The Giants Shoulder

Dr. Kevin Mitchell is a neurogeneticist at Trinity College Dublin and author of Innate and Free Agents, two very influential books on how brain wiring shapes who we become.Autism is one of the most heritable conditions in psychiatry — yet for years, headlines have claimed gut bacteria, probiotics, and mouse models could explain or even treat it. Kevin’s new paper tears that story open, revealing how tiny samples, noisy data, and weak statistics created an illusion of evidence that never truly existed.Expect to learn why early microbiome studies were almost guaranteed to produce false positives, how mouse “models of autism” rely on behaviours that barely map onto human symptoms, why effect sizes of ~1.1 don’t mean what people think, what proper replication actually looks like, why placebo-controlled trials keep finding nothing, how hype and incentives distort entire fields, and how bad science creates real-world harm for autistic people and their families.Timestamps: 03:30 Introduction and Gratitude04:30 The Link Between Gut Microbiome and Autism07:08 The Tylenol Controversy and Misinterpretation of Data11:24 The Complexity of Autism and Its Causes16:12 Exploring the Gut-Brain Axis25:34 Evidence Line 1: Human Observational Data 42:42 Understanding Causation in Microbiome Research45:16 The Role of Effect Size in Autism Studies48:04 Confounding Factors in Scientific Research54:30 Evidence Line 2: Mouse Models of Autism59:20 The Limitations of Germ-Free Mouse Studies01:05:45 Statistical Flaws in Microbiome Research01:13:14 Skepticism in Behavioural Studies and Drug Testing01:17:15 Understanding Autism's Heterogeneity01:19:14 The Challenges of Diagnosing Autism01:24:35 Evidence Line 3: Human Trials 01:29:28 The Importance of Placebo-Controlled Trials01:34:42 The Role of Citations in Scientific Literature01:40:15 The Ethics of Marketing Probiotics for Autism01:45:17 Current Research and Future Directions...

Professor Lee Cronin is one of the world’s most visionary chemists — the Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow — whose work is redefining how we search for alien life, invent new drugs, and understand the fundamental rules of the universe.He’s the creator of Chemputation, the first real attempt to program matter itself, and co-author of Assembly Theory, a radical new framework that measures the “memory” embedded in molecules — revealing how chemistry becomes biology, how complexity evolves, and how we might detect life anywhere in the cosmos. His lab is building inorganic cells, digitising chemical synthesis, designing billions of new drug candidates at once, and working with NASA to develop a universal test for extraterrestrial life.Expect to learn why the universe has a memory, why copy number may be the most important concept in astrobiology, how assembly index can quantify causation and complexity, how Cronin’s “chemputer” could democratise drug discovery, how mass spectrometry can reveal alien biosignatures, why he thinks life on other planets won’t look like Earth at all, why chemistry and consciousness are linked through causation, and much more…Timestamps: 00:02:30 Celebrating Chemify's Milestone Funding03:06:34 Understanding Chemputation: Programming Chemistry06:10:38 Exploring Chemical Space: The Universe of Molecules09:10:19 The Future of Drug Discovery: Beyond Current Limitations12:26:54 The Intersection of Chemistry and Biology15:21:51 Building the Chemifarm: A New Era in Chemistry18:22:50 The Vision for Personalized Medicine23:19:49 Assembly Theory: A New Approach to Drug Discovery43:21:51 The Challenge of Pain Management and Addiction46:44:14 Exploring Assembly Theory and Drug Development52:34:04 The Assembly Index: Measuring Complexity in Chemistry54:31:01 Assembly Theory and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life01:02:53 Rethinking Astrobiology: Life Beyond Earth01:17:26 Radical Ideas: Faster Than Light Information Transfer...Black Friday Sale: Get 15% OFF + Free Kit Manta Masks for limited time: https://mantasleep.pxf.io/9LXagy and Code GIANTSMANTA10Check out Sentia Spirits the future of drinking (Use Code GIANT10 for 10% discount off your first purchase: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Download my FREE EBook 26 Neuroscience Books for 2026 HERE: https://thegiantsshoulder.com/

Earl K. Miller is an MIT neuroscientist and one of the most influential thinkers in modern brain science. His 2001 paper on prefrontal cortex function is one of the most cited in the entire field, transforming how we understand thought, control, and the architecture of the mind.Miller’s research reveals that the brain doesn’t compute like a digital machine — it builds models of the world and uses top-down control to guide perception, attention, and action. He discovered mixed selectivity, showing that neurons flexibly encode combinations of rules, goals, and context, giving rise to the incredible adaptability of human cognition. And his more recent work uncovers how dynamic oscillatory brain waves — alpha, beta, and gamma rhythms — synchronize vast networks of neurons, shaping working memory, decision-making, and even consciousness itself.Expect to learn why the prefrontal cortex is the brain’s command centre, how the mind constructs internal models of reality, why neurons don’t have fixed jobs, how mixed selectivity unlocks high-dimensional thought, why brain waves may be the real “language of the mind,” how oscillations unify brain regions into consciousness, what anesthesia reveals about losing subjective experience, whether consciousness is an emergent phenomenon of coordinated rhythms, why digital AI misses the essence of thought, what it would take to build conscious machines, how the brain computes like an analog system, and much more…...Timestamps:00:00 Intro03:00 The Paradigm Shift in Neuroscience06:03 