The Nature of Nature (and the brain too) with Dr. David McCormick

Published: Jan. 30, 2017, 3:54 a.m.

This week on Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. David McCormick (Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Yale) start off 2017 right. On this episode you\u2019ll get a quick briefing on the early history of neuroscience, information about Frankenstein\u2019s monster, a look at neural circuits, and perspective from the Buddhist Monks of Tibet. You\u2019re gonna want your cochleas ready for this one.\xa0

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David mentioned a ton of people and books. Here\u2019s a list in case you wanna dive in.

Major Figures in the Early History of Neuroscience:

Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, Ren\xe9 Descartes, Jan Swammerdam, Alessandro Volta, Emil de Bois-Reymond

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Texts David Referenced:

1. Animal Electricity (Galvani, 1791)

2. Essay on Galvanism: \u201cPr\xe9cis des exp\xe9riences galvaniques faites r\xe9cemment \xe0 Londres et \xe0 Calais\u201c (Aldini, 1803)

3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)

4. The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine (Eccles, 1967)

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Further Reading (if you\u2019re into it like we are):

1. Early History of Neuroscience, Charles Gross

2. Giovanni Aldini: From Animal Electricity to Human Brain Stimulation, Andr\xe9 Parent

3. History of Psychology, Ideas and Context (Chapter 8) King et al.

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We partnered with Wiley Neuroscience on this one. Follow them on twitter at @neuroscience. Shout out to their team for getting the twitter handle coveted most by neuroscientists.

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The music on this episode was by Noveller. The first track was \u201cTrails and Trials\u201d from the soon to be released album \u201cA Pink Sunset for Noone\u201d, the second track was \u201cRubicon\u201d from the Fantastic Planet LP. Go check out and purchase her music at noveller.bandcamp.com, or at her current label, FireRecords.com

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