Entertaining Science: Do Babies Get the Blues?

Roald Hoffman, Dave Soldier, hosts

Joseph Isler, scientist; Simona Premazzi, piano; Tessa Souter, jazz vocals

What’s it like to be a baby? Thomas Nagel famously asked “What is it like to be a bat?”, pondering what consciousness, the subjective experience of the world, would be like in animals. It’s nearly as difficult to imagine the subjective life of a baby.

Columbia University’s Joseph Isler will discuss what’s known about the infant mind, and present tantalizing recent work in quantifying consciousness during infancy. Acclaimed jazz pianist Simona Premazzi, faculty member at downtown’s Church Street School for Music and Art, closes the show with beautiful jazz and blues inspired by lullabies and children’s songs from around the world.

Tessa Souter will join Simona singing her rendition of John Coltrane’s Wise One