Podcasts

Synaptic
Exploring the people, the science and the challenges in neuroscience.
Recent Episodes:

Stimulating the brain with Damien Fair
The MacArthur Foundation “genius” discusses his return to his home state of Minnesota and why it’s important to protect the developing brain.

Season 2 of ‘Synaptic’ draws to a close
Season 3 will begin next year.

Timothy Ryan on his pivotal switch from studying particle physics to decoding synaptic transmission
Dissuaded from pursuing theoretical physics and deterred by the “long feedback loop” in experimental physics, the National Academy of Sciences member took inspiration from “polymath” Watt Webb and “visionary” Stephen Smith—and learned to work “completely outside his comfort zone.”

Brain Inspired
A podcast where neuroscience and AI converge. Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks.
Recent Episodes:
David Robbe challenges conventional notions of time and memory
Inspired by his own behavioral neuroscience research and the philosophy of Henri Bergson, Robbe makes the case that we don't have clocks in our brains but instead perceive time by way of our interactions with the world.
David Krakauer reflects on the foundations and future of complexity science
In his book “The Complex World,” Krakauer explores how complexity science developed, from its early roots to the four pillars that now define it—entropy, evolution, dynamics and computation.
Eli Sennesh talks about bridging predictive coding and NeuroAI
Predictive coding is an enticing theory of brain function. Building on decades of models and experimental work, Eli Sennesh proposes a biologically plausible way our brain might implement it.

Audio research news
Your latest update from The Transmitter.
Recent Episodes:

Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus ‘hot spot’
Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

Males and females show different patterns of risk for brain-based conditions. Ignoring these differences does us all a disservice.
Although studying sex differences in the brain is complex, technically awkward and socioculturally loaded, it is absolutely essential.

Immune cell interlopers breach—and repair—brain barrier in mice
The choroid plexus, the protective network of blood vessels and epithelial cells that line the brain’s ventricles, recruits neutrophils and macrophages during inflammation, a new study shows.

The Transmitter stories
Stories about developments in neuroscience.
Recent Episodes:

‘Emergent and transactional’: How Jonathan Green is rethinking autism and interventions
The experienced clinician discusses writing his recent paper, and its reception in the field.

The story of autism research in Australia: A conversation with Cheryl Dissanayake
With the help of a generous benefactor, autism research in Australia is gathering critical mass.

New journals seek to fill neurodiversity gap
The two journals, although differing in initial support, both realized the need for a publication focused exclusively on the neurodiverse experience.