Understanding the Prefrontal Cortex's Role09:00 Consciousness and Decision Making11:53 The Complexity of Memory and Representation14:54 Mixed Selectivity and Neural Networks17:58 Dynamic Stability in Neural Systems20:55 The Role of Oscillations in Brain Function23:39 Analog Computation in the Cortex34:54 Understanding Brain Waves and Analog Computation38:41 The Efficiency of Analog vs. Digital Computing40:31 Biology's Energy Efficiency in Computation41:58 Emerging Paradigms in Neuroscience46:25 Consciousness and Brain States53:58 Analog Computation and the Nature of Consciousness59:57 The Nature of Consciousness01:02:24 Comparative Consciousness: Humans and Other Species01:05:10 Integration and Complexity in Consciousness01:10:41 The Role of Information Integration in Consciousness01:14:12 Agency and Consciousness in Biological Systems01:17:43 AI and the Question of Consciousness01:24:02 The Future of AI and Human Intelligence...Download my FREE EBook 26 Neuroscience Books for 2026 HERE: https://thegiantsshoulder.com/Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. Stephen Grossberg is the founder of computational neuroscience and creator of Adaptive Resonance Theory, one of the most important and misunderstood breakthroughs in brain science. Often called the Einstein of the Mind, he wrote the first neural network equations at just 17 years old, laying the mathematical foundations for modern AI decades before computers could even measure the brain.Grossberg’s ideas have powered technologies at DARPA, Boeing, and even the NSA, yet he claims to be the victim of one of the largest plagiarism scandals in scientific history, involving several Nobel Prize winners who, he says, built their reputations on his work. Now in his eighties, he’s breaking his silence on the real story behind the algorithms that shaped both human and machine intelligence.Expect to learn how Adaptive Resonance Theory explains how we learn new things without forgetting the old, why Grossberg believes modern AI and large language models like ChatGPT are fundamentally broken, the neuroscience of consciousness and the six resonances that give rise to awareness, why attention and emotion are inseparable, how perception is shaped by feedback rather than feedforward processing, what “surface shroud resonance” reveals about the feeling of seeing, and why the true brain-inspired future of AI might depend on ideas the world ignored for half a century.Timestamps: 00:00 The Forgotten Father of Artificial Intelligence03:15 Writing the First Neural Network Equations at 1708:10 Modeling the Mind Before Brain Scanners Existed13:24 How Adaptive Resonance Theory Changed Everything18:37 The Biggest Plagiarism Scandal in Science?24:58 How His Equations Were Used by DARPA, Boeing, and the NSA31:20 Why Modern AI Still Gets the Brain Wrong38:16 The Fatal Flaw Inside Deep Learning and ChatGPT45:42 How the Brain Learns Without Forgetting52:49 Consciousness as Resonance — The Feedback Loop That Feels59:33 The Six Resonances That Create Awareness01:06:57 The Thanksgiving Turkey Experiment Explained01:14:40 The Emotional Side of Intelligence and Consciousness01:22:19 Building a Brain from Silicon — Vision, Emotion, and Meaning01:30:44 The Mind–Body Problem and the Limits of Equations01:38:12 What Science Still Can’t Explain About Experience01:45:26 Can Machines Ever Truly Be Conscious?01:52:48 The Legacy of the Real Father of AI...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM](http://brain.fm/): Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI (http://consensus.ai/): https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants ShoulderSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley is a neuroscientist and psychedelics researcher whose work is transforming how we understand trauma, addiction, and mental health. From cannabis and psychosis to MDMA and ibogaine, she sits at the frontier of how brain science meets healing.Grace has led research with the Heroic Hearts Project, helping veterans recover from PTSD through psychedelic therapy, and founded Hystelica, the world’s first research initiative focused on women’s health in psychedelic science. Her studies on cannabis, brain development, and the endocannabinoid system have influenced how clinicians, policymakers, and scientists think about drugs and the mind.Expect to learn how cannabis actually affects the developing brain, what the data really says about psychosis and THC, why CBD might protect against those effects, how psychedelics like MDMA and ibogaine are being used to treat trauma and addiction, the biological differences that make women’s brains respond differently to psychedelics, what the FDA’s recent MDMA rejection means for the future of mental health, why psychedelic therapy works on both the mind and the brain, and how this new neuroscience could redefine healing itself — and possibly the future of psychiatry.Subscribe to discover why your brain on drugs might not be what you think — and why the future of mental health may depend on rethinking everything we were told about them.Timestamps:00:00 Cannabis vs Alcohol: Which Is More Dangerous for the Brain?04:15 How Cannabis Affects the Teenage Brain and Memory08:10 Can Cannabis Trigger Psychosis? The Real Science Explained12:00 The Right Age and Safe Use for Cannabis16:25 Why Lifestyle and Genetics Matter More Than You Think21:50 The Forgotten Endocannabinoid System and Medical Cannabis27:00 The Politics of Drugs: How Science Lost to Bureaucracy33:05 The MDMA Ruling That Shook Psychedelic Science38:10 How Psychedelics Are Healing Veterans with PTSD49:40 Ibogaine: The Psychedelic That Can Reset Addiction55:20 How Hormones and Gender Shape Psychedelic Experiences01:03:30 Why Ceremony and Ritual Amplify Psychedelic Healing01:10:55 Can Psychedelics and Cannabis Improve Aging and Mental Health?01:12:35 The