The World Science Festival and The Kavli Prize presents the series The Big, the Small, and the Complex. Meet distinguished neuroscientists and memory experts at The 'Unbearable Lightness of Memory' event on June 3rd and the related World Science Festival Salon 'Manipulating Memory: Progress and Implications' on June 4th.
The Kavli Prize was established to Recognise outstanding scientific research, Honour highly creative scientists, Promote public understanding of scientists and their work and Foster international cooperation among scientists. The prize is given out in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics.
The World Science Festival returns to New York City June 1-5, 2011 with a sweeping array of cutting-edge science programs designed to make the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating. The world’s leading scientific minds will be joined by renowned artists and influential thinkers for a five-day celebration of science through discourse and debate, dance and theater, film, music and the visual arts.
Unbearable Lightness of Memory
Friday, June 3, 2011
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
It’s the thought of your childhood home. It’s that comforting aroma you can still smell ten years later. It’s the way you define yourself. It’s your memory. Where is memory stored? How do we recall? Why do we forget? We’ll shine a light on these and many other questions about memory from a molecular, psychological, and emotional perspective. Discover how your long-term memories can be naturally twisted, tweaked, and changed. Understand how memories of the past can also help us peer into the future. And explore the bumpy road even a youthful mind sometimes travels when experiencing déjà vu, succumbing to suggestibility, or having a “senior” moment.
Unbearable Lightness of Memory participants:
Daniel L. Schacter is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. He has published over 350 articles and chapters exploring the relation between conscious and unconscious memory, the nature of memory distortions, how individuals use memory to imagine the future, and the effects of aging on memory.
Focused on the functions of the hippocampus in memory and spatial cognition, Lynn Nadel’s work has led to significant contributions in the study of stress and memory, sleep and memory, memory reconsolidation, and mental retardation observed in Down syndrome. He has helped promulgate two highly influential theories in cognitive neuroscience: the cognitive map theory of hippocampal function and the multiple trace theory of memory. Nadel’s research has been published in over 175 journal articles, chapters, and books, and has been supported by grants from NIMH, NSF, NICHD, NINDS, and several private foundations.
A 1978 Harvard graduate, Todd Sacktor completed his M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his neurology residency at Columbia University, where he began studying the role of the enzyme protein kinase C (PKC) in the short-term memory of Aplysia (marine snails).
Elizabeth A. Phelps is the director of the Phelps Lab at the New York University Center for Neuroeconomics. Her laboratory has earned widespread acclaim for its groundbreaking research on how the human brain processes emotion, particularly as it relates to learning, memory and decision-making.
Manipulating Memory: Progress and Implications
Saturday, June 4, 2011
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
We are our memories, but can they be tampered with? Erased? What are the ethical considerations? Whether enhancing memory for an aging population or inhibiting memories that prevent function, new drugs bring new possibilities for abuse and misuse. Even in their most welcome applications, these drugs raise profound questions about the relationship between the subjective experience of memory and the true nature of what we remember.
Some of the advanced topics which the conversation may explore include: Latest progress in memory research, including the enzyme PKMzeta and memory “erasure,” infusion of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin, problems of animal models in memory research, and therapeutic implications inherent in these discoveries.
World Science Festival Salons are an opportunity for in-depth conversations with world-leading scientists, extending the discussion of the Festival’s flagship public programs at a level appropriate for graduate students, postdocs, faculty and particularly well-informed members of the general public.
Manipulating Memory: Progress and Implications participants:
Cristina Alberini, professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Structural and Chemical Biology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and has been studying the biological mechanisms of long-term memory for the last 20 years. Her studies explore the biological mechanisms of memory consolidation and reconsolidation, the processes by which newly learned information becomes long-lasting memories, and how memories are modulated and integrated into complex behavioral manifestations.
Adam Kolber is a professor at Brooklyn Law School where he writes and teaches in the areas of criminal law, health law, bioethics, and neuroethics. He created the Neuroethics & Law Blog in 2005 and taught the first law school course devoted to law and neuroscience in 2006.
Joseph LeDoux is a professor of neural science at NYU, director of the Emotional Brain Institute involving NYU and the Nathan Kline Institute, and leads The Amygdaloids, a rock band made up of scientists. Rosanne Cash sings with him on the group's latest CD.
Focused on the functions of the hippocampus in memory and spatial cognition, Lynn Nadel’s work has led to significant contributions in the study of stress and memory, sleep and memory, memory reconsolidation, and mental retardation observed in Down syndrome. He has helped promulgate two highly influential theories in cognitive neuroscience: the cognitive map theory of hippocampal function and the multiple trace theory of memory. Nadel’s research has been published in over 175 journal articles, chapters, and books, and has been supported by grants from NIMH, NSF, NICHD, NINDS, and several private foundations.
Elizabeth A. Phelps is the director of the Phelps Lab at the New York University Center for Neuroeconomics. Her laboratory has earned widespread acclaim for its groundbreaking research on how the human brain processes emotion, particularly as it relates to learning, memory and decision-making.
A 1978 Harvard graduate, Todd Sacktor completed his M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his neurology residency at Columbia University, where he began studying the role of the enzyme protein kinase C (PKC) in the short-term memory of Aplysia (marine snails).
The events is supported by the Kavli Foundation, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Norwegian Consulate General in new York.
For tickets and more information about the World Science Festival, go to www.worldsciencefestival.com