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Video Lectures on Neuroscience
In three lecture videos available from Columbia University’s Frontiers of Science Online (FoSO) unit on neuroscience, HHMI Professor Darcy Kelley discusses the workings of the human brain, the neural networks involved in vocal communication in animal models, and theories of how language might have evolved and spread around the world. In her first lecture, using an exploration of how the ear receives—and the brain processes—sound, Professor Kelley provides an overview of how the nervous system takes in and interprets different types of acoustic signals. In the second lecture, she describes the neural networks involved in vocal communication using the model organism, the South African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, including the role of hormones in generating sexually differentiated brains. In the final lecture, Dr. Kelley discusses the difficulty of researching the evolution of language—a distinctly human feature that leaves nothing in the fossil record. The lecture further emphasizes contemporary issues in linguistics, evolution, genetics, and neurobiology and focuses on how different experimental techniques can address this challenging research question. The site includes lecture transcripts, together with instructor guides, activities, case studies, and other resources for faculty. FoSO is a free resource for college science teachers who seek to access and share materials and approaches to undergraduate science instruction. The teaching materials on this site were generated for use in Columbia University’s innovative core course, Frontiers of Science. Registration is required to access most of the materials.
Video Lectures on Neuroscience
These video lectures explore how language has evolved and the neural networks involved in vocal communications.
Media: Flash MultimediaHHMI Professor: Darcy B. Kelley, Ph.D.
Award Years: 2002, 2006
Summary: Darcy B. Kelley, Ph.D., is an HHMI professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University who studies the neurobiology of social communication. Her HHMI-funded initiatives include:
- The development of Frontiers in Science, a multidisciplinary course required for all first-year students at Columbia College. The lectures cover some of the great ideas of science, such as dark matter, the origins of the universe and of life, evolution, the workings of the brain, and the biome;
- The implementation of a new Web resource, Frontiers of Science Online, to disseminate course materials and to foster a supportive peer community among educators by enabling them to share new teaching approaches and materials directly with one another;
- The creation of a course that uses case studies to teach premedical students about designing, analyzing, and interpreting clinical research; and
- A research program in Dr. Kelley’s laboratory in which students use clawed frogs (Xenopus) to study gene expression in the vocal system.