The Psychosphere

A special finale episode with groundbreaking philosophers, Alan Love, Denis Walsh, John Dupre and Helen Steward. Melanie hosts a roundtable discussion on the new science of agency in nature. How did all this intelligence emerge in the first place and why do we ignore the role of the intelligence and agency of other species in our understandings of ecosystems and evolution? Why do other animals pursue their goals and where did all this purposiveness come from in the first place. Listen in to some of the best minds approaching one of the most exciting areas of new research in science.

So where did all this intelligence and agency come from in the first place? How did consciousness emerge on our planet and is it only a human property? Melanie gets into these ideas with researcher Todd Feinberg. Is it possible that the we exist in a thinking universe?

Cambridge University professor Nicky Clayton discusses her pioneering work on the minds of crows and other corvids. Melanie and Nicky even get round to discussing the possibility of jackdaws performing magic tricks...

Do honeybees dream? When bees perform their famous waggle dance, is it a form of swarm intelligence? Is it a kind of language? In this episode, Melanie discusses insect intelligence with pioneer and veteran researcher Randolf Menzel. Honey will taste even sweeter...

Novelist and psychologist Charles Fernyhough discusses his fascinating research on the phenomena of hearing voices. Some people have a "voice in their head" and others don't. Some people "hear voices" other than their own and don't view it as a pathology. Others find it distressing. This episode considers what the research has to say about human consciousness and subjectivity.