Episode 48 - Space and Time with Dr. Mayank Mehta

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt and Mayank Mehta (Professor, UCLA) talk about how rodents and human perceive space and time. Mayank has always been obsessed with time and merges physics and neuroscience to understand how the brain deals with these abstract concepts.

This episode was brought to you by Maze Engineers. Get 10% off your quote by visiting mazeengineers.com/brainmatters and enter the offer code: brain. They have some incredible behavioral neuroscience mazes and other neuroscience goodies so check them out.

Music on today’s episode by Equip and Sangam. Both are artists on the Dream Catalogue label

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Episode 47 - Becoming A Curious Scientist with Dr. André Fenton

What’s the most important thing about being a scientist? According to Dr. André Fenton: Curiosity. Anthony and André talked about how André tinkered his way to researching learning and memory at NYU.

André mentioned this famous article by Jerry Lettvin - What the Frog’s Eye Tells the Frog’s Brain

Here’s an article about the interesting story of PKMzeta, a molecule André has been studying for over a decade.

Music on today’s episode by Sure

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Episode 46 - The Nature of Nature (and the brain too) with Dr. David McCormick

This week on Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. David McCormick (Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Yale) start off 2017 right. On this episode you’ll get a quick briefing on the early history of neuroscience, information about Frankenstein’s monster, a look at neural circuits, and perspective from the Buddhist Monks of Tibet. You’re gonna want your cochleas ready for this one. 

David mentioned a ton of people and books. Here’s a list in case you wanna dive in.

Major Figures in the Early History of Neuroscience:
Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, René Descartes, Jan Swammerdam, Alessandro Volta, Emil de Bois-Reymond

Texts David Referenced:
1. Animal Electricity (Galvani, 1791)
2. Essay on Galvanism: “Précis des expériences galvaniques faites récemment à Londres et à Calais“ (Aldini, 1803)
3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
4. The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine (Eccles, 1967)

 Further Reading (if you’re into it like we are):
1. Early History of Neuroscience, Charles Gross
2. Giovanni Aldini: From Animal Electricity to Human Brain Stimulation, André Parent
3. History of Psychology, Ideas and Context (Chapter 8) King et al.


We partnered with Wiley Neuroscience on this one. Follow them on twitter! Shout out to their team for getting the twitter handle coveted most by neuroscientists.

The music on this episode was by Noveller. The first track was “Trails and Trials” from the soon to be released album “A Pink Sunset for Noone”, the second track was “Rubicon” from the Fantastic Planet LP. Go check out and purchase her music on bandcamp, or at her current label, Fire Records.

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Scientists ride the podcasting wave

A few months ago, the Brain Matters team had the chance to talk with science writer, Jane C. Hu about the podcast! We had a blast talking about the process of starting and producing a science podcast. If you’re interested, check out the article in Science! The other shows featured in the article are awesome too– check out An Inexact Science, Bone Lab Radio, and Goggles Optional for more science podcasting goodness.

Intercepting Neurological Triggers of Alzheimer’s Disease

To hear more about Franck Polleux’s research, listen to his interview with Brain Matters.

 #ThrowbackThursday to Brain Matters guest Shawn Lockery! Who doesn’t love nematodes and neuroscience?

He talks all about his science in our interview with him from 2014 (wow! have we really been doing the podcast for that long??)

Brain Matters guest Adam Gazzaley’s TEDx talk features his research on perception, attention, and memory using human neurophysiology tools.

Listen to his in depth interview on iTunes.

Episode 42 - Enhancing Cognition with Video Games with Dr. Adam Gazzaley

On this episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talked with Adam Gazzaley (Professor, UCSF) about his work on cognition. Adam develops and designs video games that are fun to play and also have enhancing cognitive effects.

Music on today’s episode by Anthony Lacagnina

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Episode 41 - The Vestibular System with Dr. Dora Angelaki

On this episode of Brain Matters, Anthony talked with Dr. Dora Angelaki (Professor & Chair of the Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine) about her work in the vestibular system. Dora refers to the vestibular system as ‘the sixth sense’ and her passion for studying this under-appreciated sensory system is clear as talks about her research. Dora is also working on a computational understanding of Autism. She discusses her approach to understanding this complicated disorder.

Music on today’s episode by Lawrence English

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Episode 40 - Molecular Mechanisms of Depression with Dr. Lisa Monteggia

On this episode of Brian Matters, Anthony and Dr. Lisa Monteggia (Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center) talked about depression and the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of antidepressants. They also talked about Lisa’s work on MeCP2, the gene linked to the autism spectrum disorder. Towards the end, Lisa opens up about how important mentorship is in the career of a young scientist.

Ride the Tiger: A Guide Through the Bipolar Brain premiers April 13, 2016 at 10/9c. It features neuroscience experts Thomas Insel, Paul Keck, Kafui Dzirasa, Karl Deisseroth, and Helen Mayberg.

Music on today’s episode by Diamondstein and Immune

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Episode 39 - The Resting Brain with Dr. Gagan Wig

On this episode of Brain Matters, Matt talked with Dr. Gagan Wig (Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas) about his research on brain networks. Gagan studies the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI and investigates a multitude of interesting questions about the human brain.

Music from today’s episode by Moe Meguro

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