StarTalk Radio Your Brain is a Time Machine with Dean Buonomano
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Jan 9, 2026 In this engaging discussion, Dean Buonomano, a UCLA Professor specializing in neurobiology and psychology, delves into how our brains perceive time. He contrasts artificial clocks with our brain's organic timing processes and explains the evolutionary value of timekeeping. Dean explores mental time travel, revealing its significance in foresight and societal development. He also discusses the complexities of memory storage and how our neural dynamics influence our perception of time. Prepare to rethink how you experience the past and future!
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Brains Use Dynamics, Not Pendulums
- Man-made clocks use repeating oscillations as a time base, but the brain does not rely on a single oscillator.
- Dean Buonomano says the brain tells seconds-scale time via neural dynamics, not a ticking clock.
Neural Trajectories Serve As Clocks
- The brain functions as a complex dynamical system whose activity patterns encode time.
- Buonomano describes neural trajectories as the mechanism the brain uses to mark elapsed seconds.
Cells Keep Biological Time
- Circadian clocks are biomolecular oscillators tuned to Earth's 24-hour cycle via transcription-translation feedback loops.
- Buonomano highlights that such cellular clocks give organisms fitness advantages by anticipating environmental cycles.
