Brain and mental health episodes

Can my gut health improve my mental health? (March 2023)

Our gut microbiome (that's all the microorganisms - such as bacteria, viruses and fungi - living in our gut) is really important for healthy digestion.

But did you know that it's also linked to our mental health?

In this episode of the Big Questions Podcast, the Sparks team chat to neuroscientist Professor Philip Burnet from Oxford's Department of Psychiatry about how our gut is connected to our brain, and how taking prebiotic and probiotic supplements could even help in the treatment of mood and psychotic disorders.

What makes the human brain so special? (November 2022)

We often hear that we're remarkably similar to our primate relatives, both in terms of our genetics and our behaviour.

We're social beings. We use tools. But only humans have come to dominate the planet - why?

Could the answer lie in the small differences between the human brain and that of other primates?

In this episode of the Oxford Sparks Big Questions Podcast, the team talk to neuroscientist Dr Rogier Mars about what makes the human brain so special.

Please note that Dr Rogier Mars and his team work on the brains of non-human primates that have died of natural causes, and have subsequently been donated for research purposes.

Did the pandemic make us moodier? (May 2021)

Lockdowns, social distancing, restrictions on 'normal' activities - we've all been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But how has it impacted on our mood and mental wellbeing?

The team chat to Dr Maxime Taquet from the Department of Psychiatry about 'mood homeostasis' (the interplay between people's activities and the way they feel), and how this has been affected over the past year.

He also talks about a study into the impact of COVID-19 infection itself on mental health.

Are video games good for my mental health? (January 2021)

Most of us have probably heard of video games being described as "addictive", but is there evidence of this?

Are they damaging to our mental health, or could they actually have a positive impact on our metal wellbeing?

In this episode of the Big Questions podcast, the team booted up their consoles, and asked Professor Andrew Przybylski, from the Oxford Internet Institute, all about his latest study (fans of Animal Crossing and Plants vs. Zombies - this one's for you!).

How do you measure pain? (July 2020)

We all feel pain differently.

What to one person may be the worst pain in the world, might be a mild irritation to another person; but why?

At the moment, we don’t have a thorough understanding of how pain is processed, meaning it is difficult to devise treatments for chronic pain.

In this episode of the ‘Big Questions’ podcast, the team join Dr Andy Segerdahl – a neuroscientist at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford – for one of his experiments, where he is examining pain response using an fMRI scanner.

As he explains, if we can fully understand which parts of the brain and spinal cord are involved in pain response in a healthy individual, we can begin to understand how this response becomes dysfunctional.

Can you stop Alzheimer's before it even starts? (May 2018)

Alzheimer's is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and worsens over time.

In this podcast episode, the Sparks team visit Jennifer Lawson, Trials Manager from the Department of Psychiatry to ask: Can you stop Alzheimer's before it even starts?

A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is life changing for the person with the disease, as well as their family and friends.

The changes don’t happen overnight. It starts with the small things and then it progresses. But what if there was a way of figuring out the early warning signs of slowing it down or preventing it?

How does the brain identify voices? (April 2018)

In this episode of The Big Questions podcast, the Sparks team ask: How does he brain identify voices?

To find out, the team interviewed MRI physicist Stuart Clare and neuroscientist Holly Bridge at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative for Neuroimaging.

When your brain cells are dying, is it possible to make a robotic brain to replace them?

When I look at a picture of my identical twin sister, Lily, do I process it differently to when I look at a picture of myself?

These were just a couple of questions that were submitted from the general visitors to the ‘Brain Diaries’ exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in 2017.

As a part of the display they asked visitors for suggestions of experiments about the brain they could carry out within an MRI scanner.

Over 700 people entered the competition and the winning question was streamed live on the Oxford Sparks Facebook channel.