Big Brains

Music plays an important role in all of our lives. But listening to music or playing an instrument is more than just a creative outlet or hobby — it’s also scientifically good for us. Research shows that music can stimulate new connections in our brains; keeping our cognitive abilities sharp and our memories alive.In a new book entitled Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music, Prof. Larry Sherman explores why we all need music for our mental wellbeing — and how it can even help us later in life.Sherman is professor of neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University.

Everyone wishes they had a superpower. Well, it turns out you’ve had a secret power since you were a child, you just don’t know how to use it yet. That’s the power of language. In a fascinating new book, “Magic Words: What To Say To Get Your Way," Prof. Jonah Berger of the Wharton School uses massive data sets and machine learning to tease out the “magic words” that can transform our lives.Could changing just a single word in your mind help you stick to that diet? Could mastering when to say “you” and when to say “I” save your marriage? Does the word “could” make you more creative than “should”? We find answers to these questions and more as we delve into the science-backed power of words.

If there is something both sides of the political aisle can agree on, it’s that there is something deeply wrong with health insurance in the United States. What they can’t agree on is how to fix it. The right blames everything on the Affordable Care Act, while those on the left say we need Healthcare For All. But what if there was another option?In a recent paper published in JAMA, leading health economist and University of Chicago Provost Katherine Baicker lays out an innovative blueprint for health care—not to tinker with our system on the margins, but to redesign the entire thing. It’s a fascinating idea that takes us through the complex history of health insurance, how that web got so tangled up and how we can straighten it out.Link to the advertised Chicago Booth Review podcast: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/podcast?source=cbr-sn-bbr-camp:podcast23-20230525

Why do we fight? It’s a seemingly simple question, but it turns out the answers are surprising, deep and crucial to understanding our world. Considering how costly any conflict is in lives and money, why do wars happen at all? This is one of those episodes that will change how you view some of our most important issues, from the war in Ukraine, to understanding gang fights, and even a possible conflict with China.We’re taking the week off to work on some truly special episodes coming out in the next few weeks, but thought this was a perfect opportunity to re-share one of our episodes that we think is an absolutely must listen. So please enjoy, and we’ll see you next week for an all new Big Brains.

We often think our debates around sexuality and gender are a modern phenomenon. Some people argue that identities like trans and non-binary have only existed recently. But could the evidence for queer and gender-nonconforming lives actually stretch back centuries? In a recent book entitled Byzantine Intersectionality, Prof. Roland Betancourt of the University of California-Irvine uncovers an overlooked history from the Byzantine era. His work shows how surprisingly modern medieval conversations about sex and gender were—or, as he puts it, how medieval our modern conversations seem.As extremist groups on the alt-right have begun to claim an ideological lineage to Byzantium, Betancourt’s work has become a critical work for contextualizing our current moment—and drawing lessons from this neglected history.

In the near future, birth defects, traumatic injuries, limb loss and perhaps even cancer could be cured through bioelectricity—electrical signals that communicate to our cells how to rebuild themselves. This innovative idea has been tested on flatworms and frogs by biologist Michael Levin, whose research investigates how bioelectricity provides the blueprint for how our bodies are built—and how it could be the future of regenerative medicine. Levin is professor of biology at Tufts University and director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology.

Over his distinguished career, Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman has dedicated his research to understanding and solving the problem of inequality. He has closely studied how investing in early childhood development is linked to better outcomes—from higher earnings, to violence reduction, and even breaking the cycle of poverty.His groundbreaking research has been applied across the globe—from Jamaica to Denmark and China, and it has given policymakers important insights into education, job-training programs, minimum wage legislation and more. His most recent work has centered on examining social mobility, and he’s help found an entire field on the economics of human flourishing.Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, where he has been a faculty member since 1973. He directs the Center for the Economics of Human Development.

In today's grocery stores, you can find more sugary snacks, artificial ingredients, and ultra-processed packaged foods. At the same time, the United States has seen an increase in obesity, which is costing our healthcare system, too. Nutritionist Marion Nestle says the problem today isn't that Americans don't know how to eat healthy, rather the food environment that we live in has made it much harder to do so.In this episode, she discusses what policy changes are needed—from the way food studies are funded, to offering nutrition education in schools, to regulating the food industry better. Nestle is a Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, & Public Health at New York University, Emerita, and the author of many books, including Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, and Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics.Link to the advertised Chicago Booth Review podcast: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/podcast?source=cbr-sn-cap-camp:podcast23-20230320 

Link to the advertised Chicago Booth Review podcast: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/podcast?source=cbr-sn-cap-camp:podcast23-20230320   

Mourning is an inevitable part of our human existence. But what exactly does it mean to mourn, and why is it an essential part of our well-being and survival? These questions have long fascinated Prof. Jonathan Lear, a philosopher at the University of Chicago. In his new book, Imagining the End: Mourning and Ethical Life, Lear unpacks why mourning contributes to a life well lived. He dissects the many ways we mourn in our everyday lives; when attachments are taken away from us, and even when we express gratitude.