What's inside a black hole? Is consciousness something we can measure? Where did life itself come from? How To Academy Science is a new channel from How To Academy. Subscribe today:    / @howtoacademyscience  

A tour de force of neuroscience and philosophy, Iain McGilchrist’s theory of the mind's place in the world speaks to everyone searching for happiness, understanding, and meaning in life.

For millennia humans have speculated upon the differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Why did evolution lead to humans and many other animals developing two cerebral hemispheres, separated by a groove? No neuroscientist would dispute that there are significant differences; but until now, no-one has understood why.

Dr Iain McGilchrist has an empirical answer to this question – and his ideas have profound consequences for how humans understand themselves and their place in the world. Roaming through the history of Western philosophy, art and literature, this conversation between Dr McGilchrist and science journalist David Malone explores how the competition between the two hemispheres has shaped civilisation and progress and now, in our hyper-rationalist age, threatens to undermine the deepest and most sacred human values.

Fans of Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Greenfield and Antonio Damasio ought not to miss this compelling talk from one of the most exciting thinkers of our age.