Started in the 2012/2013 academic year, Sciencecalifragilistic is a science education initiative developed by a group of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers from the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme.

The INDP aims to provide students of diverse backgrounds with a foundation to perform innovative and interdisciplinary work in basic or applied neuroscience at an international level. The Programme is hosted at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, Portugal, a leading centre for research, technology and clinical care.

Domingos Henrique, Tiago Marques and Ricardo Gonçalves, will participate on the São Silvestre Race in Lisbon, as a challenge to fundraise for the Maratona da Saúde.

Watch Rui Costa at “Bairro Alto” talking about his scientific path, his research and about his “obsession” to pose questions and to dig deeper and deeper to find the answers.

Watch the full video (PT) here

2014 is the Year of the Brain in Europe. The marking of this new year, is the perfect time to examine the short and long term challenges of the exciting field of Neuroscience research.

This week, eight new students started their training as INDP students. The new students comprise a diverse and dynamic group, with members arriving from Norway, Jamaica, Italy, Brazil, Germany and Portugal. Their educational backgrounds are also diverse and include, besides Neuroscience, Evolutionary Biology, Oncology and Biomedicine. The students are now beginning their first year of the programme, which is wholly dedicated to learning the basics of research.

Rui Costa is one of the winners of a 2.0 million € Consolidation Grant attributed by the European Research Council.

This Grant will fund the research project “Neural bases of action chunking in basal ganglia subcircuits”.

Last Saturday (Jan 11th) CNP welcomed the 12 students from Sciencecalifragilistic class of 2014 and they did not come alone…

The opening session of the 2º Edition of Sciencecalifragilistic, a science education project for high school students, brought together around two hundred enthusiastic students and teachers to the Auditorium of the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon.

When you learn how to play the piano, first you have to learn notes, scales and chords and only then will you be able to play a piece of music. The same principle applies to speech and to reading, where instead of scales you have to learn the alphabet and the rules of grammar.

But how do separate small elements come together to become a unique and meaningful sequence?

The Scientist Magazine interviews CNP investigator Michael Orger and other neuroscientists who apply the latest technology to studying large scale neural activity.

From The Scientist Magazine, Published February 1st, 2014: