Childhood Amnesia
By the age of 7, we’ve forgotten more than half of our memories from early childhood.
Vicarious Trauma
Observing a single traumatic event can alter the brain of a mouse.
The Bingeing Brain
The brain chemical serotonin may play a role in binge eating disorder.
Endangered Voices
Digital technology and social media are helping save endangered languages.
Brain Stimulation for Eating Disorders
An experimental treatment for bulimia nervosa may help restore connections within the brain that influence eating behavior in some patients.
Music & Touch
Trained musicians are better at distinguishing between their senses than the average person.
Ancient Cat History
Humans and cats kept close company in a Chinese village 5,300 years ago.
Crows & Faces Update
Eight years later, a population of Seattle crows still holds a grudge against the face of their human capturer.
Safer Cookstoves
Cleaner cookstoves could save millions of lives and slow global warming.
Artificial Dye Safety
Some people argue that food dyes are harmful to human health, but do decades of safety research back up these allegations?
Harmonica Colds
A listener asks if he can reinfect himself with the same cold.
Gluten-Free Foods
Gluten-free diets are all the rage, but only a small portion of the population is truly sensitive to the wheat protein.
Mice & Autism
A common drug reverses social deficits and repetitive behaviors in mice with autism-like symptoms.
Podcast for 15 November 2013
YOUNG BRAINS - Just how long does the teenage brain take to mature? How teenagers with autism see things differently. And, scientists reverse autistic-like symptoms in adolescent mice. Also: can you put barcodes on brain cells? And, what casino rats can tell us about gambling addiction.
Teenagers & Autism
Autistic teens and infants at risk for autism share a heightened interest in looking at objects.
Rat Casinos
Miniature “casinos” built specially for rats are helping researchers understand gambling addiction in humans.
Music in the Brain
Brain differences explain why not everyone has an ear for music.
Podcast for 3 November 2013
ANIMAL & HUMAN HEALTH - A special report on the relationship between animal and human health, from pet obesity to cancer in tigers. Also, why spiders have prompted a massive Toyota recall. And, a citizen science project that’s pretty batty.
Zoobiquity
The Zoobiquity project teams up physicians with veterinarians to study diseases that affect humans and other animals.
Elephants Understand Pointing
Elephants, unlike mammals much more similar to us, seem to instinctively understand pointing gestures.
Podcast for 18 October 2013
PSYCHOLOGY & MEDICINE - Can literary fiction influence social astuteness? Why some people still fall for email spam. And, how sluggers' eyes can track fastballs in time to hit them. Also, how cell phones are transforming rural medicine.
Tracking Fastballs
To hit a fastball, a batter's brain has to predict when it'll come across the plate.