"Modern technology is changing the way our brains work”,
says neuroscientist Susan Greenfield1. But, can the brain change the way
technology works?
A most brilliant mind suggests more than just a brain.
We study what happens to the brain and how, often the brain itself can open
new links for us within different fields.
Dr
Richard Tomsett from IBM Emerging Technology
Services2 and our guest speaker also agrees and kindly took the time to talk
to us about his work on the possibility of a brain-inspired chip3 which can be designed to transform mobility and the Internet
of Things through sensory perception4. It was a very interesting and insightful talk
giving us as future neuroscientists’ ideas of the routes we could pursue
following our degrees.
As a society were able to host an
online webcam conference, an event held to celebrate Brain Awareness Week. We
were fortunate enough to have Dr Tomsett
speak due to previous contact I had with him where I interviewed him 2
years ago for an OCR Extended Project
I completed at Blackburn College on
the subject of neuroscience. He was delightful then and he surpassed himself
this time around when he spoke to us.
After months of planning and
communication a date was set with posters put up around the university ready for the
event (see below).
As well as providing information about his current research, Dr Tomsett also gave students advice which included these helpful points:
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions because that is the best way to learn.
- Make lecturers remember you (in a good way) it will allow you to get personalised references that are true to you when you need them.
- Tweet and blog (or follow interesting Tweeps and Blogs) this will broaden your knowledge and open up novel ventures to look into.
- And finally the point that made us chuckle in astonishment at each other …probability and statistics are really useful and genuinely interesting (one day we too will be able to...agree? – hopefully)
Students and staff both attended the talk which ended with a fantastic
question and answer session. The audience included students from Neuroscience,
Psychology, Biomedical Science, Physiology and Pharmacy, Biological Science,
Robotics and Computing,
Dr Richard Tomsett wrote in his
feedback, “Glad you enjoyed it, thanks very much for the invitation!
Congratulations to you and your team for your organisation and getting such a
diverse crowd.”
As the secretary of the Neuroscience society, 2015/16 I would
like to thank everyone who showed an interest in the talk and a big thank you
to Dr Tomsett for all the planning and effort he kindly put in for the fantastic
talk.
Slides from the talk can be viewed on the following link
kindly shared by Dr Richard:
Don’t forget
to follow the neuroscience society twitter account for future events.
Written by a Neuroscientist in the making…
Farheen
Rokad
Secretary of
the Neuroscience Society 2015/16
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