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Science Cafe: Shining Light on the Brain

Wednesday, January 28, 2015
5:00 AM
Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub 318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor

Light is a powerful tool - it can help us see brain function, and it can even activate behavior patterns. One new research tool uses visible light to map and understand brain activity. Assistant Professor Ioulia Kovelman of the Department of Psychology uses this tool to study the human mind, and especially language and bilingual acquisition in children and adults. In a separate project, Assistant Professor Orie Shafer of the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology employs anatomical, genetic, and live imaging techniques to discover how a sense of time emerges from neurons within the brain, a sense that must be synchronized with daily changes in light and darkness. The neuroscience research conducted by these two researchers leads to questions about how the results of such research tools might be used in the future. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about learning, behavior, the future of brain science. Sponsored by Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society.

Speaker:
Orie Shafer and Ioilia Kovelman