Grey Matter Hour

The brain explained by someone who studies it

Fiona Castellan2 episodes1 min of audio159 playsEpisodic

Episodes

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S1 · E2Apr 13, 20260:4499 plays Preview

Stage Fright, Measured

What happens in the brain and body in the minute before you speak in public. Fiona talks with a performance psychologist about adrenaline, the vagus nerve, and why reframing nerves as readiness is not…

S1 · E1Jan 12, 20260:3960 plays Members

Why You Forget Names and Remember Smells

Fiona explains why a name heard once slips away in seconds while a smell from childhood stays for life, with a detour into the hippocampus and why spaced repetition actually works.

About the show

Grey Matter Hour is a fortnightly show about how the brain does what it does, made for curious listeners with no neuroscience background. Fiona Castellan, who spent a decade running sleep and memory studies in Edinburgh, takes one everyday experience per episode, such as forgetting a name, feeling nervous before a talk, or dreaming the same dream twice, and traces it back to the cells and circuits involved. The format is mostly solo essay with a short interview in the middle, usually with a researcher who disagrees with the popular version of the story. Episodes run about 40 minutes. Fiona is careful about what is settled science and what is still a hunch, and she will tell you when a famous finding failed to replicate. Expect practical takeaways on sleep, attention and learning, but no brain-hacking promises. It is for anyone who has wondered what is going on behind their own eyes.

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