Every two weeks, the new podcast series Leafing Through Science brings together host Hedi Young, Champalimaud Foundation neuroscientist and science communicator, with the authors behind some of the most fascinating non-fiction books in the life sciences. From new releases to timeless classics, we explore everything from the mysteries of consciousness and free will, to broken hearts, alien hands, and minds under siege. Expect page-turning ideas, head-spinning science, and stories that might just change how you see the world – and yourself.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Champalimaud Foundation.
7. The Science of Imagination: Measuring the Invisible (Part 2)
Host Hedi Young interviews neurologist Adam Zeman about his book exploring the science of imagination, from historical questionnaires to modern experiments, revealing how mental imagery impacts perception, healing, and even artistic creativity.
8 Oct 2025
7. The Science of Imagination: Away from the Here and Now (Part 1)
Neurologist Adam Zeman discusses the science of imagination with Hedi Young, exploring how the brain detaches from the present to enable memory, emotion, and creativity in this interview.
24 Sept 2025
6. Hurricanes in the Brain: A New Plan for Neuroscience (Part 2)
Neuroscientist Nicole Rust and host Hedi Young explore a new perspective on the brain as a complex system with feedback loops, which is opening doors to exciting discoveries in neuroscience; this is an interview.
11 Sept 2025
6. Hurricanes in the Brain: Why Cures Elude (Part 1)
Host Hedi Young interviews neuroscientist Nicole Rust about why brain disorders remain elusive cures, exploring the brain as a complex adaptive system.
Neuroendocrinologist Gareth Leng explores how hypothalamic neurons alter communication, brain tissue transplants reset internal clocks, and a unique molecule impacts appetite and libido in this interview with Hedi Young.
25 Jun 2025
5. The Brain Below: Mating Marathons & the “Love Hormone” (Part 1)
Neuroendocrinologist Gareth Leng discusses the hypothalamus and its hormones with host Hedi Young, exploring its role in appetite, aggression, puberty, parenthood, and even mating marathons in this interview.
11 Jun 2025
4. Consciousness: From Zombies to Beast Machines
Neuroscientist Anil Seth discusses his book, *Being You: A New Science of Consciousness*, with Hedi Young, exploring consciousness, perception, and the idea of reality as a controlled hallucination in this interview.
28 May 2025
3. Inside OCD: White Bears and Blizzards
Host Hedi Young interviews science writer David Adam about obsessive compulsive disorder, exploring its hidden mechanics and challenging the notion of what counts as normal thought.
14 May 2025
2. Beyond the Beat: The Heart You Didn’t Know You Had
Sian Harding, a world leader in cardiac research, joins Hedi to reveal the heart as you’ve never seen it before, as they discuss her book The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart. From how social rank, air pollution, noise, and even your mother’s pregnancy diet can shape heart health, to the heart’s mini-brain or growing hearts in the lab from skin cells, they uncover the remarkable ways this muscular organ does far more than “just” pump blood.
They also talk about how the heart doesn’t only respond to emotions – it creates them too – and how a broken heart is more than just a metaphor, as we explore the mystery behind “Broken Heart Syndrome” and the heart’s response to emotional shock. Harding takes us on an eye-opening journey through the science that’s rewriting how we understand our body’s most poetic organ – and how it could help us tackle one of the world’s biggest health challenges.
Relevant links:
“The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart” by Sian E. Harding (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548410/the-exquisite-machine/)
More about Sian (https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/sian.harding)
British Heart Foundation (https://www.bhf.org.uk/)
WomenHeart (https://www.womenheart.org/)
Chapters:
(00:00) The Quake That Broke Hearts
(00:57) Introduction
(01:51) A Heart Like You’ve Never Heard Before
(04:04) The Influence of Social Status
(07:05) Pollution, Noise and the Heart
(10:20) Heart Health and Maternal Diet
(13:07) Mutations and "Second Hits"
(15:59) Inside the Engine Room
(17:58) Alive Without a Heart
(18:45) Artificial Hearts and Stolen Lifelines
(20:31) Living Without a Pulse
(21:13) The Beating Beauty Beneath the Glass
(22:06) Heart Cells Need Company (and a Workout)
(23:13) Hidden Hills and Valleys
(24:46) Heart Failure and Heart Attacks Explained
(28:35) The Cardiac Cost of Cancer Drugs
(30:14) The Heart's Mini-Brain
(32:46) Heartbeat Timing and Subliminal Fear
(35:56) Broken Heart Syndrome
(38:56) Sudden Collapse on the Football Pitch
(41:03) Gender and the Heart
(44:01) Growing Hearts in the Lab
(49:53) "Disease in a Dish" Approach
(52:29) Gene Therapy to the Rescue?
