Brain Inspired

Recent articles

This podcast, hosted by Paul Middlebrooks, features in-depth conversations with neuroscientists studying natural and artificial intelligence, philosophy, consciousness and other related areas.

When we sleep, our brain is filled with spontaneous neural activity. What is it doing?

Daniel Levenstein explains how internally generated brain activity during sleep shapes our cognition, and why NeuroAI is such a powerful approach to understanding the brain.

By Paul Middlebrooks
2 September 2026 | 96 min listen

Alison Barth discovers how different neuron types contribute to cortical function

Barth uses learning tasks in mice as a tool to drive synaptic plasticity in the sensory cortex, hoping to unlock more general principles of how the cortex works.

By Paul Middlebrooks
5 August 2026 | 1 min read

Is our intelligence rooted in how living organisms are organized?

Kathryn Nave explains how a concept called constraint closure may be fundamental to understanding brains, minds and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
15 July 2026 | 1 min read

Johannes Jaeger explains why we should care that brains and AI are not the same

From single cells to whole organisms, living beings must continuously regenerate themselves and judge what's important to continue living. Artificial intelligence does not and cannot.

By Paul Middlebrooks
1 July 2026 | 1 min read

Are computational complexity principles relevant for explaining brain activity?

Cristopher Moore discusses the nature of computation and whether we should think of neural activity as computing.

By Paul Middlebrooks
17 June 2026 | 1 min read

What counts as a ‘naturalistic’ behavior?

Nedah Nemati explains how neuroscience methods and the lived experience of the scientists themselves shape how we define the behaviors we seek to explain.

By Paul Middlebrooks
3 June 2026 | 1 min read

Ehud Ahissar offers a new kind of dualism for neuroscience

He explains how “perceptual dualism” can account for the way we communicate via digital symbols and perceive the world via analog brain processes.

By Paul Middlebrooks
6 May 2026 | 102 min listen

Liset de la Prida explains how neuron subtypes may control the activity of large neural populations, from manifolds to ripples

De la Prida's work analyzing the varieties of sharp wave ripples in the hippocampus led to her discovery that specific types of neurons control the properties of neural manifolds.

By Paul Middlebrooks
22 April 2026 | 104 min listen

Romain Brette reveals fundamental flaws in commonly assumed neuroscience concepts

His new book, “The Brain, In Theory,” offers alternatives to many of the computer science frameworks currently driving theoretical neuroscience.

By Paul Middlebrooks
8 April 2026 | 131 min listen

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Researcher examining butterfly in lab.

Finally, a new route for the magnetic-sense field

Researchers have dueled for years over how the magnetic sense works. New data from monarch butterflies could finally help settle the debate.

By Calli McMurray
11 September 2026 | 16 min read
Child sitting on confetti-covered ground, wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

Sensory over-responsivity tied to autism, anxiety but not other conditions

Negative reactions to sensations track with certain neurodevelopmental traits in more than 15,000 children—pointing to shared neurobiological roots.

By Diana Kwon
10 September 2026 | 5 min read

Neuromechanical models deepen our understanding of animal motor control

Thanks to recent progress in physics-based simulators and robotics, it has never been easier for neuroscientists to use neuromechanical modeling to test hypotheses about animal movement.

By Auke Ijspeert
9 September 2026 | 0 min watch