Marc Yu is only seven years old but at the age of three he could play Beethoven on the piano. Could he have been born with a brilliant brain making him a true child genius?
At 38 years old, Susan Polgar has reached heights that few women have ever equalled in the chess world. Despite the common assumption that men’s brains are better at understanding spatial relationships, giving them an advantage in games such as chess, Susan went on to become the world’s first grandmaster. Susan’s remarkable abilities have earned her the label of ‘genius’, but her psychologist father, Laszlo Polgar, believed that genius was “not born, but made”. Noting that even Mozart received tutelage from his father at a very early age, Polgar set about teaching chess to the five-year-old Susan after she happened upon a chess set in their home. “My father believed that the potential of children was not used optimally,” says Susan.
2007 • Brain
Can brain damage make you brilliant? George Widener is autistic, but he has a remarkable ability to remember days and dates in history. Follow his genius story
2007 • Brain
Marc Yu is only seven years old but at the age of three he could play Beethoven on the piano. Could he have been born with a brilliant brain making him a true child genius?
2007 • Brain
This is what you look like, on the inside, when smoking cannabis. The effects of Marijuana on your brain, and how it defines your experience.
Todd pushes his senses to the limits to unleash his brain's full potential.
S2E2 • Redesign my brain • 2015 • Brain
Do psychedelic drugs really bring about self-healing and personal enlightenment? New research says they may. In this episode, I travel to the Amazonian jungle of Peru to experience the mind-expanding effects of the psychedelic brew Ayahuasca.
S2E2 • Mind Field • 2017 • Brain
The latest discoveries in neuroscience present a new view of how the brain ages. Overturning decades of dogma, scientists recently discovered that even into our seventies, our brains continue producing new neurons. Scientists no longer hold the longstanding belief that we lose vast numbers of brain cells as we grow older. The normal aging process leaves most mental functions intact, and may even provide the brain with unique advantages that form the basis for wisdom. The aging brain is also far more resilient than was previously believed.
5/5 • The Secret Life of the Brain • 2002 • Brain
Suicide is a very rare phenomenon at the far end of human anguish. And yet its existence tells us something crucial about how fragile we all are: it's a further reminder of the need for compassion.
The School of Life • 2015 • Brain
In the final episode Dr Alice Roberts explores how our species, homo sapiens, developed our large brain; and asks why we are the only one of our kind left on the planet today?
3/3 • Origins of Us • Brain