654. Predictive Brains, Placebos, Awe, and the Mind–Matter Frontier with Jo Marchant
From unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc by Greg La Blanc
May 25, 2026 · 1h 0m · Episode 654
About this episode
Jo Marchant discusses the mind-body relationship and the science behind perception and stress reduction with Greg LaBlanc.
Jo Marchant is a science journalist and podcast host, and also the author of several books. Her latest works include In Search of Now: The Science of the Present Moment and Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body. Greg and Jo discuss the shared threads across her work: a long view of the history of thought and the mind–body relationship. Jo explains how physics and neuroscience challenge a single objective “now,” describing perception as an active predictive process shaped by past experience and expectations, with examples from illusions and sensory priming. They discuss predictive coding, placebo effects, psychoneuroimmunology, anxiety as attention-weighted error monitoring, and how mindfulness and awe can rebalance attention and reduce stress. Jo also contrasts flow with mindfulness, explores choking and depersonalization-derealization as over-attention to self, and critiques medicine’s structural barriers to integrating context and meaning. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*
People in this episode
Host: Greg LaBlanc
Guest: Jo Marchant
Topics covered
- mind-body relationship
- predictive coding
- placebo effects
- psychoneuroimmunology
- mindfulness
- awe
- stress reduction
Keywords
- predictive brains
- placebo
- anxiety
- mindfulness
- flow
- depersonalization
- psychoneuroimmunology
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: In Search of Now: The Science of the Present Moment, Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body
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