Is the brain just a damp, squishy computer? The answer is yes and no, but mostly no, it appears, as scientists learn more about how the brain works. In a "Frontiers in Science" series talk this evening, Garrett Kenyon of Biological and Quantum Physics (P-21) will discuss "Cracking the Neural Code: Discovering the language of the brain."
The talk will survey recent progress in experimental and theoretical brain science, including contributions from Los Alamos researchers, and present some novel hypotheses as to how biological information processing differs fundamentally from conventional, digital computation.
Tonight's talk is at 7 p.m., in the Duane Smith Auditorium at Los Alamos High School.
The Frontiers in Science lecture series is hosted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellows, taking on roles of educators through the Frontiers in Science Public Lecture Series. The series is intended to inform the public about the diversity of research being conducted at the Laboratory, and all lectures are free to the public.
Kenyon received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1984 and his master's and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1986 and 1990, respectively. He received further postdoctoral training at the Baylor College of Medicine, Division of Neuroscience, and at the University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy.
He has been a staff member in Biological and Quantum Physics since 2001. His research interests involve the application of computational and theoretical techniques to the analysis of computation in biological neural networks.
The talk begins at 7 p.m., on the following dates and at different locations in Northern New Mexico:
Taos: Thursday, (November 8)
Taos Convention Center
El Taoseño Room
120 Civic Plaza Drive
Taos
Santa Fe: November 13
James A. Little Theater
New Mexico School for the Deaf
1060 Cerrillos Road
Santa Fe
Albuquerque: November 14
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
2401 12th Street NW
Albuquerque
Read more about the Fellows lecture series at http://int.lanl.gov/science/fellows/lectures.shtml online.
