On Matters of the Brain

ICTP's Colloquium Series continues to introduce audiences to fascinating talks by leading researchers. The latest speaker was Merriam Term Associate Professor Vijay Balasubramanian from University of Pennsylvania.

His talk, titled "How smart can you get? Computational efficiency in neural circuits", focused on the strategies employed by the neural circuits in our brains to efficiently organize the use of power, space and other resources.

Introducing his talk, Balasubramanian says, "The electrical activity of this incredibly complex network of neurons makes up human thought, and allows us to move, perceive, talk, plan, love, and do physics, all with a subtlety and precision that escapes the most powerful computers. And to do all this the brain uses only as much power as a refrigerator light bulb!"

Balasubramanian is a particle physicist by training and has worked on the origin of the thermodynamics of gravitating systems and the apparent loss of quantum information in the presence of black holes. His interest in the nature of information, and the ways it is produced, processed and transmitted has led him to pursue his current research in neuroscience.