This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Menopause can wreak havoc on mood and body temperature as it signals the end of fertility, but some of the biggest changes it causes are in the brain. Emily Jacobs, assistant professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at UC Santa Barbara, explains how the precipitous decline in estrogen during the "change of life" disrupts the endocrine system and makes a woman's brain more like... a man's! Plus: Hear from real women describing the wide range of effects they experienced. For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit For more about Weill Cornell...
info_outline The Incredible Shrinking Attention SpanThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Is the deluge of digital media killing our ability to focus? Psychologist Gloria Mark, a professor in the Department of Informatics at University of California, Irvine, explains how we are shaped by what we pay attention to – and why today’s short snippets of everything are reinforcing short attention spans. Learn how playing a few minutes of Solitaire on your phone can help relieve stress, and why it can be so hard to stop. And in case you need to ask, you’ll find out why it’s such a bad idea to give an iPad to a baby. For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit...
info_outline Near Death Experiences (reprise)This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Near-death experiences may seem like the stuff of supermarket tabloids, but there are real patterns to what people report after coming close to departing this life. Dr. Bruce Greyson has been studying near-death experiences for decades and has stories to tell about out-of-body phenomena, that light at the end of the tunnel, and a near-universal finding of new meaning in life after coming close to death. Plus... a glimpse of what happens to your brain after death. For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit For more about Weill Cornell Medicine...
info_outline Game Changer - A Concussion Revolution (reprise)This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
The impact of mild traumatic brain injury extends far beyond the gridiron – concussions can happen anywhere, including playing fields, bike paths, and war zones. Kenneth Kutner, PhD, who specializes in head injuries and has been the team neuropsychologist for the New York Giants for 30 seasons, joins us to talk about what the latest research has revealed about concussion and how it affects physical health and cognitive function. From the military to the NFL, and even in the corporate boardroom, this invisible injury is finally emerging from the shadows. Plus… why don’t woodpeckers get...
info_outline Do Our Dogs Really Love Us ?This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Dogs and the humans who cherish them have a unique bond unlike any other. We wonder all too often, do our dogs love us as much as we love them? What are they really thinking? Are we projecting our own feelings onto these treasured family members in trying to understand them? In this "classic" episode first released in 2020, Emory University neuroscientist Dr. Gregory Berns, discusses some of his extraordinary findings. After spending years using MRI imaging technology to study the human brain, he then used this same approach to study dogs’ brains. It turns out that our...
info_outline Music’s Powerful Impact on the BrainThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
In this classic episode recorded live at the Juilliard School in the fall of 2019 Dr. Stieg visits with world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming - a leading advocate for research and public education on the therapeutic power of music to heal the mind. Music’s psychological and neurological impact can help people suffering with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other brain disorders, and even restore speech after a stroke. Fleming also explores the brain’s incredible musical memory mechanism and why learning and healing through song can be so transformative. For more...
info_outline Controlled HallucinationThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
What world do you live in? You may think your experience of life comes from the outside, with your brain processing sensory information as it's received. Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex in England, takes a different view. Tune in as Dr. Seth explains how your brain is actually creating your reality, not just interpreting it. Plus... why the brain is a "prediction machine," and how anesthesia is more like death than sleep. For more information, transcripts, and all episodes, please visit For more about Weill Cornell Medicine...
info_outline Connecting the Heart and BrainThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
The brain and the heart are in constant communication, sending signals that control and respond to each other, so it’s no surprise that what’s good for one is what’s good for the other. Dr. Robert Harrington, an esteemed cardiologist and the new Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, joins us today to explore the fascinating conversations that go on between these two most important organs. From the electrical signals sent from the brain to the oxygenated blood flow the heart sends back, find out what keeps both organs going—and what happens when something disrupts that balance. Turns...
info_outline Using All 5 of Your MindsThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Forget the standard IQ test - that only measures a very narrow definition of intelligence. Meet psychologist Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at Harvard and one of the foremost thinkers and writers in the fields of education, cognition, and multiple intelligences. His fascinating research into different kinds of intelligence (there are 8!) has the potential to revolutionize education, turn our kids into better citizens, and help us all identify our purpose in life. Learn more about our 5 minds, and how our education system should help us to move the needle from "I" to "we"...
info_outline More Than a Feeling - Your Pain Is Made in Your BrainThis Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg
Pain can be felt anywhere in the body, but it all originates in the same place: the brain. Lorimer Moseley, a professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of South Australia and a specialist in how the brain produces pain signals, joins us today to talk about how pain is created as a protective strategy. Your brain, which is constantly monitoring your environment for signs of danger vs safety, sends pain signals when it detects a painful stimulus (a process called nociception). Moseley studies how to retrain the brain when it continues to send pain signals long after the...
info_outlineSexual attraction starts with a whiff of signals that gets your motor running. Your nose -- and brain – are behind your gender, sexual orientation, and choice of partner. Kayt Sukel explains how the brain rules when it comes to sex and love.