Smooth Brain Society

Professor Tim Karl of Western Sydney University. He joined to give us a basic overview into the world of cannabinoids. He spoke about what happens in our brain when we use/abuse cannabis and all the different components the plant has. This podcast covers where research is in terms of the benefits of medical marijuana, some of the concerns which people need to be aware of and how the media often misrepresents findings in this space. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are common amongst those coming close to death and profoundly impact how they make sense of the world. Dr. Alex Fry of the University of Bournemouth draws on interviews with atheists who have had a NDE to explore whether death anxiety motivates attempts to make sense of the world and the extent to which the dominant belief systems in the UK shape their attempts to do so. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

As the term "international law" is brought up frequently in discourse these days we sat down with Professor Alberto Costi to get an introduction into international law and laws of armed conflict. We cover how international law works and how it is implemented? Who can be held accountable for breaches in international humanitarian law? Where do non-state actors fit in? The nuances within the Geneva Conventions and examples of past and present cases regarding genocide and why the current law is not always the best mechanism to prevent crimes against humanity. Prof. Costi specializes in the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, international human rights law, the law of international organizations and in comparative law and EU law. He is a member of the New Zealand International Humanitarian Law Committee, serves as the Secretary-General of the International Law Association New Zealand Branch and is the Vice-President of the New Zealand Association for Comparative Law. Prof Costi's Profile: https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/Alberto.Costi Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

On this episode, Dr. Christopher Maymon, Head of the Virtual Reality lab at Victoria University of Wellington delves into the captivating realm of VR and emotion research. Explore with us as we dissect groundbreaking studies and innovative experiments, uncovering the intricate interplay between VR experiences and human emotions. From negative emotions like fear and disgust to the the more obscure positive emotions like awe. Dr. Maymon talks us through how VR is reshaping research and how it can be incorporated in treatments of phobias https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/christopher.maymon Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Associate Professor Gina Grimshaw leads the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Victoria University of Wellington. She joins to talk about emotions and her research on how emotional states affect cognitive processes like attention, language, and executive control. Gina also gives us an intro into multiple aspects of emotions such as the association of emotions with colors and why artificial intelligence is poor at detecting emotions. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Mehmet Orhan, Associate Professor of Management and Organizational Behavior at EM Normandie Business School joined us to talk about authorship inequality, elite dominance, and the ethical and problematic issues of doing science and academic careers. It covers issues such as unequal opportunities and bias in journal publications and how this inequality of research output can influence societies. Dr. Orhan also talks about how the academic system is setup against young researchers through what he describes as "academic rackets." Mehmet Orhan link Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Hugh Turpin of Oxford University joins Feryl and Sahir on the podcast to share his work on the decline of Catholicism in Ireland and the factors which have led to it. We also cover his current research with the Explaining Atheism project about understanding how Ireland, Northern Ireland and Poland, 3 regions with strong religious identities have seen steep declines in religious beliefs in recent years. We cover his book "Unholy Catholic Ireland: Religious Hypocrisy, Secular Morality, and Irish Irreligion" and discuss the history of religious identity in Ireland and what the future might hold. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

For the very first episode of our collaboration with Europe's Journal of Psychology, Rachael Loxton joins to discuss her research paper titled “Liberty Can Be for You One Thing, and for Me Something Different”: Muslim Women's Experiences of Identity and Belonging in Switzerland. This paper investigates how these concepts are experienced by Muslim women in Switzerland, a minority group targeted in the political campaign nicknamed the “burka ban.” We go through the key research questions, background and the main findings centered around: How do Muslim women construct their identity in Switzerland? How do Muslim women experience a sense of belonging in Switzerland? Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.10623 Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Martin Lang is assistant professor at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. And is the Director of the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA). He joins us to talk us through how rituals form and the roles they have played in fostering cooperation. We discuss the benefits of rituals in reducing anxiety and his current work on why we are seeing a decline in certain rituals along with the rise of non-theism, particularly in nations with greater existential security. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru is a Māori technology ethicist specializing in Māori rights with Artificial intelligence, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sciences. He brings his extensive expertise in advocacy for digital Māori rights and data sovereignty and experience in roles including Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor – Expert Advisory Committee on Artificial Intelligence. We discuss the issues facing indigenous communities with regards to current data systems, biases in artificial intelligence models, how to go about creating equitable systems of AI and what some of the future discussions policy makers need to be having. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Kate Witt, lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, joins to discuss her research on Dopamine. Dopamine is an integral neurotransmitter, mainly associated with pleasure and motivation. Dr. Witt's work uses a genetically modified animal model to understand changes in behaviour focusing particularly on anhedonia (the inability to experience joy or pleasure), asociality (lack of social interactions) and avolition (lack of motivation). Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

