The Fearless Brain of Alex Honnold

The Fearless Brain of Alex HonnoldTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 605, Segment 3

Jul 28, 2017 • 27m

Guest: Jane Joseph, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina Continuing our exploration of the brain’s mysteries, let’s go inside the gray matter of the world’s best rock climber. Alex Honnold does free solo climbing, meaning no net, no safety gear. In June, he climbed the face of Yosemite’s El Capitan in less than four hours, with nothing but his fingers, his toes and a bag of chalk clipped to his belt. Many, many people have wondered over the years if Alex Honnold is even capable of feeling fear. Is there something wrong with his brain that makes it so he can do these insanely risky things? Neuroscientist Jane Joseph of the Medical University of South Carolina had these same questions, so she put Alex Honnold into an fMRI machine and took a close look at his brain.

Other Segments

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Guests: Wade Jacoby, PhD, Professor of Political Science, BYU; Gregory Jackson, PhD, Professor of Integrated Studies, UVU The European Union is Top of Mind this hour. Britain wants out. Poland could lose some of its privileges for violating the EU’s common values. There’s been a fair amount of concern over the last year about whether the EU can hold together in the face of challenges such as the global recession and the refugee crisis. But let’s pause for a moment and step back. Do you know when and why the European Union was formed? Most of us are probably a little fuzzy, to be honest. From this side of the Atlantic, it seemed like we woke up one day and the EU was just there. That may be why it’s hard for Americans to understand what all the fuss is about. We’re going to get some answers from two experts of European politics.

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