Podcasts

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 5: The war dial

“You have to reshape the whole system.” Tempest McDonald earns a measure of peace.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 4: How did things unfold?

Tempest McDonald sues Vanderbilt University Medical Center through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her published NIH paper finds allies.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 3: Would there be data?

Tempest McDonald takes a postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University. Researching her paper accusing the National Institutes of Health of discrimination threatens everything she has built.

Is it time for neuroscience to shift its focus from a computational mind to a navigating mind?

Andrea Hiott explains her navigational approach to the mind, and why now is the time to embrace seemingly paradoxical findings in neuroscience.

How does a control theorist explain cognition?

Maxim Raginsky draws on control theory, engineering and philosophy to explore what makes biological brains intelligent, what artificial intelligence is missing, and what principles underlie biological autonomy.

What if Hegel were a neuroscientist?

Andrea Gambarotto shares what Hegel and enactivism have in common: an agency-first approach to understanding minds and brains.

The relationship between structure and function in cortical networks

Michael Reimann explains how the shape of neurons puts strong constraints on how they are wired in a network, and how this affects their structure-function relationships.

How neuromorphic computing could improve AI

Mihai Petrovici explains what neuromorphic computing is and how it can speed up and reduce energy consumption in artificial intelligence and brain simulations.

How energy determines where proteins are produced in neurons

Tatjana Tchumatchenko explains how mathematical modeling elucidates whether ion-channel proteins are produced locally in the soma or in the dendrites.

Remembering Barbara Finlay, ‘maverick’ of evolutionary neuroscience

Finlay, who died on 12 September, championed the idea that developmental constraints dictate how evolution sculpts brains, a concept she used to model the timing of hundreds of events and align them across mammalian species.

How new technologies can bring primatologists and systems neuroscientists together

The two groups study the same behavioral phenomena yet rarely interact or read each other's work—a mutual blind spot that weakens both fields. New technologies offer a chance to bring them together.

Creating community through grant support

Fiona Sanderson, a senior program manager at the Brain Canada Foundation, shares how she got into grant administration and how she helps connect researchers with funding and one another.

When autistic kids grow up

An autistic researcher’s paper called attention to a huge disparity in autism funding research between children and adults. It nearly derailed her life.

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.

‘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.