It's effective against depression, can help you stop smoking, even ease end-of-life distress. It's non-addictive, naturally occurring, and has been used for thousands of years -- but you can't have it. It's psilocybin, the compound that creates the "magic" in dozens of species of mushrooms.

Johns Hopkins researcher Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D. knows just how magical it is. He's conducting research on psilocybin's therapeutic value for everything from persistent Lyme disease to a range of mental health conditions. Find out what this psychedelic drug can do, and why it got such a bad reputation.

Plus... revisiting Timothy Leary's rise and fall as he turned on, tuned out, and dropped out.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org 

Can't remember the fourth item on your grocery list? Nelson Dellis, a professional "memory athlete," can remember 100 things or more (though he still may forget the butter). Hear how Dellis learned to memorize lists so long that he became a five-time USA Memory Champion, and how you can use some of his strategies to improve your own memory. Dellis explains how he uses tricks like the "memory palace" and mnemonic devices to recall lengthy lists with perfect accuracy. In an era when cell phones are making memory superfluous, you can regain some of those lost skills by using his techniques.

Plus... those rare folks who can never forget a day in their lives.

 For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org 

Synesthesia is the mysterious mingling of the senses that creates the experience of "seeing" sounds or "hearing" colors. Neurologist Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. has spent his career exploring this remarkable phenomenon, and has some fascinating insight into how these sensations are formed in the brain -- and how we might use it to reunite our fractured society.

Plus... meet the man whose extreme form of synesthesia mingled all five of his senses! 

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Most of us talk with our hands, some more than others, but what are we really saying? Susan Goldin-Meadow, PhD, professor of psychology and comparative human development at the University of Chicago, is an expert on gestures – what they mean, why they don't always agree with what words we are using, and even how they develop in blind children who have never seen them.

Plus... why you should never use the thumbs-up sign in Iran!

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Menopause can wreak havoc on mood and body temperature as it signals the end of fertility, but some of the biggest changes it causes are in the brain. Emily Jacobs, assistant professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at UC Santa Barbara, explains how the precipitous decline in estrogen during the "change of life" disrupts the endocrine system and makes a woman's brain more like... a man's! Plus: Hear from real women describing the wide range of effects they experienced.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

 For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

Is the deluge of digital media killing our ability to focus? Psychologist Gloria Mark, a professor in the Department of Informatics at University of California, Irvine, explains how we are shaped by what we pay attention to – and why today’s short snippets of everything are reinforcing short attention spans. Learn how playing a few minutes of Solitaire on your phone can help relieve stress, and why it can be so hard to stop. And in case you need to ask, you’ll find out why it’s such a bad idea to give an iPad to a baby.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit

 https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit

 https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org 

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

The impact of mild traumatic brain injury extends far beyond the gridiron – concussions can happen anywhere, including playing fields, bike paths, and war zones. Kenneth Kutner, PhD, who specializes in head injuries and has been the team neuropsychologist for the New York Giants for 30 seasons, joins us to talk about what the latest research has revealed about concussion and how it affects physical health and cognitive function. From the military to the NFL, and even in the corporate boardroom, this invisible injury is finally emerging from the shadows. Plus… why don’t woodpeckers get concussions?

Dogs and the humans who cherish them have a unique bond unlike any other. We wonder all too often, do our dogs love us as much as we love them? What are they really thinking? Are we projecting our own feelings onto t​hese treasured family members in trying to understand them?

In this  "classic" episode first released in 2020, Emory University neuroscientist Dr. Gregory Berns, discusses some of his extraordinary findings.   After spending years using MRI imaging technology to study the human brain, he then used this same approach to study dogs’ brains. It turns out that our furry friends are much smarter than we thought!

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org

In this classic episode recorded live at the Juilliard School in the fall of 2019 Dr. Stieg visits with world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming - a leading advocate for research and public education on the therapeutic power of music to heal the mind. Music’s psychological and neurological impact can help people suffering with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other brain disorders, and even restore speech after a stroke. Fleming also explores the brain’s incredible musical memory mechanism and why learning and healing through song can be so transformative.

 https://reneefleming.com/

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org 

What world do you live in? You may think your experience of life comes from the outside, with your brain processing sensory information as it's received. Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex in England, takes a different view. Tune in as Dr. Seth explains how your brain is actually creating your reality, not just interpreting it. Plus... why the brain is a "prediction machine," and how anesthesia is more like death than sleep.

For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit https://thisisyourbrain.com

For more about Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org