Neuroscience

Rafael Yuste, a professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, has been awarded the Eliasson Global Leadership Prize by the Tällberg Foundation for his seminal contributions in inspiring the US and International BRAIN initiatives and for his efforts toward building ethical guidelines for neurotechnology and artificial intelligence.

Raju Tomer has won a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, for his pioneering work in developing new technologies for high-resolution mapping of brain structure and function.

Researchers found clumps of non-functioning hnRNP H and at least three other RNA-binding proteins in the brain cells of people who had died with ALS, frontotemporal dementia or both.

Researchers show that skilled improvisers are better than musicians with limited improvisational experience at distinguishing between chords that can be used interchangeably in a piece of music and chords that cannot.

Two Columbia professors — a neuroscientist whose work on the visual system could lead to a cure for blindness and a theoretical computer scientist who has helped define the limits of computation — are among the 84 new members elected this week to the National Academy of Sciences. 

Researchers show how an algorithm for filtering spam can learn to pick out, from hours of video footage, the full behavioral repertoire of tiny, pond-dwelling Hydra. By comparing Hydra’s behaviors to the firing of its neurons, the researchers hope to eventually understand how its nervous system, and that of more complex animals, works. 

A neuroscientist and cartoonist, Matteo Farinella is a postdoc in Columbia's Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience program. He will moderate a seminar on Monday, Nov. 20, on the role of metaphor in science and education.

Psychiatry professor Joanna Steinglass and Psychology professor Daphna Shohamy incorporated cognitive neuroscience in the study of anorexia nervosa. Brain scans reveal the mechanisms that guide restrictive eating.

Nikolaus Kriegeskorte at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute organized a three-day conference that starts brings together cognitive scientists, neuroscientists and computer scientists. Kriegeskorte spoke with us about the event and his research.

It would be unusual to confuse the mouth-watering aroma of baking chocolate chip cookies with the fragrance of a floral perfume or the stench of burning plastic. Most people recognize these scents instantly.

Touch may be the hardest of the senses to study, because the skin has so many jobs to do. It parses hot from cold, contends with itches, detects pain. A mother’s touch stimulates brain development in babies, and a friendly hug can induce social bonding or even help a sports team play better.