#23: Sunposium 2017: Part 3, Natural Behaviors with Drs. Michael Long and David Anderson
How neural circuits form the basis of complex natural behaviors is a fundamental question in neuroscience, and from an evolutionary perspective, these circuits enable the survival and reproduction of organisms from generation to generation. In our final live episode from Sunposium 2017, we sit down with two leading experts to discuss their research into behavioral neural mechanisms. First, we talk to Dr. Michael Long from NYU about his work studying vocal communication, and we learn how birdsong and speech can be studied in complementary ways to gain new insights into motor behaviors. We then talk to Dr. David Anderson from Caltech about his work studying the neural basis emotion. He describes how the brain is able to generate internal states that regulate behaviors such as fear and aggression, and how he is able to study these behaviors in both mice and flies to make use of diverse and complementary techniques.