Convergent Science Network Podcast

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Maarja Kruusma (Tallin University of Technology) studies the building of fish, focusing especially on swimming. With Paul Verschure she discusses the importance of morphological details and body control, as well as biomimetical approaches in general.

Tony Prescott interviews Paul Verschure on his theory of the brain and how it has given rise to new hypotheses on the function and mechanisms of conscicousness

We discuss the question of how biological and artificial systems can explore and find information relative to their goals. In response, Daniel explains his notion of "Empowerment".

Bechir and Uhrig discuss their work on the mechanisms of consciousness as revealed through anaesthesia.

Neil Burgess discusses his latest insights in the memory systems of the brain, the hippocampus, including its experimental and theoretical exploration.

Ton Coolen describes the complex network of the immune system and how theoretical models can help us to understand their function in health and disease.

Semir Zeki speaks on the visual system of the human brain and how it can give rise to aesthetic experiences.

Giacomo Rizzolatti takes us on a tour through his long study of the mirror neuron system of the brain and how it revolutionized the study of mind

Jose Halloy speaks on his experiments where he used robots to investigate the collective behavior of animals.

Matthew E. Diamond (SISSA, Trieste) discusses the neural correlates of decision making, and his studies of that in both humans and rats.

Francesca Cacucci takes us on a tour of the organization of the memory systems of the brain from cells to circuits and behavior.

Aurore Thibault discusses the state of the art in the science of consciousness

Narender Ramnani (University of London) studies the cerebellum, and discusses here his view of the functional interactions between that brain area and the neocortical areas of the brain.

Ranulfo Romo (University of Mexico) discusses the conscious and unconscious manifestations of decision making in the brain, focusing especially if and how neurons can process more than single sensory modalities.

Stephen Nocter (UC Davis, California) on the evolution and regulation of neural precursor cells in the developing vertebrate brain. He discusses his work studying the pathways of developing neurons, moving between brain zones.

Bryan Kolb (University of Lethbridge, Alberta) discusses his study of the influence of changes in stimulation, behaviour and brain circuits on gene expression in the developing brain.

Kate J. Jefferey (University College, London) discusses her work on spatial navigation, focusing on the interaction between place cells, grid cells, and the influence of contextual clues.

John Lisman (Brandeis University, Massachusetts) discusses his work on the brain’s navigation coding, arguing how sets of faster oscillations nested in slower cycles may constitute a general communication principle in the brain.

Marc Blumberg’s (University of Iowa) work focuses on sleep, more specific on the influence of the twitching of muscles on the sensorimotor system.

Edvard Moser (Kavli Institute and Centre for Neural Computation, Norway; Nobel prize 2014) discusses the work of his group, his wife and himself on the brain’s computation of spatial memory.

Gregg Recanzone (UC Davis, California) talks about his older work on plasticity in the adult brain. With Paul Verschure and Toby Prescott he discuss how neurons keep adapting to a type of input they are receiving.

Benny Hochner (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) discusses his work on octopi and the way motor control is uniquely organised in their flexible bodies.

Barbara Finlay (Cornell University, New York) focuses on causal relations between brain structure and an animal’s evolutionarily differentiated behaviour. She discusses the ways brains do change, but in a quite constraint fashion.

Randall D Beer (Indiana University, Bloomington) discusses the use of dynamical systems theory as a mathematical 'lens' or language to study the brain and its processes. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Zoltán Monár (Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford) discusses his work on the development of the brain. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Yaki Setty (Computational Systems Biology, Max Planck Institute, Saarbrücken) discusses his work on the modeling of neurogenesis and related developmental processes. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Stefano Ferraina (Physiology, Sapienza University, Rome) discusses his work on primate decision making and inference. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Murray Shanahan (Cognitive Robotics, Imperial College London) discusses his work on the dynamics of cortical networks and their non-linear properties. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Jon Kaas (Vanderbilt University, Nashville) discusses his view on the evolution of brains from early mammals to humans. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Henry Kennedy (Stem-Cell and Brain Research Institute, Lyon) discusses his work on the anatomical structure of the primate cortex. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Etienne Koechlin (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris) discusses with Paul Verschure the functional organization of the human prefrontal-cortex function underpinning reasoning, learning and exploration in the service of decision-making and adaptive behavior.

David Redish (Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, ) discusses his work on the neuronal substrate of spatial navigation, memory and regret. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Gary Marcus (NYU Center for Language and Music, New York) discusses his criticism of the current views of cortical organization and his proposal on an alternative perspective. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Dorothy Fragaszy (Primate Behavior Laboratory, University of Georgia) discusses her work on tool use in non-human primates. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Danielle Stolzenberg (University of California, Davis) discusses her work on innate behaviors and their genetic and neuronal regulation in the hypothalamus. Interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott.

Germund Hesslow (Lund University) discusses with Paul Verschure the role of the cerebellum in the animal brain. Behavioral learning, prediction and the neural substrate underlying these functions are discussed with a focus on Classical Conditioning.

Eberhard Fetz (University of Washington, Seattle) discusses with Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott the neural substrate of action coding in the light of the experimental results obtained from an autonomous implantable recurrent brain-computer interface.

Tim Pierce (University of Leicester), discusses with Paul Verschure the topic of animal olfaction and the its neural substrate in order to develop computational approaches able to validate empirical findings and to lead to a tangible technological outcome