Future of Psychedelic Neuroscience and Mental Health...Check out Hystelica (Grace's Non-Profit, that provides education, research and advocacy around women and psychedelics) Check out Heroic Hearts: A Veterans charity that uses psychedelics, that Grace is the research director of.Check out Drug Science (Website - https://www.drugscience.org.uk/Prof Nutt Twitter (X) - @ProfDavidNuttDrug Science SocialsFacebook - @DrugScienceISCDTwitter (x) - @drug_scienceInstagram - @drugscienceinfoLinkedIn - @drugscience-ltdBlueSky - @drugscience.bsky.socialYouTube - @DrugScienceMore Resources on Drug SafetyMedical Cannabis: https://www.drugscience.org.uk/medical-cannabis-working-groupMedical Psychedelics: https://www.drugscience.org.uk/medical-psychedelics-working-groupHarm Reduction: https://www.drugscience.org.uk/enhanced-harm-reduction-working-groupAcademic Research: https://www.drugscience.org.uk/researchNeuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqe

Dr. Sarah McKay is a neuroscientist, author, and science communicator whose work is redefining what we know about women’s brains — from hormones and birth control to motherhood and mental health. She’s the author of The Women’s Brain Book, Baby Brain, and Brain Health for Dummies, and host of ABC’s Catalyst, where she brings neuroscience to life on screen.Check Out Sarahs Books The Women's Brain Book: The neuroscience of health, hormones and happiness: https://amzn.to/3LiixYNBaby Brain: The surprising neuroscience of how pregnancy and motherhood sculpt our brains and change our minds: https://amzn.to/47SIG9fBrain Health For Dummies: https://amzn.to/47C70uCSarah has spent her career debunking the myths that hormones “run the show,” revealing instead how the female brain is adaptable, resilient, and constantly changing through puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.Expect to learn how the pill reshapes the brain and influences attraction, why mood changes during the menstrual cycle are far more complex than we think, how pregnancy and motherhood physically rewire neural circuits for empathy and care, why “baby brain” might actually be a superpower, how men’s hormones change after fatherhood, how AI is helping scientists uncover hidden “pregnancy signatures” in the brain, and what neuroscience gets wrong — and right — about women.Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction – What Men Don’t Know About Women’s Brains03:14 Myths About Hormones and Emotion08:29 How Scientists Actually Measure Emotion12:26 The Constructed Nature of Feelings17:05 PMS, Expectation, and the Power of Belief20:18 How the Pill Changes the Brain26:20 The Pill, Mood, and Depression Risk33:35 Attraction, Personality, and the Hormone Myth39:04 Are We Rewiring Evolution Through the Pill?44:02 Maternal Instinct and the Neuroscience of Motherhood52:16 How Pregnancy Rewires the Brain57:26 AI, Plasticity, and the “Pregnancy Signature”01:03:26 What Happens to the Father’s Brain01:08:03 The Future of Women’s Brain Health...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Michael Cohen is a neurofeedback pioneer and director of the Center for Brain Training, where he’s spent over two decades helping people rewire their brains — not with medication, but with real-time feedback from their own brainwaves.According to Michael, Neurofeedback could one of the most powerful — and misunderstood — tools in mental health. It uses EEG signals to teach your brain how to regulate itself, improving mood, sleep, focus, trauma recovery and more. And the results can be shockingly fast.Expect to learn how brainwaves like alpha, beta, and theta shape your mental state, what happens when your brain becomes dysregulated, why left-frontal brain activity is key to mood, how elite athletes use neurofeedback to gain a competitive edge, how trauma and anxiety show up in EEG patterns, the difference between neurofeedback and traditional therapy, what a brain map actually reveals, why your brain is programmable, and how you can begin training yours to heal, adapt and thrive — in just minutes.Timestamps: 02:15 Introduction to Neurofeedback Training 06:57 Personal Journey and Motivation Behind Neurofeedback 11:34 Understanding Neurofeedback and Brain Function 18:52 Neurofeedback in the Context of Depression 26:08 How Neurofeedback Sessions Work 33:46 Variability in Brain Maps and Attention Circuits 37:55 Understanding Neurofeedback and Its Efficacy 41:35 Research Insights on Neurofeedback for ADHD and Seizures 45:39 Barriers to Acceptance in the Medical Community 47:31 Neurofeedback in Professional Sports 54:03 Transformative Case Studies in Neurofeedback 01:01:40 Sustaining Benefits of Neurofeedback Over Time 01:10:42 The Future of Neurofeedback and AI Integration ...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin is a neuroscientist, molecular biologist, and author of One Hand Clapping: A Natural History of the Mind — a groundbreaking exploration of how consciousness, memory, and intelligence evolved from the simplest forms of life.In this episode, Nikolay reveals the extraordinary idea that memory isn’t just in your brain — it’s a universal feature of life itself. Every cell in your body can “remember” patterns of experience, learn from them, and change its behavior — using the same molecular logic that neurons use to form thoughts. This ancient cellular intelligence may even hold the key to understanding consciousness, emotion, and the mind-body connection.Expect to learn why the difference between mind and body is an illusion, how single cells can distinguish patterns in time, why the same molecules that encode your memories also regulate your organs, how consciousness emerges gradually through information integration, why information might be more fundamental than matter, how AI and synthetic biology could help us rebuild the mind from first principles, the mystery of “obelisks” — unknown structures hidden inside your cells — and what all this means for trauma, emotion, free will, and the future of neuroscience.