The Lives and Loves of the Brain

We can be deeply moved by hearing a song from our childhood or the voice of a loved one. In a crowded room we are able to pick out and focus on individual voices, song lyrics or musical notes. How do we select the sounds we pay attention to? What is it about the human brain that makes sounds like speech and music such important parts of all our lives?

The human brain is the most complex structure ever created by nature. So complex that trying to understand how it works can be a daunting task. Scientists therefore often resort to studying animals with much simpler brains, and hope to learn something about the human mind along the way. This talk will take you on a journey into one such brain, the brain of a small worm, a brain so simple that there is hope we can understand literally everything about it. Yet, as it turns out, even the mind of a worm may not be so simple after all.