Blog

Imagining the future: exploring the role of hippocampal replay

Researchers from SWC, University of Oxford and Stanford University, set out to understand how humans and animals can learn very quickly to respond appropriately in new situations and environments by relying on previous experience. They hypothesised that building maps, instead of experiencing them state by state, could be the answer.

2 April 2025
An example hippocampal neuron that obtains a new place response after first firing in replay.
Blog

Approaching a career crossroads in light of our values

What brought you into science and academia? What made you stay? SWC Research Fellow Jasmine Reggiani explores careers and values in academia.

4 April 2025
Image of a book with the title "The Power of WHY" on the left page and "77 Human Needs" on the right page
Blog

Mapping the brain’s superhighways within and across cortical hemispheres

When you watch a pianist play, you can see how their left hand is in perfect harmony with their right. Yet the two hands are controlled by different brain hemispheres. Researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL and Jena University Hospital have been studying how this works by looking at the interconnectivity of different brain areas both within and across hemispheres.

31 March 2025
Q&A

It must be something I ate – How the brain learns what made you sick

Most of us have had the experience of being put off a particular food after it made us ill. But how does the brain know what made you sick? Dr Christopher Zimmerman, a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, studies body-to-brain communication and how it influences nearly every aspect of our behaviour. Chris recently spoke at SWC as an ENSS winner, and in this Q&A he discusses his work on how our bodies and our brains connect.

31 March 2025