Naked Neuroscience, from the Naked Scientists

What power does science have? We explore the influence of neuroscience in the courtrooms. Could brain scans shape prison sentences? Can it predict who will re-offend? We put the brain on trial with Cambridge University's Neuroscience and Public Policy Research Initiatives.

Botox injections in the nervous system, keeping brain tissue alive, and the shifting axis of scientific influence...

From rags to riches: how a fruit stall selling boy became a brain surgeon and, inspired by the NHS, built a community hospital and neuroscience institute back in his homeland of Kolkata. We meet the President of India who opened the institute, and speak with the patients being treated there...

This month we'll be trotting the globe to open our minds! We soak up some naked brain wanderings, including visiting the banja, a Russian sauna, to be whipped by birch leaves. Plus, from the States, we'll meet the caring Robot trio, designed to help look after our increasingly elderly population, we'll visit a Brain Bank in New Zealand, keep fruit flies awake in Milan AND back in the UK meet a rocking professor who's addressing scientific gender inequality with music.

Putting the brain on trial: did your brain make you do it? Neuroscience in the courtroom exposed. Plus the dark side of new neurotechnologies and do we have free will or are our actions pre-determined?

Meet Brian, the robot programmed to help look after the elderly. Plus we explore the role of robots in combat and in the classroom and we explore the ethics of how science shapes society. This special Naked Neuroscience podcast series, supported by the Wellcome Trust, reports from the International Neuroethics Society annual meeting at the AAAS headquarters in Washington DC and features guest robots Brian, Casper and Tangy, as well as human contributors Goldie Nejat, Barbara Sahakian, Paul Root Wolpe and James Giordano.

Millions invested in brain research across the globe. It's the decade of the brain. But how will the results shape our future societies?

We examine the child brain: looking how the Victorians viewed babies, ask could early childhood stress, like changing schools, parents divorcing or having an anxious, overbearing mother, EVER be a good thing? Plus we examine the brains of young criminals and ask could brain anatomy and activity findings better inform youth rehabilitation services.....

Does smoking dope decrease your potential for pleasure? How the simple act of dieting can rewire brain and a blood test for depression. Reporting from the British Association for Psychopharmacology 2014 Forum.

Memory boosting drugs, the military, the legal system and enhancing athletes mental focus and muscle tone. Where should neuroscience stop? How a revolution in technology is bringing an unprecedented flood of information about the brain and with this, concerns over use.