Welcome to the first episode of Wild Minds, our new mini-series exploring cognitive diversity and natural behaviour through conversations with leading researchers working at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and neuroscience.

In this episode, we are joined by Nacho Sanguinetti, Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and head of the Cognitive Neuroethology Lab. His research focuses on the neuroscience of play behaviour and flexible cognition, primarily in rodents studied within more naturalistic contexts.

We speak with Nacho about the innovative experimental paradigms he has helped develop to study play in rodents, how playful behaviour varies across species, and what these differences reveal about the function and evolution of play. We also discuss the remarkable biological diversity of rodents and how this diversity can be leveraged to advance our neuroscientific understanding of cognition.

Nacho is originally from Uruguay, where he first obtained a Bachelors in Biochemistry and Masters in Neuroscience from La Universidad de la República and began working on weakly electric fish. He went on to obtain a PhD in the neurobiology of spatial navigation and play in rats, in the lab of Michael Brecht Lab at Humboldt University, Berlin. Subsequently, he completed a postdoc at Harvard University with Hopi Hoekstra and Nao Uchida, where he developed tools and approaches to study comparative play and natural behavior.

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Join us for another episode in our Tools for Looking into the Brain series, where we learn about methods used to understand the nervous system from experts in the field. This week we are joined by Dr Paula Pousinha, a neuroscientist and associate professor at Université Côte d’Azur who researches the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. Paula tells us how we can use rodent models to understand the neural mechanisms that lead up to Alzheimer's disease, and in particular how neuronal firing and physiological properties gradually change alongside changes in synapses and connectivity. We also discuss bridging the gap between single neurons and cognition, what defines excitability, how similar approaches can be used to tackle several neurodegenerative disorders, and how this knowledge can shape future therapies to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Paula Pousinha is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Physiology at Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. Paula earned a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Lisbon, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Hélène Marie at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology in France where she investigated how synaptic plasticity and neuronal activity change during ageing and contribute to cognitive decline. Her lab's current research focuses on the synaptic and circuit mechanisms that underlie brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. 

This episode is part of our Tools for Looking into the Brain series which is sponsored by Scientifica, leaders in electrophysiological equipment and expertise. This series is dedicated to creating engaging and informative content exploring various techniques used by researchers in neuroscience. Find out more ⁠here⁠.

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In today's episode we are celebrating women's day by highlighting a condition that primarily affects women- migraines. We are joined by Dr. Anna Andreou, who leads the Headache Research Laboratory at King's College London and focuses on the neurobiology of primary and secondary headaches, and the development of novel therapies. In this episode, we delve into what makes migraines different to headaches, what are the major causes and the neurobiological mechanisms behind them, and what sort of therapies exist and what novel therapies are being developed currently? Tune in if you would like to learn more!

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Today we celebrate Neuroverse being 4! In this episode Carolina and Clara asked each other random questions ranging from neuroscience to personal. Tune in for a more uncut episode and learn more about your hosts!

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Welcome to the first episode of 2026!

In usual Neuroverse tradition the first episode is a "Philosophy of..." - touch!

Touch provides a very interesting array of information to the body that is at times completely novel but can also overlap with the other senses. Physical touch has an interesting bidirectionally to it, enabling both autonomy and an intricate link to our sense of self, something not seen as clearly with our other senses. Tune in to this episode to hear about what makes touch unique, and how it plays a powerful role in mind-body awareness and shaping our social worlds.

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Enjoy our last episode of 2025! In Neuroverse fashion, the last episode of the year is "Off the Record". In this episode we chat and reminisce about our favourite episodes from the past year, what inspired us, what episodes left a lasting impression and our plans for 2026.

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In today's episode, we are joined by Dr. Matthew Harvey, a medical doctor turned neuroscientist, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute who studies cortical dynamics during behaviour. Matt tells us about his doctoral research on cortical flexibility in a neurodevelopmental disorder mouse model (a neurexin 1-alpha knockout), and how he applied wide-field calcium imaging to explore cortex-wide dynamics during learning and flexible decision-making. We also discuss the complex and shared genetic bases of neurodevelopmental disorders and the future of translational research that is bridging the gap between clinical and preclinical research on neurodevelopmental disorders.

Matthew Harvey trained as a medical doctor before making the jump to academia and carrying out a PhD in neuroscience at King's College London, in the lab of Adil Khan, where he investigated cortex wide neural activity during learning and flexible decision making in mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders. He is currently researching impulsivity & cognitive control in Flor Iacaruso's lab at the Francis Crick Institute.

This episode is part of our Tools for Looking into the Brain series which is sponsored by Scientifica, leaders in electrophysiological equipment and expertise. This series is dedicated to creating engaging and informative content exploring various techniques used by researchers in neuroscience. Find out more here.

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In today's episode Clara and Carolina are joined by Professor Dave McLean for another episode on Tools for Looking into the Brain. Dave is a Group Leader at the University of Edinburgh and researches the neural circuitry behind locomotion. He talks to us about the use of zebrafish as a model organism for understanding the neural circuits in charge of locomotion and movement, and how motor behaviours- both innate and learned- emerge as the nervous system matures. His lab combines advanced imaging, electrophysiology, and behavioural analysis to map the organization and recruitment of specific neuron types, providing fundamental insights into how vertebrate motor control is built and how it adapts with learning.

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What is pain—and why is it so hard to understand, treat, or even describe? In our latest Tools for Looking into the Brain episode, we sit down with Dr. Sascha Alles, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesia at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, to unpack the fascinating and often misunderstood world of chronic pain.

Dr. Alles takes us deep into the science behind how pain works, the electrophysiological changes that contribute to pain, and what makes it such a uniquely challenging subject for researchers. We discuss how cutting-edge tools and model systems are reshaping our understanding of the nervous system.

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In today's episode, we are joined by Dr Mateusz Kostecki to discuss the importance of ideas as a theoretical and conceptual basis for generating and motivating neuroscience research. Mateusz is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Heidelberg studying patterns of behaviour in placozoa, blob-like marine invertebrates. Prior to this, Mateusz completed a PhD on the social transmission of behaviour in rodents at the Laboratory of Molecular Basis of Behavior at the Nencki Institute in Warsaw, Poland. During his PhD, he also founded Nencki Open Lab, a neuroscience grassroots initiative that organises workshops, symposia, talks, and other events, with the goal of offering a creative environment in which researchers can discuss their ideas with people from different scientific subfields and learn tools that allow them to develop their experimental setups and analyse their data. In the episode, we talk about Mateusz's research journey, the philosophy behind Nencki Open Lab, how to deal with variability and juggling both theory and experimental approaches as a (neuro)scientist, and how to stay motivated in science.

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