“Why not bring science to primary school?” – was the motivation behind the initiative of 4 researchers from the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Cristina Afonso, Gabriela Martins, Ana Fernandes and Nuno Loureiro.

Q&A with Alex Gomez-Marin, a postdoctoral researcher at CNP about his recently published study where the behaviour of Drosophila larvae was controlled remotely using optogenetic techniques.

The course is part of the CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme aimed at establishing neuroscience training centres in Europe.

Researchers find that just like humans, zebrafish use eavesdropping to gain useful information about their social environment.

Did you ever find yourself trying to listen in on a conversation at the next table? You might have even felt a bit guilty about it, but you just couldn’t stop? As it turns out, eavesdropping, though commonly perceived as a negative behaviour, has its biological advantages and is practiced not only by humans, but also by other species, such as fish.

Researchers at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon discover that fruit flies share the human craving for salt during pregnancy and shed light on how the nervous system controls this behaviour.

Pedro Ferreira, graduate student at the CNP’s International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme, was announced the winner of the exclusive science communication competition for his presentation on the neurochemistry behind monogamy and polygamy. This is the first time a Portuguese researcher wins an international FameLab competition.

Scientists at Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon find that mastering challenging motor tasks depends on the brain’s ability to select the most important movement elements.

It could be rather funny, and a bit sad, to watch someone learning how to play tennis. The major goal, to manage to return the ball, seems nearly unattainable at first. But as the player slowly improves, one can observe that though their return becomes more reliable, the force and direction by which they do it remain variable for a while still.

The symposium will be held on 21-24 of September 2016, at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon.

Noam Shemesh was awarded this grant by the European Research Council to establish cutting edge Magnetic Resonance Imaging methodologies that will provide novel insights onto neural function during health and disease.

Two new positions are currently available at Champalimaud Research.