22 APR 2023 · Join Melanie in conversation with neurobiologist, Kevin Mitchell, as they discuss how animals came to behave in intelligent, purposeful ways, and why this matters. Kevin is Associate Professor of https://www.tcd.ie/Genetics/ and https://www.tcd.ie/Neuroscience/ at https://www.tcd.ie/. He blogs at http://www.wiringthebrain.com/ and Tweets at: https://twitter.com/WiringTheBrain?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor. Books include https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691173887/innate (2018) and https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691226231/free-agents (2023).

22 APR 2023 · This week, Melanie is joined by plant scientist Paco Calvo to discuss the intelligence of the greenery that surrounds us. Are plants intelligent and how can we understand or study this? Paco is the head of thehttps://www.um.es/web/minimal-intelligence-lab/contenido/the-team/paco-calvo and a leading figure in the philosophy of plant behavior and signalling (plant neurobiology). He is also a philosopher concerned with issues at the intersection of plant biology and cognitive science. He is the author of the book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planta-Sapiens-Unmasking-Plant-Intelligence/dp/0349128456 (2022).

22 APR 2023 · Together with world-renowned philosopher, Daniel Dennett, and biologist, Michael Levin, Melanie discusses the idea that the intelligence and agency of a living being may be better understood as distributed or present throughout the body of an organism. You can find out more about their work at https://allencenter.tufts.edu/, and read about their ideas on Cognition All the Way Down https://aeon.co/essays/how-to-understand-cells-tissues-and-organisms-as-agents-with-agendas.

29 APR 2023 · How smart is a slime mould? In this episode, Melanie is joined by Nirosha Murugan to discuss the weird and wonderful lives of slime moulds. Nirosha is Assistant Professor in the Health Sciences department at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, where she studies tissue biophysics and cancer biology. In her prior work, she studied regenerative biology and comparative cognition, with a focus on slime moulds, an almost unclassifiable set of single cell organisms, famed for their seemingly paradoxical abilities to be intelligent in the absence of a brain... You can learn more about Nirosha https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-science/faculty-profiles/nirosha-murugan/index.html.

7 MAY 2023 · A discussion on the intelligence of octopuses and cuttlefish, and on the origins of consciousness, with celebrated writer and philosopher, Peter Godfrey-Smith. Peter is Professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He is the author, among others, of https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374537197/otherminds and https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374207946/metazoa. You can read more about his work here: https://petergodfreysmith.com/

7 MAY 2023 · In this episode, Melanie discusses animal minds and animal ethics with Professor Francoise Wemelsfelder. Francoise is Professor of Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Scotland's Rural College. She pioneered a methodology for the study of animal expressivity (body language) and subjective experience, generally referred to as ‘Qualitative Behaviour Assessment’ (QBA). Her research focuses on the application of this method as a practical tool for welfare assessment and management in farm, zoo, and companion animals. Research interests associated with this work are animal boredom and environmental enrichment.

19 MAY 2023 · Melanie discusses group psychology and the psychological bases of racism with psychologist Steven Roberts. Roberts is Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. You can find out more about his work here: https://profiles.stanford.edu/177091

19 MAY 2023 · Bestselling author and self-confessed flint-knapping nerd, Rebecca Wragg-Sykes discusses her research on neanderthals with Melanie. Why were our fellow humans dismissed as a brute, dumb creature for so long, and what can recent research tell us about the minds of this lost but separate species of human? Rebecca is the author of Kindred: Neanderthal life, love, death and art, and her work can be found at: https://www.rebeccawraggsykes.com/

1 JUN 2023 · Renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth discusses his work on selfhood and the emergence of consciousness. Melanie and Anil consider whether consciousness is solely a human phenomenon or whether new science suggests that consciousness is widespread among animals.

1 JUN 2023 · Melanie discusses the idea of personhood in non-human animals with science writer Brandon Keim. How can we recognize personhood in other species, and what does this mean for their moral considerability?