Synapses, Neurons and Brains - free college course

I'm sure your doctors know all this stuff so they won't be surprised when you start asking questions of them on how to apply this to your recovery. There's lots more courses I plan to take for fun/therapy - Cognitive stimulation you know, exercise those brain neurons. Don't go for the easy courses. I just signed up for nanotechnology whenever it starts, I'm going to be able to tell how to deliver drugs to the brain, something I've been posting about for 2 years now.  Remember you need to challenge those neurons, I suggest
Calculus,
Pre-calculus,
Exploring Quantum Physics,
Computational Neuroscience,
Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Computer Science Applications,
Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression,
Drugs and the Brain
https://www.coursera.org/course/bluebrain
Next Session:

March 2013 (9 weeks long)

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About the Course

Probably the greatest challenge of the “21st century of the brain” is to understand how subcellular and cellular neuronal processes give rise to behavior – movement, perception, emotions, memory and creativity. This course will discuss, step-by-step, how modern molecular, optical, electrical, anatomical and theoretical methods have provided fascinating insights into the operation of the elementary building blocks of brains and, most importantly, how neuronal mechanisms underlie memory and learning processes. We will next discuss why computer simulations are so essential for understanding both neuronal “life ware” and the emergence of networks dynamics (e.g., as in the “Blue Brain Project”).
The course will start by highlighting a few recent brain-excitements, including treating the sick brain via electrical stimulation, recent attempts at “reading the brain code” for brain-machine interfaces, new neuro-anatomical techniques (“Brainbow” and connectomics) and physiological methods (optogenetics) that enables us to record/activate the living, behaving brain at single cell resolution. We will end by discussing emerging frontiers in brain research, including the interaction between brain research and the arts. As an added bonus, several lectures will be taught by acclaimed neuroscientists who are experts in their respective field.

About the Instructor(s)

Prof. Idan Segev is the David & Inez Myers Professor in Computational Neuroscience and former director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural
Computation (ICNC) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his B.Sc. in Math, and Ph.D. in experimental and theoretical neurobiology. His work  has been published in top journals such as Science, Nature, PNAS and he has received several awards including “best teacher” in international brain-courses, including the “EU advance course in computational neuroscience”). His research team utilizes computational and theoretical tools to study how neurons, the elementary microchips of the brain, compute and dynamically adapt to our ever-changing environment. In recent years, his group has worked jointly with several experimental groups worldwide in an endeavor to model a whole piece of the mammalian cortex with the ultimate goal of unraveling how local fine variations within the cortical network underlie specific behavioral function and may give rise to certain brain diseases or to healthy and “individual” brains. Segev takes a keen interest in the connection between art and the brain, and recently co-edited an “Artists Book” with original etchings by ten top Israeli artists, which were prompted by an encounter with ICNC researchers.

Recommended Background

No background is required.

Suggested Readings

From Neuron to Brain John G. Nicholls et al., Fifth Edition Sinauer Associates, Inc (2011).

Course Format

This is a nine-week class with a 90-minute lecture each week. Each lecture is parceled into 8-12 minute videos, and ends with ten integrated questions. There is a final exam at the end of the course.