The Psychosphere

Melanie Challenger

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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20 episodes
Updated Jun 13, 2023

Episodes20

Newest first

Jun 13, 2023 · 1 hr 28 min
Agency in Nature
A special finale episode with groundbreaking philosophers, Alan Love, Denis Walsh, John Dupre and Helen Steward. Melanie hosts a roundtable discussion on the new science of agency in nature. How did all this intelligence emerge in the first place and...
Jun 13, 2023 · 39 min
Demystifying Consciousness
So where did all this intelligence and agency come from in the first place? How did consciousness emerge on our planet and is it only a human property? Melanie gets into these ideas with researcher Todd Feinberg. Is it possible that the we exist in a...
Jun 13, 2023 · 35 min
Something to crow about
Cambridge University professor Nicky Clayton discusses her pioneering work on the minds of crows and other corvids. Melanie and Nicky even get round to discussing the possibility of jackdaws performing magic tricks...
Jun 13, 2023 · 43 min
Minds in miniature
Do honeybees dream? When bees perform their famous waggle dance, is it a form of swarm intelligence? Is it a kind of language? In this episode, Melanie discusses insect intelligence with pioneer and veteran researcher Randolf Menzel. Honey will taste...
Jun 13, 2023 · 36 min
Hearing Voices
Novelist and psychologist Charles Fernyhough discusses his fascinating research on the phenomena of hearing voices. Some people have a "voice in their head" and others don't. Some people "hear voices" other than their own and don't view it as a...
Jun 13, 2023 · 41 min
Animal personhood
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?
Jun 13, 2023 · 40 min
Mind Myths
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.
Jun 13, 2023 · 33 min
Beyond Words
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...
Jun 13, 2023 · 31 min
Creaturely connections
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...
Jun 13, 2023 · 37 min
Something fishy
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...
Jun 13, 2023 · 38 min
Fabled minds
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.
Jun 13, 2023 · 36 min
A whale of a mind
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...
Jun 13, 2023 · 41 min
Out of this world
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...
Jun 1, 2023 · 41 min
Animal personhood
Melanie discusses the idea of personhood in non-human animals with science writer Brandon Keim. How can we recognize personhood in other species, and what does this mean for their moral considerability?
Jun 1, 2023 · 55 min
Self in mind
Renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth discusses his work on selfhood and the emergence of consciousness. Melanie and Anil consider whether consciousness is solely a human phenomenon or whether new science suggests that consciousness is widespread among...
May 19, 2023 · 51 min
Neanderthal neurons
Bestselling author and self-confessed flint-knapping nerd, Rebecca Wragg-Sykes discusses her research on neanderthals with Melanie. Why were our fellow humans dismissed as a brute, dumb creature for so long, and what can recent research tell us about...
May 19, 2023 · 43 min
Group think
Melanie discusses group psychology and the psychological bases of racism with psychologist Steven Roberts. Roberts is Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. You can find out more about his work here: https://profiles.stanford.edu/177091
May 7, 2023 · 51 min
Pigs might fly
In this episode, Melanie discusses animal minds and animal ethics with Professor Francoise Wemelsfelder. Francoise is Professor of Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Scotland's Rural College. She pioneered a methodology for the study of animal...
May 7, 2023 · 30 min
Out of the Blue
A discussion on the intelligence of octopuses and cuttlefish, and on the origins of consciousness, with celebrated writer and philosopher, Peter Godfrey-Smith. Peter is Professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of...
Apr 29, 2023 · 33 min
Mind Molding
How smart is a slime mould? In this episode, Melanie is joined by Nirosha Murugan to discuss the weird and wonderful lives of slime moulds. Nirosha is Assistant Professor in the Health Sciences department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, where...