Are We All Out of Our Minds? With Neuroscientist Dr. Dwayne Godwin & Cartoonist Dr. Jorge Cham

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 In this episode, Dr. Eeks is joined by neuroscientist Dr. Dwayne Godwin and cartoonist Dr. Jorge Cham, the creative duo behind Out of Your Mind, a book that makes neuroscience both fun and digestible—perfect for Nerds and Nerd Nots alike (yes, that’s my podcast tagline). They kick things off with love—what it is, why we fall for some people and not others, and whether science could create a love potion that turns romance into a biochemical hostage situation. From love, they move to hate and how some people actually get addicted to hate. They'll also discuss AI—whether it could ever develop consciousness and what that might mean for humanity—before diving into addiction and the ongoing debate over how much of it is choice versus biology. They'll talk about happiness, whether money can actually buy it, and a bizarre true medical case of a man who, after a brain surgery gone wrong, was left permanently stuck in the present moment.  Finally, they'll explore what happens when we die and whether the authors ever get existentially bummed out thinking about how fragile and robotic we really are. If you like science with a side of humor and deep, slightly absurd questions, this episode is for you. 

Dr. Dwayne Godwin is a neuroscientist, educator, and professor in the Department of Translational Neuroscience at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. His research focuses on abnormal brain rhythms, exploring calcium channel function, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury to develop potential treatments for neurological diseases. Beyond the lab, he is passionate about science outreach, co-creating Mind in Pictures for Scientific American Mind and contributing to blogs for the Society for Neuroscience and the Museum of the Moving Image. 

Dr. Jorge Cham is a Daytime Emmy-nominated, best-selling cartoonist and the creator of PHD Comics, a popular online comic strip about academia. He is the co-creator, Executive Producer, and Creative Director of Elinor Wonders Why, a top-rated PBS Kids animated series. Cham has co-authored several popular science books, including We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe and Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe, as well as the children’s book Oliver’s Great Big Universe. He also co-hosts and co-creates the hit podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe. Originally from Panama, Cham earned his Ph.D. in robotics from Stanford University and was a researcher at Caltech.

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