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro03:15 Understanding Cellular Memory06:20 Emergence of Memory: Human vs. Cellular09:03 Defining Memory: Perspectives and Critiques12:21 Research on Non-Neural Memory15:20 The Spacing Effect in Cellular Memory18:24 Mechanisms of Memory Encoding in Cells21:04 Cellular Memory and Emotion24:22 Consciousness in Cells: A Philosophical Inquiry27:08 Implications of Cellular Memory for Biology and Medicine30:10 The Future of Understanding Consciousness39:57 The Nature of Consciousness43:10 Reframing Our Understanding of Consciousness45:53 Tracing the Origins of Consciousness48:46 Information vs. Matter: The Fundamental Debate52:24 Artificial Consciousness: A New Frontier55:35 The Ethics of AI and Consciousness57:46 Defining Consciousness: A Democratic Process?01:00:51 The Expansive Potential of Biological Understanding01:03:02 The Future of AI and Consciousness01:09:26 The Mystery of Obelisks and Genetic Composition01:13:57 Synthetic Biology: The Future of Creation01:18:01 Exploring Cellular Memory and Its Implications01:22:00 The Gut-Brain Connection and Memory01:26:51 Trauma and the Body: A New Perspective01:29:52 Shifting Perspectives on Dopamine and Language...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Get Professional High Quality Talk Therapy at BetterHelp. 10% off your first month of therapy with this link - https://betterhelp.com/giantsshoulder (Paid Partnership by BetterHelp)Dr. Camilla Nord is a neuroscientist at Cambridge University and author of The Balanced Brain, a groundbreaking book reframing how we understand mental illness — not as something “in the mind,” but as something deeply rooted in the body.Buy the Balanced Brain: https://amzn.to/4nkWSfRIn this episode, we dive into how emotions, trauma, and even depression are embodied experiences — and why our brains’ predictions about the body may lie at the heart of mental health. Expect to learn how interoception connects gut feelings to mood, why inflammation and immune responses can trigger depression-like symptoms, how predictive processing reshapes therapy and recovery, what brain stimulation treatments like TMS and ultrasound are really doing, and why no single cure for mental illness will ever exist — but personalized, body-brain approaches could change everything.We also explore antidepressants, psychedelics, gut bacteria, and the future of “hybrid” treatments that blend biology with talk therapy. This is a conversation that could completely rewire how you think about your emotions, your body, and your mind.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:22 The Mind-Body Connection05:35 Interoception and Its Impact on Behavior08:12 The Predictive Brain: Understanding Our Bodily Signals11:09 Embodiment and Mental Health14:31 The Variability of Mental Health Conditions17:12 The Role of Treatment in Mental Health20:22 The Future of Mental Health Treatment35:13 The Role of Treatment in Mental Health35:24 Exploring the Microbiome's Impact on Mental Health38:43 Gut Health and Mental Health Connections40:36 Augmentative Treatments for Mental Health43:06 Understanding Brain Stimulation for Mental Health45:24 The Science Behind Targeted Brain Stimulation50:29 The Future of Brain Stimulation and Personalization54:46 SSRIs: Efficacy and Controversies01:03:53 The Future of Mental Health Treatments...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. Amy Williams is a NASA geobiologist and astrobiologist searching for one of the biggest answers in human history — are we alone in the universe?As part of the Curiosity and Perseverance rover teams, Amy helped uncover the largest organic molecules ever found on Mars — long-chain alkanes up to 12 carbons long, potentially fragments of ancient fatty acids, the same molecular building blocks that make up living cells on Earth.Her work on NASA’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument and upcoming Mars Sample Return mission could soon bring those ancient Martian molecules back to Earth — offering humanity its first real chance to detect extraterrestrial life.Expect to learn how scientists distinguish living from non-living chemistry on other planets, what these discoveries mean for the origin of life on Earth, why Mars may once have been a twin of our planet, how life might survive deep underground today, and how finding life beyond Earth could transform our understanding of who we are.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:20 Exploring Life on Mars: Recent Discoveries05:18 Understanding Organic Carbon: A Clue to Life?08:20 The Significance of Long-Chain Alkanes11:12 Potential Biosignatures: Evidence from Perseverance14:06 Dating Potential Life: Challenges and Methods17:28 Mars Sample Return: The Future of Martian Exploration20:20 Panspermia vs. Independent Life: The Debate23:14 The Quest for Life: Optimism and Evidence26:13 The Importance of Earth: Stewardship and Survival33:48 The Challenges of Human Mars Exploration38:12 Funding and Research in Space Science39:49 The Search for Life on Mars45:11 Implications of Discovering Life Beyond Earth56:11 Future of Space Exploration and Responsible Research...