(56:26) Wrapping Up
Episode Credits:
Creator & Series Producer: Hedi Young
Concept Development & Curation: Ana Rita Mendes, António Monteiro, Carla Emilie Pereira, Catarina Ramos, Diana Cadete, Hedi Young, João Van Zelst, John Lee, Marta Correia, Thaïs Lindemann and Teresa Fernandes
Host: Hedi Young
Guest: Moheb Costandi
Graphic Design: Marta Correia
Sound Design: João Van Zelst
Dissemination: Ana Rita Mendes and Diana Cadete
30 Apr 2025
1. How the Brain Creates the Body: Whose Leg is This? (Part 2)
Following Episode 1 - Part 1 (https://rss.com/podcasts/leafing-through-science/1989747/), this second part of Hedi’s conversation with science writer Moheb Costandi unpacks how our sense of agency – the feeling of being in control of our actions and responsible for their outcomes – can be disrupted in conditions like Alien Hand Syndrome and schizophrenia, manipulated on the operating table, or even altered in everyday life. Their discussion also ranges from the science behind anorexia nervosa and Alice in Wonderland Syndrome to peripersonal space – the invisible bubble around our bodies that helps define the boundary between self and world. What do these insights reveal about the nature of consciousness itself?
Relevant links:
Book – Body Am I: The New Science of Self-Consciousness by Moheb Costandi (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548366/body-am-i/)
More about Moheb (https://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/)
Further Reading & Support for Conditions Mentioned:
Research and support for chronic pain and phantom limb pain (https://painrelieffoundation.org.uk/)
Support for amputees and prosthetics users (https://limbless-association.org/)
Charity for limbless veterans and their families (https://www.blesma.org/)
Supporting those with eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa (https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/)
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction and Overview of Bodily Awareness
(01:52) When Hands Have a Mind of Their Own
(03:30) Distorted Agency in Schizophrenia
(06:25) Avatar Therapy
(07:33) An Alien Hand Case
(08:52) Manipulating Agency in the Lab
(10:57) Surgically Hijacking Free Will
(12:25) Body Awareness in Anorexia
(16:27) Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
(19:53) Peripersonal Space
(24:40) Prosthetic Limbs and Robotic Hands
(26:15) Implications for Consciousness
(27:34) Wrapping Up
Episode Credits:
Creator & Series Producer: Hedi Young
Concept Development & Curation: Ana Rita Mendes, António Monteiro, Carla Emilie Pereira, Catarina Ramos, Diana Cadete, Hedi Young, João Van Zelst, John Lee, Marta Correia, Thaïs Lindemann and Teresa Fernandes
Host: Hedi Young
Guest: Moheb Costandi
Graphic Design: Marta Correia
Sound Design: João Van Zelst
Dissemination: Ana Rita Mendes and Diana Cadete
16 Apr 2025
1. How the Brain Creates the Body: Whose Leg is This? (Part 1)
In this inaugural episode, Hedi sits down with veteran science writer Moheb Costandi about his fascinating book Body Am I: The New Science of Self-Consciousness.
From phantom breasts and rubber hands to the Pinocchio illusion and out-of-body experiences; from amputating a healthy leg to feel whole, to scratching an itch with a ghostly third arm – prepare to journey through the strange and astonishing ways our brains construct a sense of bodily self. Moheb walks us through the science, the syndromes, and the people whose experiences reveal just how malleable – and downright bizarre – our sense of owning a body really is.
Relevant links:
Book – Body Am I: The New Science of Self-Consciousness by Moheb Costandi (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548366/body-am-i/)
More about Moheb (https://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/)
Chapters:
(00:00) Losing a Limb to Feel Whole
(01:12) Introduction
(03:36) Understanding Bodily Awareness
(04:41) A Hand That Isn’t Mine vs. A Hand I Can’t Control
(05:51) Phantom Limbs, Breasts, and Beyond
(08:26) Phantom Sensations in Transgender Individuals
(09:49) Counting with Invisible Fingers
(11:14) Therapies for Phantom Pain
(12:50) Rubber Hands, Rubber Tails: The Illusion from Humans to Mice
(16:34) Hammers, Knives, and Illusions in the Pub
(18:32) Body Integrity Identity Disorder
(21:08) A Surgeon, a Pistol, and a Leg
(22:02) Hemiplegia and The Denial of Paralysis
(23:36) Discovering Body Maps in the Brain
(26:58) Scratching an Itch with a Ghostly Third Arm
(29:02) The Multisensory Mind
(30:13) Inducing Out-of-body Experiences
(31:50) The Body Swap Illusion
(32:35) The Barbie Doll Illusion
(33:49) Proprioception and the Pinocchio Illusion
(35:00) The Story of Ian Waterman
(36:20) Interoception and the Origins of Emotion
(39:21) Alexithymia and Emotional Blindness
(39:56) Wrapping Up & What’s Next
Episode Credits:
Creator & Series Producer: Hedi Young
Concept Development & Curation: Ana Rita Mendes, António Monteiro, Carla Emilie Pereira, Catarina Ramos, Diana Cadete, Hedi Young, João Van Zelst, John Lee, Marta Correia, Thaïs Lindemann and Teresa Fernandes
Host: Hedi Young
Guest: Moheb Costandi
Graphic Design: Marta Correia
Sound Design: João Van Zelst
Dissemination: Ana Rita Mendes and Diana Cadete
Who has been a guest on Leafing Through Science
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Adam Zeman
Nicole Rust
Gareth Leng
Anil Seth
David Adam
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 6 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
12
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact Leafing Through Science
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Leafing Through Science
Who hosts Leafing Through Science?
Hedi Young host the show. Published by Champalimaud Foundation.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Leafing Through Science take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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