The Psychology of Language, with Morten Chris...

Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists. She is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller, The Devil You Know, which inspired her series of BBC Reith Lectures in 2024. In February 2026, she came to the Kiln Theatre for a compelling conversation about tr ...  Show more

Humans are animals. 40,000 years ago our ancestors considered themselves inseparable from the landscape and the wild animals that lived alongside them. But over generations, we developed an idea that still shapes modern life: the belief that we are separate from, and superior to, ...  Show more

Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is primarily for social coordination, not precisely transferring thoughts from one person to another. Drawing on empirical research, Enfield ...  Show more

Have you ever wondered what’s up with double negation, the history of gender neutral pronouns, or why swearing is taboo? Then get ready for this week’s guest, linguist Anne Curzan! Anne and Jonathan talk about how the English language has evolved since the 1300s and how our words ...  Show more

Ultrasound tests in Burnley market hall will help the phonetics lab at Lancaster University explore tongue positions and accents as part of this year's Being Human Festival. Claire Nance joins John Gallagher to explain more. Alongside them are Rob Drummond from Manchester Met Uni ...  Show more

Today it’s great to chat with Christian Jarrett on the podcast. A cognitive neuroscientist by training, Christian is Deputy Editor of Psyche, a global digital magazine that illuminates the human condition. Christian has written about psychology and neuroscience for publications a ...  Show more