GrownUpLand

44. The Brain

It's the squishy thing in our head that makes us do brilliant (and stupid) things. Sophie Duker, Heidi Regan and Ned Sedgwick are joined by neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow to talk about your brain on drugs, the noise your thoughts make and whether free will is an illusion. Sophie wonders how we can hack the brain to make it work better, Ned gets a brain scan, Heidi investigates how dark chocolate might improve memory, and Steve Ali ponders how the brain copes with traumatic memories. Co-created by Deborah Frances-White for The Spontaneity Shop and BBC Radio 4.Produced by Al Riddell.Music by Mark Hodge and Omahrose, produced by Nick Sheldon.Clips: 
How to Have a Better brain (20/10/2017)
God on my Mind (31/03/2010)

"Now I’m a grown up… do I have to get married? Do I have to scrimp and save?? Do I have to host a dinner party??? GrownUpLand poses the most frustrating questions. Luckily, Sophie Duker, Heidi Regan and Ned Sedgwick are here to guide you through the bewildering pursuit of adulthood.
 
Through stupid challenges, useful facts and personal stories of rich victory and miserable failure, your guides will ensure you don’t feel alone in your hopeless endeavour to be a legit grown up. Plus, every week a special guest candidly shares their experiences, from failed dates and drunken mistakes to moments of clarity and pet hates. And the very handsome Steve Ali, a refugee from Syria now a writer and silversmith in the UK, helps to put a listener’s dilemma into perspective.
 
Co-created by Deborah Frances-White for The Spontaneity Shop and BBC Radio 4.
 
Produced by Al Riddell."