One spring evening in 2024, science journalist Rachel Gross bombed at karaoke. The culprit was a bleed in a fist-sized clump of neurons tucked down in the back and bottom of her brain called the Cerebellum. A couple weeks later, her doctors took a piece of it out, assuring her it just did basic motor control - she might be a bit clumsy for a while, but she’d still be herself. But after that surgery Rachel did not feel quite like herself. So she dove into the dusty basement of the brain (and brain science) to figure out why. What Ra...
One spring evening in 2024, science journalist Rachel Gross bombed at karaoke. The culprit was a bleed in a fist-sized clump of neurons tucked down in the back and bottom of her brain called the Cerebellum. A couple weeks later, her doctors took a piece of it out, assuring her it just did basic motor control - she might be a bit clumsy for a while, but she’d still be herself. But after that surgery Rachel did not feel quite like herself. So she dove into the dusty basement of the brain (and brain science) to figure out why. What Rachel found was a new frontier in neuroscience. We learn what singing Shakira on stage has to do with reaching for a cup of coffee — and why the surprising relationship between those two things means we may need to rethink what we think about thinking.
Special thanks to Warzone Karaoke at Branded Saloon, the Computer History Museum for their archival interview with Henrietta Leiner, either the choir “Singing Together, Measure by Measure” or the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy which houses it, Daniel A. Gross (... and Shakira?)
EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Rachel Gross
Produced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandan
Additional mixing by - Jeremy S. Bloom
EPISODE CITATIONS:
Articles -
- “Ignoring the cerebellum is hindering progress in neuroscience.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39934082/), by Wang et al, 2025
- “The cerebellum and cognition.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29997061/), by Schmahmann JD. Neurosci Lett. 2019
- “How did brains evolve?” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11805823/), by Barton RA., Nature. 2002
Books -
- Vagina Obscura (https://www.rachelegross.com/book), by Rachel E. Gross
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