Michael travels to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, to participate in a never-done-before scientific experiment on the healing power of suggestion and belief in neuroscience. In the study led by Dr. Samuel Veissière and PhD candidate Jay Olson from McGill's Department of Psychiatry, children with behavioral disorders are being treated with a sham MRI machine used as a suggestion to help them heal their own brains. Jay Olson, who also trained as a magician, tests the power of the machine on adults to see if they can believe that it can read and influence their thoughts.
All Episodes - S02
EPS01
MIchael tests the famous trolley problem.
EPS02
Michael Stevens steps out of his comfort zone to research and personally experience Ayahuasca, a brew of plants which contains Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris will measure Michael's brain activity along the way.
EPS03
Michael Stevens investigates how and why different interrogation techniques work, and the ethics behind them. The first experiment is one on Michael himself. Midazolam, commonly know as 'truth serum', is injected into his bloodstream and he tests out how effective it is. Secondly, after talking about the 'good cop - bad cop' power dynamic he sets up an experiment where he tries to get a confession out of unknowing participants using this technique. In the third and last segment they try to beat a state of the art lie detector. Written by Vikkie Lolo
EPS04
In a world with an ever-growing tech industry, Michael Stevens tries to find out what effect technology has on our brains. In this experiment he tests what just 10 days of gaming does to things like our spatial memory.
EPS05
Michael asks employees to help him run a seemingly dangerous experiment, to see if they would blow the whistle to stop him.
EPS06
Michael travels to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, to participate in a never-done-before scientific experiment on the healing power of suggestion and belief in neuroscience. In the study led by Dr. Samuel Veissière and PhD candidate Jay Olson from McGill's Department of Psychiatry, children with behavioral disorders are being treated with a sham MRI machine used as a suggestion to help them heal their own brains. Jay Olson, who also trained as a magician, tests the power of the machine on adults to see if they can believe that it can read and influence their thoughts.
EPS07
Michael travels to London to meet a blind, autistic savant with astonishing musical abilities, and volunteers to have his brain's function temporarily disrupted at UCLA's Neuromodulation Lab.
EPS08
Michael explores how electricity can be used to move cockroaches, control other peoples' limbs, restore motion to people who are paralyzed and even read peoples' minds.