Why Do I Need You?

David shows that a single word label can decide over how much you care for another person in pain.

One of the ways we navigate the social world is by judging other people’s intentions. David hosts a puppet show for babies to demonstrate that humans come equipped with social antennae.

The amazing case of John Robison, whose Aspergers changed following a course of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. John’s transformation reveals something that we all unconsciously do every day when we interact with each other.

David measures the movement of facial muscles in two group of subjects and reveals why we mirror each other’s facial expressions - with important ramifications for botox-users.

When we watch someone else in pain our brains run a simulation of what that pain feels like. This ability to imagine another's pain is the basis of how we relate to each other and explains why stories can be so powerful.

An experiment to mimic social rejection reveals that being socially excluded activates networks involved in pain.

David meets Hasan Nuhanovic who describes his harrowing experiences of genocide during the Bosnian war. Can genocide be understood as a neural phenomenon?

Genocide is only possible when dehumanization happens on a massive scale, and propaganda is the tool used to do that. Propaganda plugs directly into neural networks, and dials down the degree to which one group cares about another.

Dr David Eagleman explores how the brain relies on other brains to thrive and survive. This neural interdependence underpins our need to group together, and our ability to do the very best and the very worst of things to each other.