Opinion article produced by FENS-Kavli Scholars (FKNE), and published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN).

Dr Chorghay reported on this year’s Brain Debate on “Building and understanding brains: How can AI research inform neuroscience?”. She analyses the main discussions on how new work in AI research can guide our understanding of biological brains, across levels of description, from cells to systems, and then on to behaviour.

Examples of the value of animal use in neuroscience from the FENS Committee on Animals in Research (CARE)

Presentation of film, photos and other archival material on Vincenzo Neri curated by the Neri Group.

Online biography of Alfred Lukya0vich Yarbus (1914-1986).

Sensing, feeling, moving, smelling, remembering… The brain controls every aspect of our body. It is the most complex organ, and works like billions of tiny computers at lightning speed.
But how can we study such a complex organ? This educational video aims at explaining how and why we study the brain to younger audiences.
This video has been developed by FENS-CARE, the Committee on Animal Research.

Biography of Thoenen, Hans – Switzerland
Via SfN

Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Alastair Buchan to learn more about Thomas Willis’s residence and base for scientific discoveries, Beam Hall.

Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Professor Emeritus of Neurology Alastair Compston FRS about the deeply influential texts written by the Founder of Neurology Thomas Willis four centuries ago.

Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Associate Professor Chrystalina Antoniades for an in-depth look at the Circle of Willis, the name given to the arterial ring at the base of the brain, in recognition of the man renowned for its original description.

Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Professor Kevin Talbot about Willis’s insights into the patients he encountered and his descriptions of their symptoms that could arguably be used for teaching today.

Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Professor Miloš Judaš for a unique comparison of Thomas Willis’s profound discoveries and medical terminology in his original Latin tongue and the first English translations.

Professor Zoltán Molnár and St John’s College Librarian Dr Petra Hofmann explore the extraordinary collection of Thomas Willis’s books and rare letters held by the library 400 years after his birth.

This project is a collection of documents, film material, photographs and written information regarding the life and works of the prominent Argentinian scientist Eduardo Patricio de Robertis.

Project funded under the FENS call for history of neuroscience projects.

Article published in Neuron

Malfunctioning of neuronal circuits and peripheral systems (e.g metabolism, immune or microbiota) underlie aspects of psychiatric disorders. One of the major challenges in neuroscience is understanding the mechanisms and temporal dynamics of such changes within discrete neuronal connections, or within precise peripheral players. Such understanding can reveal new therapeutic strategies and refine existing ones.

Webinar organised by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET), hosted on Neuronline.

Paper by Fernando de Castro.

Project funded under the FENS call for history of neuroscience projects.

English version of the Club Histoire de Neurosciences (CHN) website on the history of French Neuroscience.

Compilation of the classic histological techniques used by Cajal and his disciples to found modern Neurology and Neuroscience.

The collections held at the Trinity College Dublin Anatomy Museum include human remains from the Pathological collection and Human Anatomical Preparations, mostly dating from the 18th and 19th century. Also held are paintings, drawings and sculptures in the Dissecting Room and Lecture Theatre. Many of these items have relevance to the history of neuroscience, and since the museum is not open to the public, this online collection highlights some of the most interesting items. The website was created with funding support from a FENS History Committee Online Project grant 2020 awarded to Prof. Richard Roche (Maynooth University), with the kind assistance of Profs Áine Kelly, Evi Numen and Siobhán Ward (Trinity College Dublin).

Project funded under the FENS call for history of neuroscience projects.

Talk by Yoko Wang, The University of Adelaide

Since we were born, we have shared our life with millions of tiny little buddies in our gut. These tiny little buddies, or the gut microbiota, play important roles in regulating the gut-brain axis. In recent years, research in this field has rapidly grown, increasing our understanding on how gut microbiota communicate to the brain and influence our health. In this talk, we will unbox the amazing world of the microbiota-gut-brain axis – learning about their history, the current progress and future directions.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

Project funded under the FENS call for history of neuroscience projects.

Translation and digitalization of the archival unpublished materials about Ivan Pavlov.

Talk by Dr Paco Calvo, University of Murcia

Bored of classroom-based education? Tired of getting lost and spacing out? Fed-up being stuffed with somebody else’s knowledge; the type of “knowledge” that you are simply expected to parrot the day of the exam, then wait for your grades which mean…. nothing really? Welcome to the Hippocampus-Fattening Farm, the educational system you have been raised in since Primary school, all the way into college, and beyond! My aim in this talk is to promote forms of learning based on trying o “know less” and think outside the box more. I shall illustrate how this can help propel creativity in the discussion of plant intelligence in the (neuro)cognitive sciences, robotics and AI.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

These are the stories of seven women born before 1900, who worked hard to pursue a career in science and who published pioneering works, largely forgotten.

Get the best information on how you can use ORCID to get visibility for your published work and receive practical advice, ideas and the best tips directly from FENS and ORCID. Do you want to learn how to connect your ORCID iD with FENS.org and ensure you get recognition for all your contributions? This flash-FENS online session provides you with the necessary information about ORCID, followed by a demo on how to use your ORCID ID and a 15-minutes Q&A session.

How can scientists best use Twitter to communicate science? Learn from scientists who use Twitter on a regular basis as a tool for science communication.
Organised by the FENS Communication Committee at the FENS 2020 Virtual Forum. Download your Twitter guide in the resource section of the FENS website.

Website dedicated to the world-ren0wned Ukrainian neurobiologist Volodymyr Betz (1834-1894).

Biography of Volodymyr Pravdych-Neminsky: life and and contribution to electroencephalography.

Project funded under the FENS call for history of neuroscience projects.

This webinar aimed to provide participants with useful tips on how to write a successful Brain Awareness Week (BAW) application and how to run an engaging outreach event. The webinar will include a case study of a funded BAW project and an interactive Q&A session with the panellists to provide hands-on tips to the audience.

Talk by Folu Oyefeso, Loma Linda University

The human brain is a complex network of cells with special functions to control how we interact with the world. Within the brain, these cells are grouped into areas responsible for thinking, moving, sensing, among many other things! However, it is notoriously difficult to study the human brain directly and so scientists use animal and two-dimensional cell culture models to learn more about it. Recently, trained teams of cell biologists and neuroscientists have begun to generate three-dimensional brain organoids, which are small clumps of tissue containing the same types of cells we see in the brain. These tissues can model specific brain regions (e.g. cortex) and diseases (e.g. Zika virus infection or Parkinson’s disease). In this session, we’ll discuss how these models have been used and how they could be used in the future.

The Corpus Curiosum series was produced with the support of FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training (CHET)

FENS is the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. Find out more about our activities and how we can support you.

In the average adult human, the brain represents about 2% of the body weight, yet it is responsible for all of the body’s functions. What does the brain mean to you?

Despite a long historical relationship between science and philosophy, scientists today tend to see philosophy as very different from, and indeed even antagonistic to, the scientific endecour.

Social media have profoundly changed the ways information is communicated and news can be manipulated by groups, aimed at spreading their opinions rather than scientifically verified data. As a consequence, communication has become more difficult for researchers who had to modify they way they communicate in order to meet the public attention.

During this event, panellists discussed and tried to understand the context in which fake-news develop, the basis for behaviours associated with fake-news and the brain areas and neurotransmitters associated with those behaviours.

This special interest event was organised by the FENS Committee for Higher Education and Training at the FENS Forum 2022 (9-13 July 2022, Paris).