SIO501: What Pluribus Gets Right about Neuroscience

Subject of much sci-fi media and philosophy discussions, the "hive mind" is also a key element of Vince Gilligan's (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) new show, Pluribus. Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins the pod to walk us through examples that we have studied of hive mind behavior (in the insect world), and why we can reasonably assert that you could not maintain your individuality if our brains directly communicated with each other (in the human world).

• Wolman, D. (2012). A tale of two halves. Nature, 483, 260-263.

• Split brain patient video demonstration

• Wittlinger, M., Wehner, R., & Wolf, H. (2006). The ant odometer: Stepping on stilts and stumps. Science, 312, 1965-1967.

• Penick, C.A. & Smith, A.A. (2015). The true odor of the odorous house ant. American Entomologist, 61, 85-87.

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