Big Ideas (Audio)

Lisa Harvey-Smith of CSIRO discusses the mega-telescope known as the Square Kilometre Array. CSIRO, the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation, is part of the continent-spanning next-generation radio telescope project which is due to be completed in 2019.

Psychiatrist and author, Allen J. Frances, believes that mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed. In his lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, Dr. Frances will outline why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders. His lecture is part of Mental Health Matters, an initiative of TVO in association with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The lecture is followed by a short Q & A.

Renowned British psychiatrist and author, Iain McGilchrist, delivers a lecture entitled Our Mind at War. Drawing from research in his latest book, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, Dr. McGilchrist explains how an overreliance on ways of looking at the world characteristic of the left hemisphere may be partially responsible for the increase in mental illnesses globally, including depression. His lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Psychology professor, Marc Fournier, on Domination and Depression. His lecture was delivered at University of Toronto-Scarborough as part of the 2008 Big Ideas Best Lecturer competition.

Psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison on Understanding Suicide. Her lecture, drawing on research from her book, Night Falls Fast, was delivered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto in the year 2000. It first aired on Big Ideas on February 3, 2001.

Psychiatrist David Healy with his lecture Gripped by a Python: How Pharmaceutical Companies Control the Medical Marketplace. The lecture was delivered at Bethune College in Toronto on February 27, 2003.

Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and best-selling author, Dr. Norman Doidge, on his book, The Brain that Changes Itself, an examination of the most important breakthrough in neuroscience: the discovery of neuroplasticity. His lecture was delivered at the University of Toronto on March 29th, 2008.

Graeme Gibson, author of The Bedside Book of Beasts, and recipient of the Order of Canada, explores the ways we humans relate emotionally, imaginatively, and physically to the natural world. Entitled Echoes of a Working Eden, his lecture also addresses the damage done to us by our abandonment of Nature. It was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.

Art historian Francis Broun discusses the work of the 17th century painter Artemisia Gentileschi. In this podcast, Broun explores why Artemisia, who was widely respected in her own time, was forgotten and why she has recently been returned to her rightful place as a groundbreaking painter.

Drawing on their vast experiences and first-hand knowledge, distinguished humanitarians Senator Romeo Dallaire and Stephen Lewis, enter into a dialogue about the issues that they have committed their lives to: the eradication of the use of child soldiers and stopping the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Their discussion, moderated by journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, was organized by PEN Canada.