London’s black cab drivers are famous for having a very active part of the brain that’s critical for mapping thousands of streets.

By the time taxi students hop off their training moped and pass The Knowledge licence exam, a driver will have memorised over 26,000 of the capital’s roads thanks to how their posterior hippocampus region develops as a result.

The international study, led by UCL neuroscientists, included quizzing London cabbies to examine how long it takes humans to compute the capital’s A to Z and, crucially, to contextualise routes without the help of artificial intelligence-powered maps.

It’s hoped better insights, described as showing “insights into the genius of the human mind”, could help develop better navigation tools.

The Standard’s Rachelle Abbott is joined by Hugo Spiers, professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL’s department of psychology & language sciences, to discuss the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In part two, latest developments in multiple lawsuits between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni centring on behaviour on-set during filming of It Ends with Us - we speak with The London Standard culture and lifestyle writer India Block.

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