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr Kent Kiehl is a neuroscientist and clinical psychologist whose groundbreaking work has transformed how we understand psychopathy, morality, and the criminal mind.He’s the man who put an MRI scanner inside a truck and drove it into prisons across America — scanning over 5,000 inmates to uncover what makes a psychopath’s brain different. His discoveries reveal what happens when empathy, fear, and conscience fail to activate, and how these neural differences shape crime, punishment, and free will itself.Expect to learn how psychopathy develops in the brain, why psychopaths can understand right from wrong but don’t feel it, what brain areas govern impulse control and empathy, how neuroscience is being used to predict reoffending, and what treatments are showing promise — from cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness to emerging ideas like psychedelic-assisted therapy and neuromodulation.We also explore the ethics of brain-based sentencing, whether “evil” is a medical condition, how early interventions could prevent psychopathy before it forms, and what Kent’s research means for the future of law, morality, and the human condition.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro — Meet the Psychopath Whisperer04:35 What It’s Like to Sit Across from a Killer09:20 How Psychopathy Is Measured (The PCL-R Explained)14:15 Inside the Criminal Mind: Empathy, Fear & Free Will19:40 Building a Mobile MRI Lab to Study 5,000 Inmates25:30 What Brain Scans Reveal About Conscience and Control31:25 Predicting Crime: The Neuroscience of Recidivism37:50 Brain Circuits of Morality and the “Oh Damn” Signal44:10 Can Psychopaths Change? Punishment vs Treatment50:55 The Prison Programs That Actually Work57:30 Mendota: The Model That Cut Youth Homicides to Zero01:03:45 Neuroplasticity, Mindfulness & the Science of Change01:10:05 tDCS, Psychedelics & Future Prison Therapies01:16:40 Trauma, Brain Injury & The Two Types of Psychopaths01:23:25 Ethics of Neuroscience Behind Bars01:29:55 Retribution vs Rehabilitation: Rethinking Justice01:36:50 AI, Brain Data & The Future of Neurolaw01:43:30 Can Neuroscience Rewrite the Legal System?01:50:20 Dream Study: Scanning Death Row01:56:30 What Psychopathy Teaches Us About Being Human01:59:15 Outro...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Jonny Miller is the creator of Nervous System Mastery, a transformative training program that teaches thousands of people how to regulate stress, unlock emotional resilience, and reconnect with their bodies. He’s also the host of The Inner Frontier podcast and a TEDx speaker whose work bridges neuroscience, trauma, and the physiology of calm.Emotions aren’t what you think they are — they don’t live in your “mind,” but in the dynamic language of your body. Jonny’s journey from burnout and grief to embodied mastery reveals that the key to peace, creativity, and connection lies not in suppressing emotion, but in learning to listen to it.Expect to learn why emotions are predictions from the body, not reactions from the brain, how interoception and the vagus nerve shape your inner world, what really causes anxiety and how to retrain your nervous system to feel safe again, why emotional suppression creates “debt” in the body, the hidden physiology of flow states, how blood flow and micro-constriction may encode our sense of control, why co-regulation with others is the most powerful stress medicine, how to build real resilience instead of numbness — and much more…Timestamps: 03:00 Mastering the Nervous System05:53 The Impact of a Chaotic Nervous System08:51 Agency and Nervous System Regulation11:33 Personal Journey and Life Events14:48 Grief and Emotional Mastery17:45 Introspection and Self-Regulation20:44 Emotional Fluidity and Processing23:48 Navigating Rejection and Fear26:41 The Role of Relationships in Regulation37:47 Understanding Loneliness and Connection39:09 Nervous System Mastery Practices42:03 The Relational Dojo: Practicing Connection42:51 Descriptive Experience Sampling: Inner Awareness44:27 Interoception and Self-Understanding47:04 Emotions, Sensations, and Decision Making48:58 Flow States and Central Nervous System Optimization54:47 The Body's Predictive Processing59:08 Connection Between Body and Mind01:04:19 Meditation Practices and Overcoming Box-Ticking01:09:34 Exploring Meditative Practices01:10:34 The Role of Psychedelics in Personal Growth01:12:36 Therapeutic Benefits of MDMA and Ketamine01:15:01 Navigating Risks and Benefits of Psychedelics01:17:49 Psychedelics and Personal Pathways01:20:15 The Intersection of Psychedelics and Meaning01:23:28 Legislating Psychedelics: A New Approach01:26:39 The Future of Psychedelics and AI01:29:15 Exciting Frontiers in Neuroscience and Parenting...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Get Professional High Quality Talk Therapy at BetterHelp. 10% off your first month of therapy with this link - https://betterhelp.com/giantsshoulder (Paid Partnership by BetterHelp)Terrence Deacon is a neuro-anthropologist at UC Berkeley and author of The Symbolic Species and Incomplete Nature, two landmark works exploring how life and mind emerge from the physical world.Deacon’s work connects thermodynamics, evolution, and neuroscience to tackle one of science’s biggest questions — how matter can give rise to purpose, meaning, and consciousness. From the physics of snowflakes to the biology of living cells to the mystery of human thought, he shows how energy flow and self-organization can create the building blocks of life and mind.Expect to learn why the brain is not a computer, how information becomes meaning, what it takes for life to maintain order in a universe that tends toward chaos, the difference between homeodynamic, morphodynamic, and teleodynamic processes, how the first cells may have formed, why “absence” can have causal power, why AI systems don’t yet have true “aboutness,” and how understanding these principles could reshape how we think about life, consciousness, and artificial intelligence.Timestamps00:00 Intro & The Origins of Brains02:35 How Many Times Did the Brain Evolve?07:10 Could Life Have Evolved with Different Chemistry?11:40 Before DNA: The Mystery of LUCA17:20 How One Genetic Code Took Over the Planet23:45 Proto-Life and the First Self-Making Systems30:15 Why Evolution “Falls Up”: Creativity Through Redundancy38:10 From Thermodynamics to Life: The Physics of Purpose45:50 Snowflakes Remember the Sky: How Order Emerges from Chaos52:40 Homeodynamic, Morphodynamic, and Teleodynamic Life59:20 When Chemistry Starts to Care: The Birth of Normativity01:05:30 From Matter to Mind: The First Steps of Sentience01:13:00 Why Movement Creates Mind01:20:45 Language, Symbols, and the Explosion of Human Consciousness01:28:20 Can AI Ever Be Truly Sentient?01:36:00 Why the Brain Is Not a Computer01:42:30 Meaning, Mind, and the Future of Consciousness...