With Cohen" about Ken Barrett, his background, how he got into the Coin Laundry Industry and how he runs his stores. This article was read as an audiobook by professional voice-over artist Chris Abernathy. For the full article go to AmericanCoinOp.com Links and References: American Coin-Op https://americancoinop.com/ Laurance Cohen- Goin With Cohen goinwithcohen@outlook.com Goin With Cohen Previous Articles https://americancoinop.com/authors/laurance-cohen-0 Chris Abe...
2017-03-0716 min