Prof Matthew Cobb is a zoologist and researcher into animal behaviours through their sense of smell (including ours!) On the side, he explores further his work in science with writing books on the history of science. His newest, The Idea Of The Brain: A History, explores how we come to define & thus attempt to understand the brain and all its complexities, and how we must continually reinvent our approach to doing as we learn more & more about how the brain works. 

We talked about historical understandings of the physical human brain and our cognitive abilities, the metaphors used over time for the brain, and new research & research methods that are revealing the limitations of our previous discussions on the brain.

The 1st half of this podcast focuses on Matthew's research into the sense of smell, so is available separately in the previous episode :)  

0:00 How did you get inspired for your new book?  

6:05 Comparing the brain to a computer 

10:15 Do we need a new metaphor for the brain? 

14:45 Smell in the brain 

20:40 How is the brain divided up?  

26:30 What are you writing now?

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.    

We hope you enjoy.   

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And come back next week for more.    

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Refs & Links: 

https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/cobb.html

Matthew's Links:  

https://twitter.com/matthewcobb

The Idea Of The Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51719771-the-idea-of-the-brain

Smell: A Very Short Introduction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52049783-smell 

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