Brain Inspired

Recent articles

This podcast, hosted by Paul Middlebrooks, features in-depth conversations with neuroscientists studying natural and artificial intelligence, philosophy, consciousness and other related areas.

Nikolay Kukushkin discusses his book, ‘One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind’

He explains how meaning arises in the interactions found throughout nature and evolution, from molecules to minds.

By Paul Middlebrooks
8 October 2025 | 1 min read

Ann Kennedy explains the theoretical neuroscience of survival behaviors

The Scripps neuroscientist calls for a broader theoretical neuroscience approach in her area of research, which focuses on how the subcortex bridges life and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
24 September 2025 | 1 min read

Michael Breakspear and Mac Shine explain how brain processing changes across neural population scales

Breakspear and Shine find a scale-free property of brain activity that is conserved across diverse species, suggesting that a universal principle of brain activity underlies cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
10 September 2025 | 1 min read

Xaq Pitkow shares his principles for studying cognition in our imperfect brains and bodies

Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances.

By Paul Middlebrooks
27 August 2025 | 1 min read

Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By Paul Middlebrooks
13 August 2025 | 1 min read

Jennifer Prendki explains why AI needs to emulate life

Prendki describes how her work on large artificial-intelligence models shaped her view that current AI needs inspiration from living organisms.

By Paul Middlebrooks
30 July 2025 | 109 min listen

Keith Hengen and Woodrow Shew explore criticality and cognition

The two discuss their evolving views of brain criticality as a central organizing principle of cognition, development and learning.

By Paul Middlebrooks
16 July 2025 | 94 min listen

Xiao-Jing Wang outlines the future of theoretical neuroscience

Wang discusses why he decided the time was right for a new theoretical neuroscience textbook and how bifurcation is a key missing concept in neuroscience explanations.

By Paul Middlebrooks
2 July 2025 | 112 min listen

Nicole Rust on her new book, ‘Elusive Cures’

Rust discusses how understanding the brain as a complex dynamical system will help us accelerate treatments for brain disorders.

By Paul Middlebrooks
18 June 2025 | 93 min listen

What do neuroscientists mean when they use the term ‘representation’?

A group of neuroscientists and philosophers discuss the use and misuse of the term "representation" across the cognitive sciences and how it influences the way we interpret the connection between neural, behavioral and mental activity.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 June 2025 | 127 min listen

Get notified every time a new episode is released.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of human cortical organoids.

Parsing phenotypes in people with shared autism-linked variants; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 October.

By Jill Adams
14 October 2025 | 2 min read
Video of an olfactory receptor gene being expressed across a few neurons in a clonal raider ant’s antenna.

Ant olfactory neurons reveal new ‘transcriptional shield’ mechanism of gene regulation

A protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.

By Viviane Callier
14 October 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of a series of shapes, with a few resembling human eyes.

The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception

Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.

By Grace Lindsay
13 October 2025 | 5 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.