Podcasts

Logo for the "Brain Inspired" podcast: a blue outline of a brain with circuitry in one hemisphere and binary code in the other.

Recent Episodes:

Brain Inspired Microphone

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
Brain Inspired Microphone

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
Brain Inspired Microphone

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
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Audio research news logo.

Recent Episodes:

Covers of upcoming neuroscience books.
Reviews Microphone

The Transmitter’s reading list: Six upcoming neuroscience books, plus notable titles in 2025

Dig into an exploration of the fundamental aspects of intelligence, a new textbook about theoretical neuroscience and a memoir about memory research, among other new releases.

By Francisco J. Rivera Rosario
27 August 2025 | 10 min listen
Illustration of a brain made up of ones and zeros.

Long-standing theoretical neuroscience fellowship program loses financial support

Funding from the Swartz and Sloan Foundations helped bring physicists and mathematicians into neuroscience for more than 30 years.

By Calli McMurray
26 August 2025 | 6 min listen
Illustration of a brain and screens of computer code.

Should neuroscientists ‘vibe code’?

Researchers are developing software entirely through natural language conversations with advanced large language models. The trend is transforming how research gets done—but it also presents new challenges for evaluating the outcomes.

By Benjamin Dichter
25 August 2025 | 9 min listen
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Logo for the Synaptic podcast.

Recent Episodes:

Illustrated portrait of Damien Fair.
Synaptic Microphone

Stimulating the brain with Damien Fair

The MacArthur Foundation “genius” discusses his return to his home state of Minnesota and why it’s important to protect the developing brain.

By Brady Huggett
3 February 2025 | 68 min listen
The logo of the Synaptic podcast.
Synaptic Microphone

Season 2 of ‘Synaptic’ draws to a close

Season 3 will begin next year.

By Brady Huggett
1 November 2024 | 2 min listen
Illustrated portrait of Tim Ryan.
Synaptic Microphone

Timothy Ryan on his pivotal switch from studying particle physics to decoding synaptic transmission

Dissuaded from pursuing theoretical physics and deterred by the “long feedback loop” in experimental physics, the National Academy of Sciences member took inspiration from “polymath” Watt Webb and “visionary” Stephen Smith—and learned to work “completely outside his comfort zone.”

By Brady Huggett
1 October 2024 | 70 min listen
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Two people talking to one another create a speech bubble with The Transmitter’s logo above the speech bubble.

Recent Episodes:

Black-and-white illustrated portrait of Jonathan Green.
Spectrum Microphone

‘Emergent and transactional’: How Jonathan Green is rethinking autism and interventions

The experienced clinician discusses writing his recent paper, and its reception in the field.

By Brady Huggett
28 August 2023 | 1 min read
Black and white watercolor-style portrait of Cheryl Dissanayake.
Spectrum Microphone

The story of autism research in Australia: A conversation with Cheryl Dissanayake

With the help of a generous benefactor, autism research in Australia is gathering critical mass.

By Brady Huggett
25 July 2023 | 1 min read
Images of Marie-Eve Lefebvre and Punit Shah sitting at their laptops.
Spectrum Microphone

New journals seek to fill neurodiversity gap

The two journals, although differing in initial support, both realized the need for a publication focused exclusively on the neurodiverse experience.

By Brady Huggett
8 March 2023 | 42 min listen
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