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )[Brain.FM](http://brain.fm/): Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)[Consensus.AI](http://consensus.ai/): https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants ShoulderSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. William B. Miller Jr. is a physician, evolutionary biologist, and author of The Microcosm Within, Bioverse, and The Sentient Cell — books redefining how we understand life, evolution, and consciousness itself.He believes every cell is intelligent — sensing, deciding, and creating information from within. His groundbreaking theory of Cognition-Based Evolution reframes evolution not as a blind process of random mutations, but as a self-organizing, information-driven system guided by cellular minds.Expect to learn why cells—not genes—are the true engines of evolution, how microbes shaped the origins of consciousness, why cancer is a breakdown of cellular cooperation, how bioelectric communication could unlock regeneration, what makes Michael Levin’s living “Xenobots” so revolutionary, why AI can’t be conscious without boundaries or self-made information, and how this new understanding of life may reveal genuine purpose in the universe.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:20 Exploring Life's Biggest Questions04:55 The Consciousness of Cells07:39 Understanding Consciousness and Doubt10:30 Cells and Their Preferences13:21 The Self-Generated Nature of Information16:11 The Continuum of Consciousness19:13 Collaboration and Competition Among Cells22:01 Cancer: A Disease of the Self24:58 Understanding Cancer Through Niche Construction27:39 Therapeutic Avenues in Cancer Research30:23 The Role of the Brain in Consciousness33:20 Conscious Cells and Space Exploration36:05 The Implications of Sending Life into Space47:35 Understanding Consciousness and Its Boundaries52:28 Cells as Problem Solving Entities55:27 The Variance of Human Experience59:14 The Senome and Sensory Capacity01:05:13 Cognition-Based Evolution Explained01:10:45 The Role of Cognition in Evolution01:16:31 Cognition Before Cells: A Debate01:19:11 AI and Consciousness: A Distinction01:26:19 The Future of Consciousness and AI...Buy His Great Books The Sentient Cell: The Cellular Foundations of Consciousness: https://amzn.to/431VoQfNeuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Gualtiero Piccinini is a philosopher and consciousness researcher whose work is reshaping how we understand our own inner lives.Using descriptive experience sampling — a method pioneered by Dr. Russell Hurlburt — he has uncovered startling truths about the mind. A random beep interrupts your day (or even your sleep), forcing you to capture what was happening in your awareness just moments before. The results reveal that our intuitions about our own inner voice, imagery, and thoughts are often wrong.Expect to learn why many people never inner speak at all, why we don’t have a single “stream of consciousness” but multiple spotlights of awareness, how sleep may contain surprising fragments of consciousness outside of dreams, why your memory of your own experience is far less reliable than you think, how aphantasia challenges our understanding of mental imagery, why inner speech and thought are not the same thing, and how careful first-person science could unlock the mystery of consciousness itself.Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:20 Exploring Consciousness During Sleep06:10 The Nature of Thoughts in Sleep09:15 Descriptive Experience Sampling Methodology12:22 Consciousness Beyond Dreams15:13 The Spectrum of Consciousness18:12 Awareness and Thought Patterns21:19 Creative Insights from Sleep24:12 The Complexity of Inner Experience26:52 Multiple Streams of Consciousness34:06 Understanding Short-Term Memory and Consciousness36:12 The Distributed Nature of Consciousness39:53 Inner Speech vs. Unsymbolized Thoughts43:02 Defining Inner Speech and Thinking49:10 Aphantasia and Inner Experience52:46 Object Recognition and Mental Imagery62:01 The Future of Inner Experience Research01:04:45 The Evolution of Psychological Science01:06:20 Exploring Aphantasia and Visualization01:09:57 Cognitive Differences and Aphantasia01:14:01 Development of Inner Experience01:22:09 Future Directions in Inner Experience Research...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Dr. Anna Ciaunica is a philosopher and cognitive scientist, Principal Investigator at the University of Lisbon’s Centre for Philosophy of Science and Research Associate at UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. She leads INTERSELF, a project on how interactions with humans and artificial agents reshape our self-model, and collaborates with Michael Levin on “From Cells to Selves.”Consciousness isn’t just in your head—**biology is cognition the whole way down**. From co-embodiment in the womb to the immune system’s quiet influence on mood and meaning, Anna reframes mind as a body-wide process and the self as something we enact with our nerves, guts, skin and others.Expect to learn why the “self” may begin before birth, how co-embodiment and maternal–fetal synchrony shape first-person experience, why “the brain is not mental” reframes cognition as a cell-level, body-wide system, how depersonalisation differs from psychedelic ego