Brains for Dinner Episode 2

This was an extremely fun episode to record—arguably too fun because we were SO LOUD that Chantel had to learn how to use sound editing software to remove some of the microphone artifacts.

Ah well, you live and you learn!

We sincerely hope that the fun is contagious. Whether you’d like to add a drinking game (might I suggest guessing whether Chantel says something is “exciting” or Andrea says it’s “interesting” more often and taking a drink when the one you didn’t pick happens?), to watch videos of dancing babies or animal friends, or to dig into the science of the relation between dance, vocal communication, and learning, we’ve got something for you. Below, I’ve included some photos, videos, and links to papers that will allow you to explore with us in your modality of choice. Here are some of the things we talked about:

Celebrating Andrea’s application for U.S. citizenship (fingers crossed that its not too early to celebrate)

photo credits for this amazing shot go to Debera J. Prat, my amazing momma

and Kintsugi’s 3rd Birthday

Here are some of Chantel’s favorite baby and animal dance videos:

* Ronan the dancing sea lion

* Snowball the cockatoo dancing to Queen

* Dancing baby 1 (because who can pick just one)

* Dancing baby 2 (inspirational)

We’ve established that horses don’t “dance” and this is not a traditional freestyle routine but it is my absolute favorite. True partnership courtesy of the beautiful Stacey Westfall You might want to grab your tissues.

Now for the sciency main course! Here are some of the papers we discussed.

* Theories on the evolution of dance

* Men who dance to the beat are sexier

* Paper on vocal learning that stresses environmental factors

* Evidence that cockatiels have favorite songs

* The beluga that speaks with a Russian accent

* Dance has a powerful influence on depression

And here’s the music and cognition collaborator whose last name I couldn’t remember!

* Dr. Steven Morrison

Last but not least, I give you empirical evidence that Howard the duck responds (maybe not with dance but possibly with suspicion) to my effortless singer/songwriter moments. Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job just yet.

We hope you enjoyed Episode 2 of brains for dinner. Thank you for listening, clicking, or reading along—whatever your brain prefers!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chantelpratphd.substack.com