Dr Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist, psychiatry lecturer at Cardiff University, writer for The Guardian and sometimes comedian, is fed up with the reverence the brain receives.

Many people talk about the breathtaking complexity, mystery and sophistication of the human brain, but this often overlooks one important fact; the human brain regularly does things inefficiently, bizarrely or just plain wrong.

How come alcohol can actually help us remember things? Why does anger make us optimistic? Why does the brain make eating so complicated? Why is anecdotal evidence so persuasive? What is it that makes conspiracy theories so compelling? This and more is covered in a light-hearted, if sometimes worrying, look at the more ridiculous properties of the brain.

This talk is derived from Dean's upcoming book The Idiot Brain.