dissolution, how interoception and precision weighting tune the felt boundary between “me” and “not-me,” why inflammation and sickness behaviour can alter mood, agency and reality-feel, what a Markov blanket is in human terms, how avatars, robots and social media recalibrate the self, whether single cells display proto-cognition and what neurons uniquely add, how to build a minimum viable self in AI (body, homeostasis, immune-like error correction and development), practical ways to stay embodied in a digital world, what this lens means for therapy (vagus, gut–brain, immune), and much more…Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:50 Cognition and Biological Systems08:36 The Evolution of Intelligence15:50 Challenging Traditional Definitions29:08 The Ingredients of Cognition39:53 The Balance of Inner and Outer Worlds51:42 The Development of Self-Awareness56:57 Sickness Behavior and Disconnection from Self01:03:17 The Cell's Plan for Survival01:09:33 The Nature of Self-Organizing Systems01:16:44 Collective Intelligence and Self-Preservation01:22:15 Conscious AI: The Quest for Understanding01:33:53 The Developmental Turn in Understanding Human Mind…Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Check out Sentia Spirits the future of drinking (Use Code GIANT10 for 10% discount off your first purchase: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Adam Safron is a cognitive neuroscientist and former research fellow at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, now a staff scientist with Michael Levin at Tufts’ Allen Discovery Center. He’s the architect of the Integrated World Modeling Theory of consciousness and known for provocative work on rhythmic neural entrainment in trance and orgasm.Psychedelics don’t just make you see things — they loosen high-level assumptions in the brain’s predictive model, opening a window for insight, flexibility, and lasting change. We connect this to the Free Energy Principle, the brain’s inner “movie screen,” and why rhythm, attention, and context can shift who we are and how free we feel.Expect to learn what the Free Energy Principle really means in plain English, how generative models, prediction errors, and precision shape perception and action, why the precuneus/PCC may serve as an inner canvas for conscious scenes, the difference between posterior stream and prefrontal access (continuous experience vs discrete sharing), how psychedelics via 5-HT2A and REBUS/ALBUS relax some priors (and strengthen others), why set and setting and mystical-type experiences predict outcomes, how trips can increase “degrees of freedom” (a practical take on free will), what rhythmic entrainment reveals about flow, meditation, and orgasm, what DMT’s “entities” might say about world-models, how bioelectric intelligence informs consciousness, whether AI needs an inner world and a “body dashboard” to align with human values, simple practices to gain mental room to move this week, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro03:00 Understanding the Free Energy Principle05:54 Application Beyond Biological Systems11:08 Generative Models and Consciousness18:13 The Dark Room Problem23:06 Generative Models in the Brain36:09 The Brain's Generative Models41:46 The Role of Bioelectricity in Unity49:35 Psychedelics and the Free Energy Principle57:07 Psychedelics: Strengthening and Weakening Beliefs01:07:58 Psychedelics and Serotonin Receptors01:11:49 Compassion in Psychedelic Therapy01:13:30 Exploring Consciousness with Psychedelics01:17:28 DMT Experiences and Entities01:24:12 The Nature of Reality and Consciousness...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Philip Ball is one of the world’s most brilliant science writers and the author of over 30 books, including How Life Works, The Book of Minds, and Beyond Weird — a radical rethinking of quantum mechanics that has become a modern classic.A former editor at Nature, Philip has spent decades translating the frontiers of biology, physics, and consciousness into ideas that challenge our deepest intuitions about life, mind, and reality.Expect to learn how quantum mechanics might shape the behavior of living systems, why genes are not blueprints and biology isn’t a machine, how brain organoids are raising ethical and philosophical dilemmas, what quantum biology really means, why the brain isn’t just a prediction engine, how science misunderstands minds (including alien and artificial ones), what makes consciousness so slippery, and how the stories we tell about science shape what we believe is real — and what we believe is possible.Timestamps:03:40 The Prolific Writer: Philip Ball's Journey 06:29 The Art of Science Communication 09:36 The Process of Writing: From Research to Publication 12:33 Exploring Quantum Mechanics: A New Perspective 15:49 Understanding Quantum Features: Superposition and Entanglement 18:31 Quantum Computing: The Role of Observation 21:46 The Nature of Information in Quantum Mechanics 40:38 The Nature of Information in Quantum Particles 42:40 Exploring Quantum Biology 49:36 Quantum Effects in Consciousness 56:18 Defining Minds and Consciousness 01:01:46 Agency and Cognition in Living Beings 01:14:59 Evolution of Cognition and Mindedness 01:17:33 Understanding Agency Across Species 01:20:40 The Concept of Umwelt and Perception 01:25:11 The Future of Biotech and Consciousness 01:31:43 Ethics of Brain Organoids and Consciousness 01:42:23 The Controversy of Genetic Manipulation 01:44:59 The Complexity of Genetic Screening 01:51:59 Navigating Genetic Research and Regulation 02:07:49 The Future of Biology and Genetic Understanding ...📚 RECOMMENDED READINGHow Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology: https://amzn.to/4lPLyaGBeyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different: https://amzn.to/4lOS3uAThe Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens: https://amzn.to/4oVTMAZ…Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

