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Welcome to the Convergent Science Network Podcast!
During the BCBT Summerschools (2010 , 2011 and 2012) hosting professors Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott interviewed several of the speakers after their lectures. But also on other occasions interviews with various scientist in converging fields are conducted.
About the hosts: Paul Verschure is ICREA Professor at SPECS, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona; Tony Prescott is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Sheffield.
The Convergent Science Network of biomimetic and biohybrid systems (CSN, www.csnetwork.eu) is a coordination action for the development of future real-world technologies. CSN is supported through the Future and Emerging Technology programs (FET) of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) work programme of Framework Programme 7 of the European Commission.
Audio (post-)production: Sytse Wierenga. Podcast site: Alberto Betella.
Thoughts, discussions, and achievements in neurobiology, biomimetic and biohybrid systems
We can learn a lot from brains and bodies when making machines and robots. But reversely, building complex machine systems can also give ideas about how brains and bodies have implemented their functioning over the evolution of ages. This podcast discusses various themes and aspects in-between robotics, neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, biology, and technology.
Duration: 98:32 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Friedemann Pulvermuller
- Friedemann Pulvermuller (Free University of Berlin) is With Paul Verschure he discusses language, semantics and the building of meaning through action, and a grounding of this in the brain.
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Duration: 69:33 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Peter Gärdenfors
- Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University) discusses with Paul Verschure how the mind can represent knowledge. He introduces a cognitive theory of conceptual spaces, built from dimensions derived from perception, action, and social grounding in society.
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Duration: 48:34 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Nick Strausfeld
- Nick Strausfeld's interest (University of Arizona, Tucson) lies in evolution and comparative neurobiology. With Paul Verschure he discusses how common denominators of insect brains lead us to find core system architectures.
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Duration: 65:30 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Moshe Bar
- Moshe Bar (Harvard Medical School, Charlestown) argues for a cognitive model that blends expectation (top-down) and sensation (bottom-up) processing. With Paul Verschure he discusses also imagination, meditation, and depression treatment in this context.
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Duration: 64:05 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Mandyam Srinivasan
- Mandyam Srinivasan's research (University of Queensland, Brisbane) centers on vision and cognition of flying insects, especially bees. He discusses it with Paul Verschure and special guest Partha Mitra (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York).
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Duration: 64:14 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Guenther Knoblich
- Guenther Knoblich's work (Central European University, Budapest) focuses on joint action like performed in team sports, and acrobatics. With Paul Verschure he discusses cognitive aspects of coordination, timing, and signalling while moving together.
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Duration: 60:03 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Giovanni Pezzulo
- Giovanni Pezzulo (Institute of Cognitive Sciences & Technologies, Rome) discusses with Paul Verschure the concept of the predictive brain that actively anticipates body movement.
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Duration: 66:39 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Donald W. Pfaff
- Donald W. Pfaff heads the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at The Rokefeller University). With Paul Verschure he discusses the central role of the arousal system in mind, brain, and behavior.
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Duration: 54:01 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Dmitri B. Chklovskii
- Dmitri B. Chklovskii (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) discusses the idea of the brain as an adaptive filter, and what theoretical and experimental implications this approach entails.
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Duration: 64:44 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 192 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Dana Ballard
- Dana Ballard (University of Texas, Austin) argues that vision is agenda-driven, more than saliency-driven alone. With Paul Verschure he discusses how the concept of gathering and integrating information quanta into a mental scene applies to a wider model.
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Duration: 27:34 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Andy Phillipides
- Andy Philipides (University of Sussex, UK) studies insect navigation, like done by ants. With Tony Prescott he discusses the importance of studying real ants in natural environments next to lab modeling, and themes like path integration and visual memory.
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Duration: 68:45 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Jon Kaas
- Jon Kaas (Vanderbilt University) is an expert on the evolution of the brain. Together with Paul & Tony he discusses similarities in neural architectures between different species. [A technical problem affected the guest's recording up to minute 6]
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Duration: 31:55 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Maria Chiara Carozza
- Maria Carazza (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy) talks with Tony Prescott about the development of robotic prosthetic hands, exoskeletons, and skin, and the ways this could help people increase body movement control and rehabilitate.
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Duration: 31:03 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Huoseng Hu
- Huoseng Hu (University of Essex, UK) moved from industrial to service & field robotics. He discusses the building of robot fish with Tony Prescott, but also the development of a semi-robotic wheelchair controlled with thoughts.
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Duration: 57:36 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Yoseph Bar-Cohen
- Yoseph Bar-Cohen (Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA) is an expert in the field of biomimetics. With Paul Verschure he discusses the influence of mountain goats on climbing robots, as well as the ways robotic technology is revolutionizing our society.
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Duration: 43:31 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Frank Grasso
- Frank Grasso (Cognitive Robotics Lab, City University of New York) has extensively studied lobsters and cephalopods, and modeled with robots. With Tony Prescott he discusses sensing capabilities, control and learning capabilities of these animals.
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Duration: 36:50 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Federico Carpi
- Federico Carpi (University of Pisa, Italy) is an expert on robot body materials. With Tony Prescott he discusses the current development towards soft materials that can deform under electrical stimulation, and can act and sense at the same time.
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Duration: 54:05 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Dominic Massaro
- Dom Massaro (University of California at santa Cruz) wants to test a bold claim: children can learn to read before they learn to talk. With Paul Verschure he discusses speech and reading perception, as well as changing language education in society.
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Duration: 56:47 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Maarja Kruusma
- Maarja Kruusma (Tallin University of Technology) studies the building of fish, focusing especially on swimming. With Paul Verschure she discusses the importance of morphological details and body control, as well as biomimetical approaches in general.
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Duration: 66:44 m - Filetype: mp3 - Bitrate: 160 KBPS - Frequency: 44100 HZ
Interview with Joseph Ayers
- Joseph Ayers (Northeastern University) has moved from systems physiology to building robot lobsters, increasingly focusing on the interplay between the physiological, sensorimotor, and neural interplay of these animals' characteristics.
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