New Zealand Listener – March 02, 2018

64 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018

That’sEntertainm

H

old the phone:

someone with a New

Zealand accent is talk-

ing about science. Are

we in oppositeland?

Admittedly, All in the Mind

(Prime, Sunday, 8.30pm) is a

one-off and probably won’t be

the beginning of a science-TV

revival. That’s just wishful –

and unscientific – thinking.

But how we wish it were a

series, because brain develop-

ment specialist Nathan Wallis,

with his charming Southland

rolling Rs, is a natural on

camera as he investigates the

differences between the male

and female brain.

Dangerous waters, you

might think, but everyone

that Wallis buttonholes in

the street for comment says

definitely, yes, absolutely, no

question about it, men and

women think differently. One

charmer even claims that

men “are more superior” and

“know a bit more”.

There is a perception that

men are more practical,

women more emotional.

Men are more aggressive

and risk-taking, women are

more cautious and better at

multitasking.

Maybe that’s so, but how

much of that behaviour is

down to the differences in

our brains – which are “very

small”, according to Ian Kirk,

a professor of neuroscience at

the University of Auckland –

and how much is a matter of

environment and expectation?

Wallis’s investigation

features experiments with a

female rally driver and with

Mind how you go

A new local science series examines the

differences between the male and female brain.

TV • TV REVIEW • RADIO • TV & RADIO LISTINGS

Nathan Wallis with rally

driver Emma Gilmour

and, below, wired up

for brain testing.