In this excerpt from "One Hand Clapping," Nikolay Kukushkin makes the case that neurons reveal how memory, meaning, and even consciousness emerge from the same biological roots in humans, sea slugs, and beyond.

How can the brain — a piece of matter — love? Physics and chemistry explain the material world, but they can’t explain why it feels like something to be alive. This is the mystery of consciousness, according to these experts.

A conversation with neuroscientist Erik Hoel about the future of consciousness research.

"For many people, the idea that consciousness is a set of tricks is offensive," the late philosopher told Big Think in 2012. "I think that's a prime mistake."

A conversation about intelligence and consciousness with philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith.

These expert-recommended books try to answer the questions of consciousness, from its fundamental nature to its role in human experience and the natural world.

A conversation with Annaka Harris on shared perception, experimental science, and why our intuition about consciousness is wrong.

What can drugs teach us about consciousness?

"Everything that we care about, everything we experience, everything we know, we know it through our conscious awareness of it."

"The amount of interest is enormous," says anesthesiologist Boris Heifets. "People are dropping in and coming out of the woodwork, trying to understand how to do this."

New research is uncovering why we eat first with our expectations.

Hawking’s refusal to upgrade his communication system preserved a voice that became iconic, not just for its sound, but for the profound identity it conveyed.

The biases that shape our understanding of the mind.

"We do not experience primarily because we have brains; we experience because we are alive."

Will "Sausage Party" survive the test of time?

The color of the shirt you're wearing right now depends on many factors, from your eye shape to what language you speak.

"Upon emergence, these patients are sincerely unsure what was reality and what was a ‘dream.'"

An excerpt from renowned neuropsychologist Nicholas Humphrey’s book “Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness.”

An argument for emphasis on subjective experience.

A recent study suggests that exposure to visual stimuli can diminish the effects of psychedelic drugs.

One MIT-trained poet spent nine months trying to find out.

Research suggests you can influence your sense of time by changing the “embodiedness” of your daily habits.

What is perception, really? Philosopher Alva Noë on why perception is a puzzling phenomenon:

Cognitive psychologist and poet Keith Holyoak explores whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity.

The heart's rhythms may play a larger role in shaping psychedelic experiences than previously thought.

Consciousness isn’t just a problem for philosophers. On this episode of Dispatches, Kmele sat down with scientists, a mathematician, a spiritual leader, and an entrepreneur, all trying to get to the heart of “the feeling of life itself.”

What hallucinogens will make you see.

Survey data suggests that our bodily perceptions of love extend far beyond the heart.

The idea is to study the thing itself — be it a work of literature, death, family, a car, a vaccine, or the hospital — without preconceived notions, trendy easy answers, or dogma imposed on it.

Our minds seem both physical and intangible. That paradox has gripped this neuroscientist since childhood.