If science is a kind of dance between humans and the universe, perhaps nowhere is the choreography more intricate and complex than when consciousness contemplates itself in the form of the human brain. Jocelyn and Bradley are joined this week by Grace Huckins—neuroscientist, philosopher, visionary—who invites us on a tour of the cosmos within. Grace discusses her Ph.D. research using fMRI and machine learning to develop a more dynamic understanding of the biological processes underlying mental illness, sharing how her approach uses brain scans to construct brain stories. The friends discuss the perils and pitfalls of research that seeks to locate sex and gender in the brain, arguing that a more fluid and nuanced understanding of socially constructed categories like gender, as well as diagnostic categories, will produce a more robust science of the human brain. Grace also reflects on her work with WIRED magazine as part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Mass Media Fellowship program, sharing insights about how science communication improves both science and society.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_huckins, and learn more about her amazing work at the links below!
Grace on WIRED:
https://www.aaas.org/programs/mass-media-fellowship/grace-huckins
https://www.wired.com/author/grace-huckins/
AAAS Mass Media Fellowship program: https://www.aaas.org/programs/mass-media-fellowship
Rebecca M. Jordan-Young, Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences: https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Storm-Flaws-Science-Differences/dp/0674063511

Jocelyn’s review of Brain Storm: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43831457

Neurasthenia:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/death-of-neurasthenia-and-its-psychological-reincarnation/CBF3F9183ED6368E940BB0F0AB327482
Elaine Showalter, The Female Malady: https://www.amazon.com/Female-Malady-1890-1980-Showalter-1987-09-01/dp/B01FELG7JM/
Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf
Related episodes:
Fumbling Towards Empathy (John Kiat): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/56-john-kiat-fumbling-towards-empathy/id1471423633?i=1000486521259
A Neuromance of Many Dimensions (Melinda Smith): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/59-melinda-smith-a-neuromance-of-many-dimensions/id1471423633?i=1000489903116
Science is for Everyone (discussion): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/35-discussion-science-is-for-everyone/id1471423633?i=1000466778549
What...