For the first episode of our Explaining Atheism series, Dr. Sara Rahmani from the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria University of Wellington joins us to talk about her project exploring Māori atheism. It explores the individual, sociocultural and historical processes contributing to Māori deconversion. https://www.explainingatheism.org/research-projects/explaining-mori-atheism-in-aotearoa-new-zealand Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Smooth Brain Society is collaborating with the Explaining Atheism Project to bring you a brand new series focusing on non-religion. Over the course of the series we will have multiple guests from across the world explaining the factors which lead to atheism or non-belief and how religion has changed over time. This introductory episode talks about the program, what its aims are and why such work is even needed? Feryl interviews the core team members Dr. Aiyana Willard and Dr. Connair Russell to take you through what the project is all about and what you can expect in the coming series. Youtube: @explainingatheism3541 Instagram: @explainingatheism Twitter/X: @ExplainingAthe1 Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Professor Kate Jeffery, Head of School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow. Discusses her work on our idea of place, space and navigation. We get an introduction to place cells which are the neurons in the brain which help us identify our location in space. We speak about how these were discovered how they work and where research on our understanding of place and direction is going. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Faye Skelton is the program lead for Applied Criminology and Forensic Psychology at the Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. She joins us to talk about miscarriages of justice, factors involved in wrongful imprisonment, false confessions and memory issues which affect eye witness testimony. Lastly, Faye talks about how some of these can be fixed and tools which may help in future identification like police facial composites. Dr. Faye Skelton https://www.napier.ac.uk/people/faye-skelton Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Some people are poorer at identifying faces. Dr. Tirta Susilo, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, talks about what prosopagnosia is, what research tells us about how we perceive faces and objects, and what about those who have super face recognition abilities? Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Andrew Lensen and Amer Hussain from the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Victoria University of Wellington come on the podcast to talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI). They cover how it works, the different types of AI, ethics around data protection and the shortfall in the current laws to protect people when it ultimately takes over. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

It's election and rugby world cup time in Aotearoa New Zealand and Professor Marc Wilson and his team from Victoria University of Wellington are surveying the nation on aspects ranging from general well-being to politics in order to get a snapshot of the people of the country. Marc along with co-researcher Terise Broodryk join us to discuss the survey, some of the preliminary findings and how the nation has changed since Marc first started these surveys back in 2009. The original article advertising the survey is linked here. Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dr. Marina Wimmer, Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University calls in from Scotland to talk about the perception of ambiguous figures, "seeing" images without any stimulus and the development of false memories. She talks about her research with children on the development of cognitive processes underlying these phenomena Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com

Dan Zai Joseph, author of Backpack to Rucksack: Insight Into Leadership and Resilience From Military Experts, joins from the United States to speak about mental health among military personnel and veterans, the importance of understanding mental health as a leadership quality, steps to improve mental health, his research on jiujitsu as a mechanism for anxiety control and his upcoming books. Dan's website: https://combatpsych.com/ Support us and reach out! https://smoothbrainsociety.com Instagram: @thesmoothbrainsociety TikTok: @thesmoothbrainsociety Twitter/X: @SmoothBrainSoc Facebook: @thesmoothbrainsociety Merch and all other links: Linktree email: thesmoothbrainsociety@gmail.com