E8: Neuroscience vs Psychology

04/27/16 • 60 min

In some ways, neuroscience is like psychology's little brother. It came around later, started encroaching on psychology's turf and drawing attention to itself, and so they don't always get along. On this episode we explore the place where neuro and psych interact, and the separate roles for each. We embarked on this after reading an article written by psychologists, wherein they describe their perspective on how neuroscience is affecting the field of psychology. We cover our opinions on the differences between these two fields, the philosophical basis for these differences, and how that manifests into practical considerations. Specifically we talk hiring practices, disease treatment and "neuro-seduction". At the heart of all this is the question: on what level should we approach the study of the brain and mind? and who are we to decide?

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E7: Optogenetics

Inside a skull it's generally pretty dark. But about 10 years ago, as part of a new method for toying with neurons, scientists started shining a light in there. That method is optogenetics, and it allows for highly-specified control of neural activity by light, via genetic engineering. As part of the 10th anniversary, we cover the development and impact of this influential technology. With help from a review article, we talk about the scientific atmosphere when optogenetics was unveiled and what allowed it to take off so quickly. Then we get into the mechanisms of how neurons come to be controlled by light (and we stumble upon a fantastic government conspiracy theory along the way). Finally we discuss what has been learned by applying optogenetics for the past 10 years, what we could possibly expect to learn, and the possibility of therapeutics based in this technology.

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E9: Patenting Science

Do you know what happens when scientists patent their ideas? Do you know who gets the money from those patents? Did you know that scientists even patent things at all? We weren't so sure about these topics back in our Optogenetics episode, so we brought in Penn Law alum/fellow neuroscience grad student Jozsef Meszaros to tell us about this interesting and under-covered topic for scientists. We ask if academics are allowed to use patented objects without a licence, who owns the rights to a patent when research is publicly-funded, how do scientists feel about the patent system, and why does the patent system even exist? We also work through who benefits and who is getting shafted in this system between scientists, universities, tax-payers, the government, and corporations.