Episode #726
Madness, Neurons, Poetry
Biology of Creativity
Friday, June 30, 2006
Kurt Andersen investigates what modern biology can tell us about creativity. We’ll look at whether there’s truth in the stereotype of the mad genius – and why. Kurt talks with a researcher who’s looking for where exactly creativity happens in the brain. And we'll lead an elephant to a percussion instrument and make him improvise.
Brain
Method In The Madness
In the official Hollywood template, you pretty much can't be a genius without also being nuts. Is there a connection between great creativity and mental illness? Tamar Brott speaks with Kaye Redfield Jamison and other psychiatrists to separate the truth from the myth.
Nancy Andreasen
Wouldn't it be nice to find the little light bulb in your brain that goes off when you have a creative idea? Professor Nancy Andreasen, author of The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius, explains to Kurt about magnetic resonance imaging and what it can find in ...
Animal Artists
There may be nothing prettier than birdsong, but birds don't make art - each species sings pretty much the same tune. Are animals ever really creative? WBUR's Sean Cole met a dog painter and an orchestra of elephants.
That's Intertainment
Microsoft recently announced a deal with TV producer Ben Silverman to create original, professional, big-budget entertainment programming for the Web. Kurt asks Silverman what TV on the www will look like.
World Cup Poetry
Soccer got more civilized in this year's World Cup when the FIFA organization commissioned a "poetry machine." We spoke with the poetry machine's two tenders in Berlin. Produced by Monica Mueller.
Featured Comments
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A very interesting story and exhibit. As a painter myself, I use mathmatics in all of my paintings. Although not ...
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Eve Beglarian's Mississippi experience music touched me deeply.
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