Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Thanks for downloading the more or less podcast from the BBC.

Except it's not more or less you've downloaded because the series is currently off air,

but instead Matthew Taylor's series brain culture continues.

As part of a season of Radio 4 programs exploring the rise of neuroscience, the former number 10

head of strategy asks whether Britain's education system will be changed by new insights

into how human brains learn and retain knowledge.

Welcome to Part 2 of brain culture.

My journey to discover how neuroscience will change society.

This week, hopes for a

neurologically based education for Britain's children.

Let's try this is a bit totally terrible. As you can probably tell, the point of listening to this viola is not for its artistic merit.

But stringed instruments, like the one being played here by Professor Chris Frith of University College London,

do have an important place in the development of neuroscience.

It was scans of violin players that helped scientists understand that the brain is plastic.

It doesn't just retain facts and memories and fixed areas,

but learning special skills like music actually changes its structure.

...