Presidential Lectures

This talk describes experimental progress toward controlling quantum mechanical coherence and entanglement in a solid-state environment.

This talk is based on mathematical and computational studies of neural network models. Understanding the range of dynamic phenomena in such models provides a basis for thinking about the more complex dynamics of real neural circuits.

The evolution of organisms requires the generation of some diversity in the offspring and then the selection of the fittest in the present environment from among this diversity in the population. The rates of evolution can be influenced by mutation rates that are in turn influenced by a wide variety of stresses that can occur as sperm or eggs are produced or even as the organism develops.

This talk discusses progress in developing devices that can restore lost functions of the nervous system following disease or injury, in particular the development of a brain computer interface (BCI) that is designed to restore independence and control for people with paralysis.

Analyzing the collective behavior and social interactions of hundreds of millions of people with powerful computational techniques offers a radically new perspective on fundamental questions in the social sciences.

Fundamental gaps remain in our understanding of animal brains, especially human brains, in comparison with other organ systems in the body. One of these gaps is our very partial knowledge of the circuit architecture of brains, even in the best studied model organisms.