Explore every episode of the podcast Brain Stories
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Episode 23- Jenny Lange on the gothic history of neuroscience, a Halloween special | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:34:34 | |
In this special Halloween episode of Brainstories, Selina and Caswell speak with Dr Jenny Lange (UK DRI at UCL) about the gothic history of neuroscience — and how scientific experiments shaped gothic literature. Date of episode recording: 2025-10-02 | |||
| Brain Stories Episode 22 Caswell Barry and Lucy Unwin talk about the neuroscience behind their new children’s book – Inside Your Brain | 15 Oct 2025 | 00:47:49 | |
Caswell Barry and Lucy Unwin talk about the neuroscience behind their new children’s book – Inside Your Brain. Inside Your Brain takes readers on an irreverent gallop through history to uncover ten ground breaking discoveries that led to our current understanding of how the brain works.
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| Brain Stories - Episode 21: Professor Adrian Isaacs on Frontotemporal Dementia | 20 Aug 2025 | 00:38:49 | |
Selina and Caswell chat with Professor Adrian Isaacs from the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL to talk Frontotemporal Dementia — from how fruit flies are helping, to the role of DNA repeat expansions in disease, and why lipids might protect the brain. Presenters: Caswell Barry and Selina Wray Date of episode recording: 2025-07-28 | |||
| Brain Stories – Episode 20: Tali Sharot on what influences our beliefs and decision making | 09 Sep 2024 | 00:49:49 | |
Professor Tali Sharot talks to Caswell and Selina about why we're easy to influence and overly optimistic
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| Brain Stories - Episode 19: Sonia Gandhi on researching and treating Parkinson's Disease | 26 Aug 2024 | 00:47:53 | |
Professor Sonia Gandhi talks to Steve and Selina about her research into the biology of Parkinson's disease, and how this understanding could lead to new treatments.
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| Brain Stories Live - Episode 18: Neuro AI | 10 Nov 2023 | 01:35:47 | |
The first ever live recording of the UCL Brain Stories podcast live from the Bloomsbury Studio at the Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio on 18th October 2023. Caswell and Selina spoke to Diksha Gupta, Rick Adams, and Benedetto De Martino on all things Neuro AI. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast
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| Brain Stories - Episode 17: Jenny Bizley on how the brain perceives sounds | 12 Sep 2023 | 00:38:24 | |
Professor Jenny Bizley talks to Caswell and Steve about how different sounds are perceived by the brain. For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2023-08-29 | |||
| Brain stories - Episode 16: Peter Kok on how the brain determines what we see | 06 Sep 2023 | 00:42:41 | |
Peter Kok talks to Selina and Steve about how the brain determines our visual experience of the world and how his research aims to understand the neural circuit underlying this. For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast
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| Brain Stories - Episode 15: Sarah Garfinkel on how clinical conditions impact emotion processing | 03 Aug 2023 | 00:41:22 | |
Professor Sarah Garfinkel talks to Caswell and Steve about her research exploring emotion and how brain body interactions may go awry in clinical conditions. For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2023-07-14 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 14: Kate Jeffery On The Cognitive Map And Memory | 14 Mar 2023 | 00:49:56 | |
Kate Jeffery talks to Steve and Caswell about memory, how place cells might be the neural basis of our sense of space, the joys of training rats to climb around in three dimensions, and what all this has got to do with architecture. For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast
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| Brain Stories - Episode 13: Ed Wild On Huntington’s Disease – From Genetics To Clinical Trials | 20 Feb 2023 | 00:57:19 | |
Ed Wild talks to Steve and Selina in a wide-ranging discussion about Huntington’s disease – encompassing genetics, disease mechanisms, therapeutic development and clinical trials – with some interesting stories about Sea Urchins and CAG repeats, and the Pope! For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2023-01-24 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 12: Tobias Hauser On Computational Psychiatry And The Origins Of OCD | 25 Jan 2023 | 00:42:18 | |
Tobias Hauser talks to Steve and Caswell about common misconceptions around OCD, what the "computational" means in computational psychiatry, and the reasons why teenagers might hold the key to understanding the origins of mental health problems. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2023-01-13 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 11: Katharina Schmack on Schizophrenia and why We All Hallucinate | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:42:45 | |
