Click above to listen to part 1 of Skeptic Check: Brain Gain, featuring Amy Arnsten, professor of neuroscience and psychology at Yale Medical School, Adam Gazzaley, neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, executive director of Neuroscape, and author of “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World“, and Kevin Roose, journalist for the New York Times, all discussing ingestible cognitive enhancers, sometimes called “smart drugs” or nootropics, which purport to increase brain power.

Skeptic Check: Brain Gain:
Part 1: Smart Drugs
Part 2: Brain Training
Part 3: Brain Power
Part 4: Brain Flexibility 

Podcast also available on PocketCasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and RSS.

2026 Webby Award Nominee
for our three part series on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Big Picture Science is an immersive radio show and podcast that reveals the unexpected connections in science.

Our Skeptic Check episodes take a critical look at extraordinary science claims and pseudoscience.

Don’t settle for a science snapshot. Get the big picture. 

Hosted By

Molly Bentley Executive Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science  

Seth Shostak Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

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