The Psychosphere – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Psychosphere

Melanie Challenger

Science

Frequency: 1 episode/2d. Total Eps: 23

What is it like to be an octopus or an elephant? What kinds of minds and perceptions do they have and how can we understand these other worlds? Why do living beings behave so differently to the material world that surrounds them? And how did all this remarkable, intelligent life emerge in the first place? If you are interested in these questions, join writer and broadcaster, Melanie Challenger, in conversation with some of the world's foremost scientists and philosophers as they enter The Psychosphere...The world won't look the same again.

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Apple Podcasts

🇫🇷 France - nature
05/06/2026
#82
🇫🇷 France - nature
04/06/2026
#56
🇫🇷 France - nature
03/06/2026
#83
🇫🇷 France - nature
31/05/2026
#77
🇫🇷 France - nature
26/05/2026
#98
🇨🇦 Canada - nature
04/04/2026
#90
🇨🇦 Canada - nature
03/04/2026
#77
🇨🇦 Canada - nature
02/04/2026
#69
🇨🇦 Canada - nature
01/04/2026
#49
🇬🇧 Great Britain - nature
25/03/2026
#99

Spotify

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://www.tcd.ie/
16 shares
http://www.wiringthebrain.com/
8 shares
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691226231/free-agents
7 shares

https://twitter.com/WiringTheBrain?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
5 shares

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planta-Sapiens-Unmasking-Plant-Intelligence/dp/0349128456
1 share

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 69%

Publication history

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Latest published episodes

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Origins of Purpose

Season 1 · Episode 1

samedi 22 avril 2023 • Duration 50:29

Join Melanie in conversation with neurobiologist, Kevin Mitchell, as they discuss how animals came to behave in intelligent, purposeful ways, and why this matters. Kevin is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He blogs at Wiring the Brain and Tweets at: @WiringtheBrain.
Books include INNATE – How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are (2018) and Free Agents: How Evolution Gave us Free Will (2023).

Green intelligencies

Season 1 · Episode 2

samedi 22 avril 2023 • Duration 52:43

This week, Melanie is joined by plant scientist Paco Calvo to discuss the intelligence of the greenery that surrounds us. Are plants intelligent and how can we understand or study this? Paco is the head of the MINT (Minimal Intelligence) lab and a leading figure in the philosophy of plant behavior and signalling (plant neurobiology). He is also a philosopher concerned with issues at the intersection of plant biology and cognitive science. He is the author of the book Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence (2022).

Out of this world

Season 1 · Episode 11

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 41:33

Avi Loeb discusses the possibilities of alien intelligences with Melanie. Have other intelligences already contacted us and would we know how to read the signals if they had? Why is alien intelligence associated with crank science, and what are the rational routes through to considering the possibilities of off-Earth minds?

A whale of a mind

Season 1 · Episode 12

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 36:51

Neuroscientist and animal advocate Lori Marino discusses the intelligence of cetaceans with Melanie, and the consequences of captivity on these extraordinary minds. Why are whales and dolphins some of the smartest animals around, and how could we reimagine a world for their wellbeing?

Fabled minds

Season 1 · Episode 13

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 38:15

Science writer Jo Wimpenny takes us into the world of animal fables, discussing with Melanie what these old, mythical intuitions have to tell us about animal minds.

Something fishy

Season 1 · Episode 14

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 37:01

Calum Brown is a pioneer researcher on fish cognition. He brings Melanie up to speed on the latest research on the diverse intelligences of fishes, the prejudices that still hold us back from acknowledging the mental attributes of sea creatures, and what this might mean morally.

Creaturely connections

Season 1 · Episode 15

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 31:04

Best-selling science writer Sy Montgomery discusses the idea of the psychosphere with Melanie. Sy has written about the minds and intelligence of a diverse range of animals from octopuses to goshawks. Do we need new paradigms for our understanding of the intelligence in nature and how it matters?

Beyond Words

Season 1 · Episode 16

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 33:05

Well-known scientist and animal advocate Carl Safina discusses his work on animal cultures with Melanie. Carl makes a case for why humans aren't the only species with cultures. Are the cultures of other species overlooked in conservation? What would it mean not to only work to save animal populations but their ways of life too?

Mind Myths

Season 1 · Episode 17

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 40:19

Science writer Philip Ball discusses his writing life and his work on diverse kinds of minds and on the biological studies of agency in nature.

Animal personhood

Season 1 · Episode 18

mardi 13 juin 2023 • Duration 41:32

In this episode, Brandon Keim and Melanie talk about the new science on animal personhood. How do other animals relate to one another as subjects, and how do we relate to them as intelligent beings?