In a time of global pandemic, economic depression, and broad civil unrest, many Americans are reporting high levels of stress and trouble sleeping. Today on the show, we’re joined by Dr. Richard J. Davidson, world-renowned neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds, to talk about well-being during COVID-19, the role of contemplative practice […]
The Riddle of Mental Illness
Tonight, the Perpetual Notion Machine looks into a new book that asks the question: “What is mental illness?” The book is called How the Brain Lost Its Mind: Sex, Hysteria, and the Riddle of Mental Illness. PNM host Dennis Shaffer talks with the authors Dr. Allan Ropper and Brian David Burrell. Allan is a neurologist […]
More on the Mind Club
A few months ago, on the June 30 show to be exact, PNM’s Jake Walters spoke with University of North Carolina psychologist Kurt Gray about his, and his colleague Daniel Wegner’s, book called The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters. In a nutshell, he describes morality as a perception of mind. […]
Consciousness and Science; A discussion with Dr. Kate Noble
Kate Noble didn’t plan on being a Professor of Consciousness. Coming of age in the late 60’s and early 70’s she fancied herself as possibly a future lawyer, fighting on behalf of the disenfranchised and underrepresented. That is until she suffered an anaphylactic reaction; until her heart stopped multiple times; until three near-death experiences changed […]
Depression: What the latest research has to say
This week on PNM we’re putting the spotlight on depression. A study published in 2014 by the Center for Disease Control concluded that from 2009-2012 7.6% of Americans age 12 or older suffered from some form of moderate to severe depression. Now that’s a lot of people; millions in fact. Your next-door neighbor, your co-worker, […]
The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters; A conversat...
The question of what is “right” and what is “wrong” is about as commonplace and pedestrian as philosophical debates get. Some point to an inherent and universal moral compass that guides all of our ethical decision-making, while others gravitate towards a more relative approach that calls into question whether anything can be ultimately right or […]
