360 | Marc Berman on the Science of Touching Grass

Hello, everyone, welcome to the Mindscape Podcast. I'm your host, Sean Carroll. Have you been told uh by one of the kids today to go touch grass? Or are you a kid today who has told people to go touch grass? Uh I get the impression I I do not pretend to be up on the lingo used by the youths of the world today, but in certain circles, you know, if you're having a conversation or interacting usually online and someone is trying to point out that maybe you become a little unmoored or unhinged or unrelated to the real world, maybe it's time for you to get off the computer, go wander outside in nature, look at a tree, touch the grass, get reconnected to the natural world around you to maybe find your bearings a little bit. And the good news is there is science. To back up the idea that this would actually be a clever strategy to reconnect yourself to the world, or maybe even a better way of saying it is.

you would become a better thinker, not just someone who is in a better mood, but you can actually use your mental capacities more effectively if you are experiencing nature. in some way. At least that's the thesis being put forward in um a book that came out last year by today's guest, Mark Berman. The book is called Nature and the Mind, The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical and Social Wellbeing. And uh as as we'll see, Mark has been a pioneer in uh an idea called environmental neuroscience, trying to judge how the brain functions differently in different contexts. One of those contacts might be literally you're out in nature, just taking a walk or whatever. Another might be you're in your room, in an office or at home, or in an urban environment, walking around the street.

Maybe it's not surprising in retrospect, but our brains seem to function better, some evidence indicates, when we're in that natural environment. After all, we did evolve in a more natural environment. We didn't have cities uh a hundred thousand years ago, and the development of technology and urbanization has been a relatively recent occurrence in human history. So there's something about and and this is fun of the fun part of the conversation is that We're not exactly sure what it is, but there's something about just looking at natural things, whether it's coastlines or trees or whatever. That

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