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Neuroscience

Defining neural ‘representation’
A computer screen displays the brain activity of a man with electrodes on his head.

Neuroscientists use the word “represent” to encompass multifaceted relationships between brain activity, behavior, and the environment.

Defining neural ‘representation’

Neuroscientists frequently say that neural activity ‘represents’ certain phenomena, PIK Professor Konrad Kording and postdoc Ben Baker led a study that took a philosophical approach to tease out what the term means.

Marilyn Perkins

Google AI succeeds in developing odor maps of molecules
Interesting Engineering

Google AI succeeds in developing odor maps of molecules

Joel Mainland of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues have used a neural network to create a molecular map of odors in compounds that repel mosquitos.

Exploring the depth of smell through art
Odd-shaped blocks arranged on a concrete surface

Blocks and stones, imbued with scent, are placed on a concrete step in the ICA gallery, as part of a new exhibit by artist, chemist, and linguist Sissel Tolaas.

Exploring the depth of smell through art

With “RE_______,” a fall exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Sissel Tolaas, a Norwegian artist, chemist, and linguist, the galleries put smell front and center.
Exploring what it means to be curious
Book cover of Curious Minds: The Power of Connection by Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett along side image of the two scholars

Exploring what it means to be curious

In a new book “Curious Minds: The Power of Connection,” Penn’s Dani S. Bassett and twin sibling Perry Zurn weave together history, linguistics, network science, neuroscience, and philosophy to unpack the concept of curiosity.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Could brain scans bring psychiatry into the 21st century?
Slate.com

Could brain scans bring psychiatry into the 21st century?

Dani Bassett of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Desmond Oathes of the Perelman School of Medicine are quoted on the contrast between brain imaging and the tried-and-true, low-tech clinical interview.