Topic: nervous systems

OCNS has announced that its annual Computational Neuroscience meeting will take place in Gran Canaria on 10–14 July 2027. The meeting is a specialist forum for theoretical and computational approaches to nervous systems. This is an advance planning listing: the announcement does not yet provide a 2027 registration or abstract-submission window. Consult OCNS for the forthcoming programme and participation details.

Nachum Ulanovsky discusses studying nervous systems during natural behaviour. The conversation considers what researchers gain from observing animals in ecologically meaningful conditions and how new methods can connect neuroscience with evolution and ecology.

The goal of neuroscience is to understand how the nervous system controls behaviour, not only in the simplified environments of the lab, but also in the natural environments for which nervous systems evolved. In pursuing this goal, neuroscience research is supported by an ever-larger toolbox, ranging from optogenetics to connectomics. However, often these tools are coupled with reductionist approaches for linking nervous systems and behaviour. This course will introduce advanced techniques for measuring and analysing behaviour, as well as three fundamental principles as necessary to understan