All In The Mind

The brain is on trial, and you be the judge. In a hypothetical murder case featuring a real judge, real neuroscientists and real lawyers - a brain scan image is presented as evidence. What unfolds could be coming to a courtroom near you. Stanford law professor Hank Greely is concerned neuroscience is being exploited by the law before it's fully baked.

Richard Louv argues we and our children are suffering a kind of cultural autism, a sensory deprivation which he provocatively calls 'Nature Deficit Disorder'. And with that, he's seeded a small revolution for change. Also, secret places - remember them when you were a kid? NB: The downloadable version features an extended interview this week.

What makes you 'You'? Personal Construct Psychology argues everyone constructs and tests their own internal models of reality, and that therapists shouldn't cast themselves as the all-knowing 'expert'. We are all scientists of the self. This week, confrontations with a shocking serial killer, the philosophical heritage of psychology and the moral limits of acceptance.

In an Easter special with a difference, renowned philosopher AC Grayling asks: Do science and religion represent fundamentally different mind-sets—different ways of thinking about the world? From the stage of the recent Global Atheist Convention, he makes the provocative case that popular efforts to reconcile the two are misguided.

Do science and religion represent fundamentally different mind-sets? Physicist Richard Feynman said, 'Science is what we do to keep us from lying to ourselves'. From the Global Atheist Convention held in Australia this month, philosopher Peter Singer, biologist and popular science blogger PZ Myers, and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins weigh in on matters of minds and faith. Next week, renowned philosopher AC Grayling.

The Cove took out this year's Oscar for best documentary for its confronting coverage of the annual dolphin culls in Taiji, Japan. Scientists argue dolphins have complex, large brains - second only to human brains relative to body weight. Join Natasha Mitchell with leading cetacean scientists and an ethicist for a tour of a waterborne 'alien intelligence'. What are the consequences for captivity, and a controversial call for 'personhood' status?

Psychiatrist Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's book On Death and Dying in many ways transformed the way we publicly and privately talk about death and grief, and inspired the modern palliative care movement. From the depths of the ABC's rich archives comes this 1978 interview with Kubler-Ross. She died in 2004, and her ideas and legacy continue to provoke, and to court controversy.

A little tension keeps us on our toes - we're biologically primed for it. But 'toxic' stress makes us physically sick, and powerful research is now revealing its potent impact on our developing bodies and brains. Don't miss two world leaders transforming our understanding.

How do we balance human rights, social inclusion and risk when a mind goes off the rails? Is there value in enforced treatment and can it be justified?

Just imagine. And then...a robotic arm moves, a switch is flicked, or an email opened. The power of thought has the potential to help those paralysed by spine injury to bypass their bodies. A world leader in brain-machine interfaces, neuroscientist John Donoghue, joins Natasha Mitchell to share the extraordinary highs, lows and the ethics of his cutting edge work.