In this episode of Science Quickly, journalist Michael Pollan joins Scientific American’s Bri Kane to unpack why consciousness is so hard to define in a discussion that explores what brain science, artificial intelligence experiments and even psychedelics might reveal about how awareness works.

Recommended Reading:
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646644/a-world-appears-by-michael-pollan/">A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness. Michael Pollen. Penguin, 2026</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-guide-to-29-wildly-different-theories-of-consciousness/">Your guide to 29 wildly different theories of consciousness</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-consciousness-science-faces-its-hardest-problem-yet/">Why consciousness is the hardest problem in science</a>

E-mail us at <a href="mailto:sciencequickly@sciam.com">sciencequickly@sciam.com</a> if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new everyday: <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/getsciam/?utm_source=promotion&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may24-marketing2024_subscribetext&utm_term=LP_subscribe_v1_s1_podcast">subscribe</a> to Scientific American and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences/?utm_source=promotion&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may24-marketing2024_signuptext&utm_term=LP_signup_v1_s1_podcast">sign up</a> for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

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