NeuwriteWest

"Brains and Bourbon" is a show about cocktails and neuroscience. Each week, we invite a neuroscientist to discuss the process and motivation behind their science, and to share their favorite cocktail with us.

This week, our guest is George Vidal, a 4th year graduate student in Carla Shatz's lab here at Stanford, who talks to us about neuronal plasticity, and the intersection of science and religion, and shares with us his favorite cocktail, green Chartreuse.

This is the SHORT version of the interview, which includes the following sections:

Introducing George Vidal 0:00-1:09

Making green Chartreuse 1:09-3:54

What is neuronal plasticity? 3:54-5:59

Structural plasticity and spine motility 5:59-10:54

The role of PirB on plasticity 10:54-12:53

Not My Field 12:53-16:53

Science and religion, and the future Father Vidal 16:53-23:22

Goodbye and end credits 23:22-24:28

You can listen to the full, 42 minute version of the show here: http://soundcloud.com/neuwritewest/brains-bourbon-ep2plasticity-full

"Brains and Bourbon" is a show about cocktails and neuroscience. Each week, we invite a neuroscientist to discuss the process and motivation behind their science, and to share their favorite cocktail with us.

Our first guest is Nick Steinmetz, a 6th year graduate student in Kwabena Boahen and Tirin Moore’s labs here at Stanford, who talks to us about attention and monkeys, and shows us how to make an Old Fashioned cocktail.

You have a brain and you like to drink, so come sit down and have a drink with us.

This week on Neurotalk, we talk to Mala Murthy about vengeful flies, courtship songs, and the BRAIN initiative.

Mala Murthy is an assistant professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University.

This week on Neurotalk, we talk to Cynthia Moss about her early experience working in a mental institute, the best way to catch a bat, and what bat place cells tell us about our own brains!

Cynthia Moss is a professor of psychology and systems neuroscience at the University of Maryland at College Park.

To view the bat videos mentioned in the interview, visit Professor Moss's webpage here: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/batlab/movies.html

This week's guest is Dr. Yishi Jin, who tells us how a happy laser accident led to a better understanding of the process of axon regeneration, and how the suppression of science during China's cultural revolution fueled her young scientific curiosity.

Dr. Yishi Jin is a professor of neurobiology, and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at UC San Diego.

This week, we talk to Yingxi Lin about inhibition, memory, and talking to mice.

Dr. Yingxi Lin is an assistant professor of neuroscience at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT.

Note to listeners: We had some technical difficulties during our interview with Yingxi Lin, so the audio quality is not as good as it should be, and

some of her answers are a little difficult to understand in a few places.

Ron Yu explains the tunotopy of the olfactory system, how mice can determine gender by smelling pheromones in urine, and more!

Dr. Ron Yu is an Associate Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

This week, we talk with Jonathan Wallis about how the brain encodes abstract rules, and translates those rules into behavioral decision making.

Dr. Wallis is a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.