Developmental Neuroscience podcasts

This Nature Podcast episode examines human brain organoids transplanted into mice lacking a cerebral cortex, where extensive cellular integration could create an in-vivo platform for testing therapies and studying human neurobiology. It also covers research highlights and Paper2Agent, an AI system that turns research papers into interactive virtual corresponding authors able to answer questions and support complex scientific tasks.

Nature staff discuss how a newly approved orexin-targeting narcolepsy drug could enable therapies for other neurological conditions, and examine human brain organoids that have remained viable for more than five years. The episode connects sleep medicine, therapeutic neuroscience, and long-term models of human brain development.

Alison Preston examines how prior knowledge organizes memories and supports the integration of new information. She discusses neural accounts of schemas, distinctions between schemas and cognitive maps, and how these processes change from childhood to adulthood, alongside differences in how researchers define the underlying concepts.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Tony Zador considers what artificial intelligence can learn from animal brains. The discussion emphasizes evolution and development as routes to data efficiency, the coordination of multiple behavioural objectives, the possible energy benefits of spikes, and the historical and current relationship between neuroscience research and AI engineering.

Hosted by Paul Middlebrooks

Thomas Reh and Juliette Wohlschlegel discuss their research on converting human Müller glia into retinal neurons with host Martin Pera. The conversation traces how regeneration in fish and frogs motivated experiments in mammals, then examines genetic reprogramming of cells derived from human fetal tissue or retinal organoids. Their study of ASCL1-induced neurogenesis provides a basis for discussing the remaining biological and translational challenges of retinal regeneration. The work concerns experimental cellular models and does not establish a treatment for vision loss.