Jon Perry is a science animator and educator, creator of Stated Clearly — the YouTube channel that turns messy biology into crisp, visual explanations, with more than fifty million views and a devoted audience of curious skeptics.StatedClearly Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@StatedClearlyJon’s mission is simple and radical: fix our definitions. When we call cells “intelligent,” or label xenobots “robots,” we smuggle minds into places they don’t belong. From a slime-mold maze rebuilt with LEGO and gravity to de-extinction hype and NASA’s search for life, Jon shows how precise language changes the experiments we run, the technologies we build, and the stories we tell about nature.Jon's original slime mold video: https://youtu.be/2Thytf95wGU?si=_K1YDwL8TbrF4YQ8Expect to learn why slime-mold “maze solving” might not be evidence of cognition, how simple physics can mimic problem-solving, the crucial difference between adaptation, learning, and intelligence, why some definitions would make tap water look smart, how to test for learning without minds, what xenobots really are (and aren’t), why “de-extinction” is mostly marketing, how NASA’s definition of life misled search strategies, how operational definitions steer funding and ethics, and how getting the words right can reboot entire fields of biology....Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction02:30 Michael Levin Slime Mold Debate05:20 Intelligence vs. Instinct08:20 The Role of Language in Science11:12 Rethinking Intelligence as a Spectrum14:05 Xenobots and Anthrobots: A New Frontier17:25 Defining Life: The Challenge of Boundaries20:10 Observational Science vs. Hypothesis Testing39:59 Exploring Bioelectricity and Cell Behavior43:49 The Impact of Michael Levin's Research48:34 Understanding Gene Expression in Cells55:51 The Emergence of Adaptive Behaviors in Cells01:03:17 Ethical Considerations in Synthetic Life01:03:48 The Controversy of De-Extinction and Colossal Biosciences01:10:16 The Science of De-Extinction01:13:03 Genetic Editing and Its Implications01:18:58 The Marketing of De-Extinction01:24:55 The Reality of Recreating Extinct Species01:30:39 Future of Genetic Research and Funding01:35:48 Funding Science: Challenges and Opportunities01:45:27 The Future of Gene Editing and Ethical Considerations...Neuroscience Products I Swear By (Supports the Channel)Sentia Spirits:https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249

David Papineau is a philosopher of mind at King’s College London and author of Thinking About Consciousness and The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience, a leading voice who has shaped today’s mind–brain debate from the academy to the airwaves.He argues that consciousness isn’t something mystical added to the brain—it’s what the brain is doing—and that the “hard problem” is a conceptual trap that sneaks in dualism. In this episode, we put materialism on trial, stress-test it with neuroscience, and ask what it means for meaning, morality, animals, and AI.Expect to learn the strongest arguments for why consciousness is not fundamental, how causal closure and mental causation actually work, why the hard problem may be a mirage, what Mary really learns when she sees red, how zombies mislead us, what aphantasia and inner speech reveal about the diversity of inner experience, where the boundary of consciousness might lie across animals, plants, bacteria—and even organs, whether AI could ever “care” and what architecture it would need, how perception might be qualitative beyond representation, what split-brain, blindsight, anesthesia and psychedelics teach us about the self, what evidence would falsify materialism, how to reconcile meaning and ethics without magic, and much more…Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:03:30 The Causal Closure Argument for Materialism00:06:29 Challenging the Channeling Metaphor of Consciousness00:09:16 Exploring the Hard Problem of Consciousness00:12:20 Arguments for Consciousness Being Fundamental00:15:18 The Knowledge Argument and Mary’s Experience00:17:50 Introspection and the Nature of Consciousness00:20:46 The Sociological Context of Consciousness Research00:23:31 Defining Consciousness: The Need for Clarity00:46:24 Exploring Theories of Consciousness00:47:42 Methodological Approaches to Consciousness Research00:50:27 Defining Consciousness: The Importance of Clarity00:55:16 Empirical Research on Consciousness00:59:50 Challenges in Consciousness Research01:02:11 Consciousness Across Different Organisms01:06:22 Consciousness vs. Intelligence: A Comparative Analysis01:10:44 The Nature of Consciousness: A Spectrum or a Cutoff?01:14:44 Integrating Experience: Consciousness in Bacteria and Beyond01:19:37 Phenomenal Consciousness: A Vague Concept?01:22:57 Heuristic Responses vs. Conscious Subjectivity01:28:35 Illusionism vs. Materialism in Consciousness01:34:31 AI and Consciousness: The Future of Machines01:49:53 Moral Considerations in AI and Animal Welfare...Buy David's Books (They're Great!)Thinking about Consciousness: https://amzn.to/4mw9ujZPhilosophical Devices: Proofs, Probabilities, Possibilities, and Sets: https://amzn.to/4mr3o44The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience: https://amzn.to/3KcsjLu...Supports the Channel Through these Links!Sentia Spirits: https://sentiaspirits.com/mcgloughlin4209355084Manta Sleep Mask: Get the Comfiest Sleep Mask on the Planet (Use Code GIANTSMANTA10 https://bit.ly/4ilzfBL )Brain.FM: Music Entrainment for Focused Deep Work (30 Day Free Trial: https://www.brain.fm/giantsshoulder)Consensus.AI: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqeFollow My Neuroscience Podcast - The Giants Shoulder Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249