Brain Matters

On this episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talks about memories with Dr. Paul Frankland (Principal Investigator, Neurobiology Laboratory at The Hospital for Sick Children). How do the details of memories become lost forever? And why is it that your first memory falls so late in life?

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. Rajesh Miranda (Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Theraputics, Texas A&M University) talk about fetal alcohol syndrome. Rajesh is passionate about finding ways to help those who fall on the spectrum of this syndrome by uncovering the ways alcohol interacts with the development of the fetal brain.

Anthony and Dr. Maria Geffen (Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania) talk about how the brain encodes the auditory world. Maria has had a very interesting career studying many of the senses including the somatosensory and visual systems before starting her auditory lab.

Matt sits down to with Dr. Wendy Suzuki (NYU). They have a great talk about the anatomy of memory, and how exercise impacts memory. Find out more about Dr. Suzuki at http://suzukilab.com/

Anthony and Dr. David Dickman (Professor of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine; Neuroscience Program Director, Rice University) talked about neuroscience in the skies from navigation in pigeons to orientation in monkeys. And some of those monkeys were in space! David also offers some encouragement for those interested in pursuing a career in science.

Is stress good or bad? Do the negative impacts of a stressful life outweigh the benefits of the adaptive physiological response? Matt and Dr. David Morilak (Professor of Pharmacology, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio) talk about what defines a stress response and why we have them to begin with. We also find out if stress researchers have the secret to beating anxiety. Thanks to Audible for supporting Brain Matters efforts in science outreach and education. Get a free audiobook of your choice at audiblepodcast.com/brainmatters.

Anthony sat down with Dr. Anthony Wagner (Professor, Stanford University) and talked about memory. Wagner is a cognitive neuroscientist studying memory in humans using techniques like functional MRI imaging. What does our brain look like when it forgets something? How do we make inferences? And can we detect a real memory from a false memory?

Matt and Dr. Andreas Tolias (Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine) talk about how the brain processes information.

Anthony and Dr. Nao Uchida (Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University) talk about how we can understand decision-making by looking at animals making decisions while we record from neurons in their brain.

On this episode of BRAIN MATTERS, Matt and Dr. Brian Derrick talk about the hippocampus. Dr. Derrick has a fascinating story about how he became interested in the hippocampus and what he and his colleagues are currently working to understand.