All In The Mind

LA comedian CJ Jones is a master storyteller in sign language. San Diego scientist Stephen McCullough studies the neurobiology of sign language. Both are deaf. Sign language is revealing surprising insights into the evolution of all human languages in the brain. From finding the word on the 'tip of the finger' to the bilingual brains of speakers and signers -- join two performers and two scientists with unique stories from the frontiers of deaf culture.

Climate change is on and off the political agenda in Australia. Whether an emissions trading system or a carbon tax win the day, one big barrier stands in the way of change: human nature. How we think about the problem can trump what we actually do -- right down to shorter showers and turning off the lights. Leading environmental psychologists are now taking on the climate change challenge.

'Would you like fries with that?' America's big brands and fast food outlets have become the dominant signatures of globalisation. But is mental illness becoming another? Is West best when it comes to the diagnosis, definition and treatment of mental illness? Ethan Watters unearths a disturbing trend, which could inform how we respond to disasters like the devastating Pakistan floods.

Booker prize winning novelist AS Byatt has a thing for words. But do you know about her passion for science? In neuroscience she's discovered what she's always sensed about the workings of her own head as a writer -- and you must hear what's going on in her unique mind! She joins Natasha to discuss snail brains, mirror neurons and more for National Science Week.

We can't escape our cultural heritage, and yet it's more malleable than you might think. It's there in everything we do and say -- from the boardroom tables of big business to conversations with your GP. How are scientists getting inside our cultural mindsets to study them? Brain scans have entered the fray.

As East and West meet across the boardroom tables of big business, there's growing interest in how culture shapes the psyche and Self. If you're born into a collectivist or individualistic society, do you think differently? This week, controversial research on self-esteem. Do East Asians need less of it to feel good about themselves?

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. During a time of major institutional and cultural upheaval, the Office of the Patient's Friend opened its doors in 1977, the first patient advocacy service to operate within the confines of an Australian psychiatric hospital. Part advocate, part whistle-blower - running the service has taken a might of steel and a heart of gold. 30 years later, Nadia Beer only recently retired from the role.

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series All in the Mind unearths stories from people who lived and worked there. A nurse reflects on life in the asylum during World War II before the dramatic arrival of modern medications, and two sisters reminisce on growing up at Goodna with their matron aunt in the 1930s. Very different insights from opposite sides of the ward walls. (Rebroadcast)

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest and oldest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series, All in the Mind shares stories from people who lived and worked there. From a nurse who worked there from the 1940s - to a woman incarcerated as a young ward of the state, now fighting for justice. Warts and all recollections of madness, care and abuse. (Rebroadcast)

Many scientists distrust the traditional lie detectors, like the polygraph with its wires and electrodes stuck to the skin, and say they never reliably reveal a liar. But now companies are marketing voice stress analysers and even brain scanners to do 'truth verification'. BBC science journalist Roland Pease investigates whether the new technologies are any better than the old ones. For copyright reasons, this week's podcast and online edition is an alternative from our archives, The Private Life of a Brain Surgeon.