Katharina Schmack talks to Caswell and Steve about dopamine, hallucinations, how to juggle careers in science and medicine, and why sleep-deprived parents might hear things that are not really there. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 10: Hugo Spiers on the brains of taxi drivers | 25 Jul 2022 | 00:56:28 | |
Hugo Spiers talks about taxis, how where you grew up affects your navigation skills, and the time that Benedict Cumberbatch ruined one of his experiments. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/n…in-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2022-07-19 | |||
| Brain Stories – Episode 9: UCL Neuroscience Symposium | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:37:26 | |
Conversations with the speakers from the 2022 UCL Neuroscience Symposium. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2022-06-22 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 8: Aman Saleem on Visual Input to Spatial Memories | 28 Apr 2022 | 00:43:12 | |
Aman talks to Caswell and Steve about his journey from metallurgical engineering to multi-brain region neuroscience, how this has informed his rodent VR based studies of visual navigation, and what brains taste like. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2022-04-13 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 7: Benedetto De Martino on decision making | 28 Mar 2022 | 00:41:41 | |
Benedetto De Martino talks to Selina and Caswell about decision making, why we make choices that are bad for us, and the importance of having a hobby - plus a banjo makes an appearance. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/n…in-stories-podcast | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 6: Sanjay Sisodiya on Epilepsy | 14 Jan 2022 | 00:38:01 | |
In our first episode in 2022, Caswell & Selina talk to Professor Sanjay Sisodiya (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) about his research into epilepsy and the intersection between climate change and neurological disease. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/n…in-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2021-12-06 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 5: Tamar Makin on Brain Plasticity | 26 Nov 2021 | 00:34:20 | |
In our fifth episode Selina and Steve chat to Professor Tamar Makin about her fascinating research on brain plasticity, artificial limbs and the potential for human augmentation. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/n…in-stories-podcast Date of episode recording: 2021-11-24 | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 3: Andrew Macaskill and Making Decisions | 21 Sep 2021 | 00:38:35 | |
In our third episode Andrew Macaskill joins Selina and Caswell to talk about how the brain weighs evidence and makes decisions - also why it's important for neuroscientists to get out of their comfort zone once in a while. For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/n…in-stories-podcast | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 4: Nick Fox on the Importance of Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease | 20 Sep 2021 | 00:38:24 | |
In our third episode Selina & Caswell talk to Professor Nick Fox about the importance of research into Alzheimer’s disease and the progress being made towards better diagnosis and treatment. Find out more and access the transcript here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 2: Nichola Raihani and Social Cooperation | 02 Jul 2021 | 00:37:11 | |
Professor Nichola Raihani talks about her new book, Kalahari Babblers, Lizard Island and why we're better off together. Find out more and access the transcript here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast | |||
| Brain Stories - Episode 1: Sophie Scott and the science of laughter | 15 Jun 2021 | 00:39:28 | |
Welcome to the brand new monthly podcast series from the UCL Neuroscience Domain presented by Caswell Barry (UCL Division of Biosciences), Steve Fleming (UCL Division of Psychology & Language Sciences) and Selina Wray (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology). UCL Brain Stories aims to showcase the best of UCL Neuroscience, highlighting the wide range of cutting-edge research going on within the Neuroscience Domain as well as bringing you the people behind the research to share their journey of how they ended up here. Each month we’ll be joined by a leading neuroscientist to offer their perspective on the big questions and challenges in Neuroscience research, to find out what stimulated their fascination with the brain and hear how they ended up becoming part of the UCL Neuroscience community. In our 1st episode we are joined by Professor Sophie Scott, who chats to Selina & Steve about her journey from "polytechnic to PhD" and why understanding the science of laughter is important More info and transcript on: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast To hear more UCL (University College London) Podcasts, visit www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/podcasts | |||