ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Topic

neuroscience

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neuron cells with glowing link knots
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How Changing Your Mind Can Physically Alter Your Brain

Is it possible to personally alter the physical structure of your brain? Today’s episode of ID The Future comes to us from our sister podcast Mind Matters News. Host Dr. Michael Egnor sits down with fellow neurosurgeon and author Dr. Lee Warren to discuss his book The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery. Dr. Warren shares how his medical training and Christian faith collided after the tragic loss of his son. The experience helped him realize that the mind is more than just brain activity. Dr. Warren unpacks the main thrust of his book, describing self-brain surgery as the intentional practice of choosing different thoughts to physically change the brain’s structure and improve overall health. Dr. Warren has observed the effects of such self-driven change in real-time brain scans, which deliver positive results like reducing the body’s stress response and promoting healing. Read More ›
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Mental health and business. Silhouette of young adult businesswoman
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Mirror Neurons, Consciousness, and an Irreducible Self

On this episode, Mind Matters News host Dr. Robert J. Marks welcomes Dr. Mihretu Guta to discuss one of his chapters in the volume Minding the Brain titled “Mirror Neurons, Consciousness, and the Bearer Question.” Dr. Guta discusses the concept of “mirror neurons” – a type of brain cell that fires when a person observes an action being performed, as well as when the person performs the same action themselves. The properties of these neurons suggest they may play a role in empathy and understanding others’ actions. Dr. Guta explores the implications of mirror neurons to the mind-brain debate and how further study could illuminate these fascinating neural components. Read More ›
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Family, Support, Elderly Care, Assistance, Seniors Concept. Grandmother In Bed.
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Mind and Soul at the Threshold of Death

Does the brain explain the mind completely? And what can phenomena like terminal lucidity and near-death experiences reveal about the relationship between mind and brain? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes his two-part conversation exploring those questions with neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor, co-author with Denyse O’Leary of the recent book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul, and Alexander Batthyany, a leading researcher on terminal lucidity and author of Threshold: Terminal Lucidity and the Border Between Life and Death. In the first half of the conversation, we defined terminal lucidity and explored why it’s so puzzling. Today, we look at how it relates to near-death experiences, and we ask a deeper question: what does this phenomenon suggest about the nature of the human mind? This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
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MRI of head of elderly woman in hands of doctor standing in medical ward near senior patient with relative and nurse. Recovery after a stroke
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Terminal Lucidity: When the Mind Outlasts the Brain

Why would the human mind sometimes appear strongest when the brain is weakest? On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes to the show neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor, co-author with Denyse O’Leary of the recent book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon’s Case for the Existence of the Soul, and Alexander Batthyany, a leading researcher on terminal lucidity and author of Threshold: Terminal Lucidity and the Border Between Life and Death. The trio begins a two-part conversation discussing the phenomenon of terminal lucidity: what it is, what the evidence shows, and how it relates to debates about consciousness, mind, and human identity. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
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Profile of a young man with mental activity
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Denyse O’Leary: Why Materialism Can’t Explain the Mind

Is the soul a myth? Does your mind really just boil down to brain function? On today's ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with journalist Denyse O'Leary about surprising findings out of neuroscience that shatter materialist assumptions. O'Leary is co-author with Dr. Michael Egnor of The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul. In this conversation, O'Leary reports on recent findings about the origin of consciousness, the challenge that near-death experiences present to materialism, and why the only way to move past materialism is to reject it fully as a model. Read More ›
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Michael Egnor Reads From His New Book The Immortal Mind

On this ID The Future, Dr. Michael Egnor reads the Introduction to his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul, now available from Worthy Books. In this reading, Dr. Egnor shares his journey from being a medical student who believed science could explain everything, including how consciousness emerges from the brain and whether we have a soul, to a neurosurgeon who questioned the conventional materialist view. He discusses how years of operating on and examining patients with brain damage led him to wonder how large parts of the brain could be removed without affecting a person's mind or their ability to think, reason, believe, and desire. His personal story, including a profound experience in a hospital chapel during a family crisis, became a turning point that challenged his atheism and led him to believe that the immaterial aspects of our minds are real and that nature is an open system, not a closed one. Read More ›
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Brain head human mental idea mind 3D illustration background
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The Immortal Mind: How Neuroscience Points Beyond Materialism

Is your mind more than just your brain? Does the soul actually exist? These questions have been pondered for millennia. What does the latest scientific research suggest? On this ID The Future, renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor begins a conversation with host Andrew McDiarmid about his new book The Immortal Mind: A Neurosurgeon's Case for the Existence of the Soul. Egnor makes a powerful case that our capacity for thought, reason, and free will points to something beyond mere brain function. After defining important terms, Egnor begins exploring the compelling evidence he has gathered across four decades of practice in neurosurgery. Along the way, Dr. Egnor also boldly challenges the Darwinian view of the mind's evolution, arguing that abstract thought and free will are immaterial and could not have arisen through natural selection. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Read More ›
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human anatomy drawing, old, canvas
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The Miracle of Man: Reflections on The Westminster Conference

Is mankind an error-prone accident of nature or a masterpiece of engineering and intention? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid invites physicist Brian Miller to discuss highlights of the 2023 Westminster Conference on Science & Faith. If you didn't get to attend this year's event in person or via live-stream, Dr. Miller's got you covered! The theme was The Miracle of Man, and speakers explored the uniqueness of human beings in the fields of physiology, biology, paleontology, and genetics, as well as theology and philosophy. Dr. Miller reviews his own talk on the intelligent design of human vision. He also recaps other highlights of the event, including talks from Michael Denton on the fitness of the planet for human life, Michael Egnor on the experimental evidence showing our minds are different than our brains, and more. He concludes by reminding us of the benefits of in-person events. "The presentations spark ideas and present new evidence," says Miller. "Then people will take that and talk about it over dinner, over lunch, or over coffee. And it's just a beautiful time to make new connections." Read More ›
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Illusion of Mind
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Into the Mystic with a Neurosurgeon and a Neurotheologian

Today’s ID the Future continues the conversation between neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and neurotheologian Andrew Newberg. In this second and concluding part of their discussion, they further explore what experiments using brain scans reveal about how the brain is affected by meditation and mystical experiences, including near-death experiences. Also, what parts of the brain light up, and what parts go dormant, when someone is “speaking in tongues,” and how does someone who has this experience describe it, and does that description mesh with or clash with what turns up on the brain scans? Tune in to hear Newberg’s answer to this and other issues related to the mind-brain problem and the mystical. This interview is posted here by permission of Mind Read More ›

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The Servant of God Mother Clara Zizic, Monastery of the Community of Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in Sibenik, Croatia
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The Mind/Brain Problem and the Power of Meditative Prayer

It’s hard to know where the brain ends and the mind begins. How can studying our brains give us insight into our minds? On this ID the Future, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and neurosurgeon Michael Egnor sit down for a chat about all things brain related including neurotheology, methods of studying the brain, and research on how various forms of religious and non-religious meditation actually change the wiring of the brain, including in particular a study Newberg did on Franciscan nuns and what they refer to as “centering prayer.” This interview is borrowed, with permission, from Mind Matters, a podcast of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.