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14:12

The Price Of Putting 'Your Brain On Computers'

The constant stream of information we get through mobile and hand-held devices is changing the way we think. Matt Richtel, a technology writer for The New York Times, explains how the use of digital technology is altering our brains -- and how retreating into nature may reverse the effects.

Interview
43:40

Digital Overload: Your Brain On Gadgets.

The constant stream of information we get through mobile and hand-held devices is changing the way we think. Matt Richtel, a technology writer for The New York Times, explains how the use of digital technology is altering our brains -- and how retreating into nature may reverse the effects.

Interview
34:48

Do You See What I See? A Scientist's Journey Into 3-D.

Neurobiologist Susan R. Barry was born cross-eyed, and for most of her life, she saw the world in two dimensions, instead of three. But in her late 40s, Barry retrained her brain and her eyes to perceive the world in a new way. She explains how her vision -- and her whole sense of self -- changed in her memoir, Fixing My Gaze.

Interview
37:57

The Surprising Strengths Of The Middle-Aged Brain.

In middle age, most of us get forgetful and easily distracted. But new research finds that our minds improve in some ways as we age: We're better at seeing the big picture and comprehending complexity. Writer Barbara Strauch details how the middle-aged brain grows and changes in The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain.

Interview
21:04

'How We Decide' And The Paralysis Of Analysis

Jonah Lehrer decided to write a book about it. In How We Decide, Lehrer explores the science of how we make decisions and what we can do to make those decisions better. Lehrer is a contributing editor at Wired and has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He joins Terry Gross for a conversation about his book, the cereal aisle and paralysis by analysis.

Interview
21:23

A Prescription For 'Brain Gain'?

Drugs prescribed for attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, epilepsy and other conditions are being used by people who don't need them, in an effort to enhance brain function. Journalist Margaret Talbot discusses the trend.

Interview
32:25

Parkinson's Disease: A Family History

Parkinson's disease is part of journalist Dave Iverson's personal history: His father had it, his brother has it and he has it. Now, a new PBS "Frontline" documentary, My Father, My Brother, and Me chronicles Iverson's attempt to understand the disease.

Interview
43:30

Temple Grandin On 'The Best Life For Animals'

In her new book, Animals Make Us Human, Temple Grandin examines common notions of animal happiness and concludes that dogs, cats, horses, cows and zoo animals — among other creatures — possess an emotional system akin to that of humans.

Interview
32:53

Martha Weinman Lear, Plumbing the Forgetful Mind

For all of us who have ever wandered into a room only to freeze, wondering blankly, "Why did I come in here, again?," Martha Weinman Lear has an answer. Lear, the author of Where Did I Leave My Glasses?, discusses the twin issues of memory loss and aging — what degree of forgetfulness is normal, and what can be done about it?

43:35

'Musicophilia' Examines Music in the Mind

In the book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, neurologist Oliver Sacks explores the relationship between music and the mind.

Through a series of case studies ranging from songs stuck in one's mind to a newfound passion for concert piano after being struck by lightning, the professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NYU School of Medicine examines the complexity of human beings and the role music plays in our lives.

Interview
35:35

Nora Volkow: No, Really, This Is Your Brain on Drugs

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, ranks as one of the U.S.'s leading addiction researchers. She's helped demonstrate that addiction is in fact a disease — a disease of the brain — and that all addictions, whether it's to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex, gambling or even food, are more alike than was previously thought.

Volkow, who's the great-granddaughter of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, grew up in Mexico City — in the house where her famous ancestor was assassinated.

Interview
31:59

Author Richard Powers

Richard Powers recently won the National Book Award for his book The Echo Maker. Part mystery and part science, the novel is about a 27-year-old man who falls into a coma after a car crash and wakes up with a rare brain disorder. Powers' previous books include The Gold Bug Variations and The Time of Our Singing.

Interview
20:52

A Surgeon's-Eye View of the Brain

Neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik's new book is Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside. Firlik is now a private practitioner in Greenwich, Conn., and a clinical assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine. She is also the daughter of a surgeon

Interview

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