Image for Heart vs Mind: What Makes Us Human?Not currently available on BBC iPlayer

Duration: 1 hour

The heart is the most symbolic organ of the human body. Throughout history it has been seen as the site of our emotions, the very centre of our being. But modern medicine has come to see the heart as just a pump; a brilliant pump, but nothing more. And we see ourselves as ruled by our heads and not our hearts.

In this documentary, filmmaker David Malone asks whether we are right to take this view. He explores the heart's conflicting histories as an emotional symbol and a physical organ, and investigates what the latest science is learning about its structures, its capacities and its role. In the age-old battle of hearts and minds, will these new discoveries alter the balance and allow the heart to reclaim something of its traditional place at the centre of our humanity?

Last on

Sat 14 Jul 2012 22:30 BBC HD

Music Played

10 items

  • Robert McDuffie & Houston Symphony Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: I. Quarter Note = 104-120

    Violin Concertos of John Adams & Philip Glass, Telarc Classical

  • Ludovico ascolta [SIAE] Uno

    Divenire, Decca, 01

  • Image for Philip Glass

    Philip Glass Metamorphosis Two

    Artist: Philip Glass

    Philip Glass - Solo Piano, Sony Classical, 02

  • Image for Max Richter

    Max Richter A Sudden Manhattan Of The Mind

    Artist: Max Richter [PRS]

    24 Postcards In Full Colour, Fatcat Records

  • Image for Max Richter

    Max Richter Harmonium

    Composer: Max Richter [PRS]

    Songs from before, Fatcat Records, 4

  • Image for Ludovico Einaudi

    Ludovico Einaudi Fly

    Divenire, Decca, 09

  • Image for Ludovico Einaudi

    Ludovico Einaudi Ascolta

    Divenire, Decca, 04

  • Image for Sigur Rós

    Sigur Rós Ba Ba

    Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do, EMI Records

  • Tasmin Little/Martin Roscoe Spiegel Im Spiegel

    Composer: Arvo Pärt

    Remasterpiece, EMI Classics, 19

  • Image for Max Richter

    Max Richter Landscape with figure (1922)

    Composer: Max Richter [PRS]

    Memoryhouse, Fat Cat Records

Credits

Presenter
David Malone
Director
David Briggs
Producer
David Briggs
Executive Producer
Marcus Herbert

Broadcasts

See all broadcasts of Heart vs Mind: What Makes Us Human? (5)

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