All in the Mind
All In The Mind is Radio National's weekly foray into the mental universe, the mind, brain and behaviour - everything from addiction to artificial intelligence.
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2007-07-21 Behind the scenes: animal experimentation ethics committees
SUMMARY: A rare glimpse from the inside. An Australian neuroscientist and an animal welfarist share their experiences of working together on animal experimental and ethics committees. Personal philosophies are challenged, compromises are made, and change happens through dialogue. Good animal welfare ...
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2007-07-14 Nature? Nurture? What makes us human?
SUMMARY: That old chestnut what defines human nature? Genes or experience? Are we free agents or genetically determined souls? These questions have fuelled a fierce fight - polarizing a battleground of social scientists, biologists, parents and politicians. World renowned science writer Matt Ridley ...
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2007-07-07 Deep listening: working with Indigenous mental distress
SUMMARY: 'How do I get them to talk?' Hinted-at events, listening to the silence, roundabout stories. Mental health and other professionals inexperienced at working with Indigenous clients struggle with the limits of their cultural awareness, with language barriers and with the historical legacies ...
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2007-06-30 Mind Reading (Part 2 of 2): The rise of mental surveillance
SUMMARY: Our lives are increasingly under surveillance. Is the mental wilderness between your ears your last truly private space? Scientists are uncovering new ways to fish for your thoughts, and to decipher the brain's neural code behind your thinking. The applications are potentially revolutionary ...
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2007-06-23 Mind Reading (Part 1 of 2): Neuroscience in the witness stand
SUMMARY: 'But officer, my brain made me do it!' Brain scans are becoming commonplace as evidence in US courts, in the bid to convict offenders or free them. But is the technology half-baked? Can we biologically categorize people as criminals - mad, bad and dangerous to know? Free will, privacy and p ...
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2007-06-16 Teaching your brain to be happy
SUMMARY: Happiness is paradoxical. What we think will give it to us - invariably doesn't. When we think we've got it - we invariably haven't. We're not even good at predicting what will make us happy people. From languishing to flourishing - can even the most troubled mind be primed for happiness? ...
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2007-06-09 Chronic fatigue syndrome
SUMMARY: An exhaustion like none other, disturbed and unrefreshing sleep, aching limbs, cognitive blur often for many years. The physical impact is immense. Despite this, Chronic fatigue syndrome remains difficult to biologically and medically define, and to treat even for those most specialized ...
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2007-06-09 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
SUMMARY: An exhaustion like none other, disturbed and unrefreshing sleep, aching limbs, cognitive blur often for many years. The physical impact is immense. Despite this, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome remains difficult to biologically and medically define, and to treat even for those most specialized ...
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2007-06-02 Writing the Brain: Part 2 – Neuroscience and creativity with Sue Woolfe
SUMMARY: Acclaimed novelist Sue Woolfe, author of Leaning Towards Infinity, found herself mystified by her own mind as she wrestled with narrative of her book, The Secret Cure a tale of love, science and autism. She set out to answer a question troubling her what are people who sit in rooms making ...
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2007-05-26 Writing the Brain: Part 1 - Into the Silent Land with Paul Broks
SUMMARY: Our brains tell our stories and narrate our lives for us. But stories about brains are now in vogue more than ever too. Neuropsychologist, playwright and author Dr Paul Broks climbs inside the fractured minds of his patients and their fragile selves, to tell a bigger story about the mysteri ...
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2007-05-19 The Neurobiology of Suicide
SUMMARY: Psychiatrist and neuroscientist John Mann has a grizzly job. He wants to understand why some deeply depressed souls take their own lives, yet others resist. His team's post-mortem studies suggest a distinct neurobiology of suicide. And, for those left behind, might there be a definite 'biol ...
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2007-05-12 Bioterrorism and your brain
SUMMARY: Knowledge can be dangerous. As neuroscience delves more deeply into our organ of thought and its complex soup of neurotransmitters could it also be exploited for malign purposes? Is the brain the next target of terrorism? Pharmaceutically enhanced soldiers, chemical torture, incapacitants, ...
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2007-05-05 Is music the universal language?
SUMMARY: One persons spoken language might sound like gobbledy gook to another but when it comes to music do we beat to a common evolutionary drum? Could music be the universal language - linking minds across cultures and ancestral time? And, which came first music or language? Don your headphones ...
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2007-04-28 You are not your brain scan! Critical reporting on the mind sciences
SUMMARY: The Brain. It's been called the final frontier of science. Colourful fMRI scans light up our TV screens and newspapers promising to reveal the secrets of the psyche. From the search for the brain's God Spot, to the rapid rise of neuroeconomics, neuromarketing and neuroethics makes for sexy ...
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2007-04-28 You are not your brain scan!: Critical reporting on the mind sciences
SUMMARY: The Brain. It's been called the final frontier of science. Colourful fMRI scans light up our TV screens and newspapers promising to reveal the secrets of the psyche. From the search for the brain's God Spot, to the rapid rise of neuroeconomics, neuromarketing and neuroethics makes for sexy ...
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2007-04-21 Jerome Kagan – The Father of Temperament (repeat)
SUMMARY: Why can two children born into the same household be like two different peas in a pod? Harvards Jerome Kagan trailblazed the controversial science of temperament to investigate why. In a career that spans more than half a century, now hes going into battle for our minds, with a compelling r ...
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2007-04-14 Julie’s Story: Diary of a brain tumour
SUMMARY: Like many young Australians in their early 20s, writer Julie Deakin headed to Europe for her first Big Adventure. But holidaying in Hungary with her sister she found herself diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and scheduled for immediate surgery, in a land whose language she didnt spe ...
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2007-04-07 Borderline Personality Disorder - Challenging the label
SUMMARY: Self harm and self-denigration. Radical mood swings, and diabolical, destructive behaviours. For those labelled as having Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - life is intolerable. Not the least because its a diagnosis often stigmatised by the very profession responsible for giving it. Th ...
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2007-03-31 The Blind Brain: Part 2 of 2 – The bionic eye
SUMMARY: It conjures up images of the Six Million Dollar Man or Star Trek. A bionic eye for the profoundly blind. What are the prospects for a prosthesis or retinal chip to restore vision? Can engineers really replicate the deeply subjective experience that is seeing? And, would near enough be good ...
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2007-03-31 The Blind Brain (Part 2 of 2) – The bionic eye
SUMMARY: It conjures up images of the Six Million Dollar Man or Star Trek. A bionic eye for the profoundly blind. What are the prospects for a prosthesis or retinal chip to restore vision? Can engineers really replicate the deeply subjective experience that is seeing? And, would near enough be good ...
All in the Mind
