Cafe Sci: 2026 Nobel Prize is Changing our Understanding of the Brain & Behavior

[Note: I must attend Cafe Sci virtually because of my schedule. If anyone wants to get together and go as a group, please feel free!]

Cafe Sci is both on-site and virtual. To attend either way, you must register.

Cafe Sci is recorded for later viewing on CSC's YouTube channel.

FREE and open to the public, but Cafe Sci gratefully accepts donations. Parking in the CSC lot costs $6.

November's Topic
Lights, Camera, Action: How the 2026 Nobel Prize is Changing our Understanding of the Brain and Behavior
Every move you make, from reaching for your coffee to deciding how fast to walk to the bus, is orchestrated by billions of brain cells firing in precise patterns. Historically, neuroscientists have been able to observe this cellular firing but couldn’t pinpoint which particular cells were driving the behavior. The winners of this year’s Nobel Prize changed that with the discovery of a light-sensitive protein found in pond algae, and the resulting insight that the algae could be placed into specific brain cells and used as an on/off switch. Utilizing the technique of optogenetics, scientists can turn precise neural populations on or off with a flash of light – and with millisecond accuracy.

November's Speaker: Eric Yttri, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biological Science, Carnegie Mellon University
In this talk, Dr. Yttri will explain how optogenetics works and why it earned the Nobel Prize. He will also describe how his lab pairs the technique with a second revolution: machine learning can watch videos of an animal and identify the animal’s distinct actions on its own. Light lets us control the brain; cameras and AI let us analyze behavior in remarkable detail. With these tools, we can investigate questions that were out of reach a decade ago, unlocking the secrets behind basic movement, OCD, and Parkinson’s disease.

Register here.