Playing With Marbles

May 09 2024 17

Playing With Marbles Podcast artwork

Is your relationship with your brain a little... complicated? Playing with Marbles is about the complicated interplay between the brain and the rest of the body. We're investigating how the brain actually works, and how that affects who we are. We have healthy brains, dead brains, brains in jars, and brain power of incredible researchers, doctors, and everyday people. Come and find out what's going on with your marble... for science!

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: When Fear Hijacks Your Brain

May 09 2024 38 mins

In pop culture, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD — is portrayed as a bit of a joke — a personality quirk bestowed upon characters with descriptions like: "uptight, neat freak... Type-A, anal... organized, workaholic." But it's more than having a preference for clean cupboards or locked doors. A little more than 2% of the population will suffer from OCD in their lifetime. An

Dissociative Identity Disorder: You, Plural

Mar 12 2024 37 mins

Imagine having an illness that TV and film spent decades labeling as “dangerous” and “crazy”. This is what happened with Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID – it used to be called multiple personality disorder and you probably only know about it from the media. It’s stigmatized, misunderstood, and under-diagnosed. DID is one of the most controversial psychiatric disor

Borderline Personality Disorder: The Jukebox of Self Doubt

Mar 05 2024 37 mins

Having borderline personality disorder (BPD) means struggling to regulate your emotions. If depression sucks the colour out of the world, then BPD turns it right up until it’s painfully bright. If you have BPD then you’ll react in intense ways to emotional triggers: You might get the wrong coffee order, and your inner monologue starts telling you that you were given a mocha ins

ADHD: When your brain can't sit still

Feb 27 2024 38 mins

If you’re in certain corners of social media you’ll have seen videos about ADHD. There are ADHD influencers, memes, and endless reels of people telling you That One Personality Trait You Didn’t Know Is Actually Your ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder really is hard to diagnose. Many symptoms of ADHD are also symptoms of something else, and it often co-occurs with

Anxiety & Eating Disorders: When the alarm bells won't stop ringing

Feb 20 2024 38 mins

Anxiety is extremely common. A third of us will experience an anxiety disorder. It’s the most common mental health problem in young people, and it can make you feel like you’re going to die.. You know someone who has an anxiety disorder. Maybe it’s you. It can be a normal reaction to stress or danger, but when anxiety becomes irrational, when the release of stress hormones is

Click here to start loving your brain!

Feb 13 2024 13 mins

It’s not always easy to love your brain, especially when it can sometimes feel like a toxic partner. Your own brain can gaslight you and lovebomb you! But your cerebellum isn’t going to buy you a dozen roses or take you out for oysters and breaking up with your brain is simply not an option. It’s also not easy to admit your relationship with your mind isn’t always great. Ca

Depression: When skydiving feels kinda boring

Feb 13 2024 25 mins

Depression is an extremely debilitating mental illness that can make it near impossible to truly experience joy and self-love. Witnessing children experiencing it, especially from a young age, can be heartbreaking for friends and family. One in ten people will have a major depressive episode in their lifetime. It’s a leading cause of disability worldwide, and carries a high morta

Menopause and Beyond

Jul 05 2022 28 mins

Let’s experience menopause, migraines, and Alzheimer's! Not exactly fun, we know, but they are very common complications of later life, so we’re going to get inside a brain that is experiencing them and show you exactly what’s going onn. We'll explore the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy and whether a cure for Alzheimer's is on the horizon. This is our protag

Hormones: a love story

Jun 27 2022 31 mins

Puberty, pregnancy, ovulation, even love… these are all things our body regulates with hormones, and brains love hormones. They are chemical messengers used by the body when one part wants to tell another what to do… and in this episode our protagonist’s brain is stewing in them like a squishy teabag.

One woman's brain

Jun 20 2022 27 mins

For decades researchers used male bodies as the “default”, and this has led to huge research gaps in our understanding of womens’ brains. This lack of knowledge has real, sometimes deadly consequences when it comes to things like medication doses. So, we’re spending this season following one woman’s brain from birth to death and diving into what we do and don’t know abo