Meet Chelsea Conaboy. Chelsea is a writer, editor and journalist who is the author of Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood. Her writing has been published by The New York Times, Mother Jones, Politico, the Boston Sunday Globe magazine, National Journal, The Week, ParentMap, and WBUR. And in 2014, she was part of The Boston Globe staff, that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. She now lives in Maine and runs a media production company with her husband called Strewn Wonder. Learn more about her work at: www.chelseaconaboy.com.

In this conversation Rachael and Chelsea focus on her book and take a deep-dive into parenthood. They talk about the myths of maternal instinct and about centuries-old stories around parenting that science debunks. Chelsea teaches us about the permanent changes that happen in the brain when one becomes a parent. And they also talk about how having a child can simultaneously open up your world while asking you to focus more energy at home.

Chelsea & Rachael recorded this conversation on February 12, 2026. They were both in Maine.

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