DR. RACHAEL L. BROWN
  • About Me
  • CV
  • Research
  • Presentations
  • The P-Value Podcast
  • Public Philosophy

Dr. Rachael L. Brown

Philosopher of Biology
[email protected]
WRITING
  • "Your smartphone is a parasite, according to evolution" The Conversation, 2 June 2025 (co-authored with Rob Brooks, UNSW) 
    • Covered in The Canberra Times, Vice and others.
    • Republished in numerous venues including the New Zealand Herald, Gizmodo, ScienceAlert and The Straits Times.
    • Covered by WIN TV Canberra, ABC Local Radio nationwide, ABC Radio National, Radio New Zealand.
    • Has been accessed over 81,000 times .
    • Has been re-published in Spanish and Japanese.
  • “3 fallacies that blighted this year’s COVID commentary — have you fallen foul of any of them?” The Conversation. December 29, 2020.
    • Has been accessed more than 50,000 times.
  • ”Scientific Modelling is steering our response to coronavirus. But what is Scientific Modelling?” The Conversation. April 9, 2020.

TV/RADIO/PODCAST INTERVIEWS
"Is your smartphone a parasite?"
  • 02/06/25: ABC Local Radio Canberra Mornings
  • 02/06/25: ABC Local Radio Adelaide Mornings
  • 02/06/25: WIN Canberra Local TV News
  • 03/06/25: ABC Local Radio Darwin Mornings
  • 03/06/25: ABC Local Radio Perth Mornings
  • 03/06/25: ABC Local Radio Melbourne Drive
  • 03/06/25: 2GB Sydney Drive
  • 03/06/25: 2CC Canberra Drive
  • 04/06/25: ABC Local Radio North Queensland Mornings
  • 05/06/25: ABC Local Radio Sydney Afternoons
  • 08/06/25: ABC Radio Weekend Evenings
  • 08/06/25: ABC Radio National Sunday Extra
  • 09/06/25: ABC Radio National Life Matters (Link to Audio)
  • 12/06/25: Radio New Zealand Afternoon Show (Link to Audio)
"Fri-losophy: Personal identity, the self and aging"
  • 07/02/25: ABC Radio Canberra 666 Afternoon Show. 
"Science and the Value-Free Ideal"
  • July 2023: The HPS Podcast https://podbay.fm/p/the-hps-podcast-conversations-from-history-philosophy-and-social-studies-of-science/e/1689188400​
"SRoundtable on Animal Sentience with Liz Irvine and Jonathan Birch (Vodcast)
  • July 2022: The Brains Blog https://philosophyofbrains.com/2022/10/06/brains-blog-roundtable-animal-consciousness.aspx
“Exploring Consciousness” Panel discussion on the nature of consciousness and how we understand it
  • 23/08/20: God Forbid, ABC Radio National. Link to audio.
“The Myth of Value Free Science”
  • 15/07/20: ABC South East NSW Breakfast.
“Better safe than sorry? The challenge of incorporating new evidence of invertebrate and fish pain into our animal welfare legislation”
  • 17/06/20: ABC South East NSW Breakfast. Link to audio.
“What are scientific models?”
  • 11/05/20: Counterpoint with Amanda Vanstone, ABC Radio National. Link to audio. 
  • 08/04/20: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Science or Pseudoscience?”
  • 11/03/20: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“The secret(s) of our success: The role of intelligence in human evolution”
  • 09/10/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast. Link to audio. 
“Why did Grandmothering evolve?” 
  • 11/9/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“What is creativity?”
  • 28/9/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast.
“Revolutions & Trust in Science” (with Adrian Currie and Kirsten Walsh – Exeter)
  • 31/07/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast. Link to Audio
“Were ancient humans as smart as us?”
  • 03/07/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Misinformation in the information age” (with Cailin O’Connor and James Weatherall – UCI)
  • 19/06/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Brains in Vats?”
  • 05/06/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Science of Animal Welfare” (with Heather Browning – ANU)
  • 08/05/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Robot carers”
  • 24/04/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Insectageddon? Biodiversity, why care?”
  • 10/04/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Animal Cultures?”
  • 27/03/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Geoengineering: Planetary saviour or disaster?”
  • 27/2/19: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Thylacine genetic diversity and conservation ethics”
  • 13/12/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Memory and Extended Cognition”
  • 29/11/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
  • 29/11/17: ABC Canberra Drive
  • 30/11/17: ABC Perth Breakfast
“Ethics of Genetic Testing and Insurance”
  • 15/11/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Big Gods and the Evolution of Religion”
  • 01/11/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Are fish sentient? What if they are?”
  • 18/10/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Cultural Evolution”
  • 20/09/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
“Launch of Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences”
  • 06/09/17: ABC South East NSW Breakfast
  • 08/08/17: ABC Canberra Drive


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • About Me
  • CV
  • Research
  • Presentations
  • The P-Value Podcast
  • Public Philosophy