WHO: Michael Platt
Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor
James S. Riepe University Professor of Neuroscience
Perelman School of Medicine
Professor of Psychology
School of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Marketing
Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania

WHAT: Penn Science Café, “Friendship and Your Brain”

WHEN: Tuesday, January 26, 6-7 p.m. 

WHERE: World Cafe Live Upstairs, 3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia

Friendship, charity and empathy: How do these profoundly human feelings arise from the coordinated actions of our brains, bodies and genes? What are the roots of the social emotions in other animals? How does our social environment get “under our skin” to shape our lives and livelihood? Using his decades of experience studying the behavior and biology of rhesus macaques, Michael Platt, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and the James S. Riepe University Professor of Neuroscience, with appointments in the School of Arts & Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School, will discuss the new science of friendship and what monkeys can teach us about ourselves.

The talk is part of the Penn Science Café free public-lecture series presented by Penn Arts & Sciences and the Office of University Communications that takes science out of the lab for a night on the town. Professor Platt’s presentation will be followed by an audience Q&A. Café events are free and open to the public. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Seating is limited.