Every now and then, and rarely far apart in time, the media features a story about an assault in public where bystanders failed to come to the victim’s aid. Of course, there are many possible reasons why…
Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health is one of the world’s top six brain research centres. We employ 600 research and support staff and educate 90 post-graduate students each year. Our scientists comprise the largest neuroscience research team in Australia.
Our teams work across a variety of disease states such as stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, motor neuron disease, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, mental illnesses including schizophrenia, depression and addiction. We are world leaders in imaging technology, stroke rehabilitation and epidemiological studies.
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Memory is an essential part of our existence. Who we are, what we know and what we think can all be derived from our ability to remember. How reliable, though, are our memories? A study, published in the…
Each one of us is the complex product of nature and nurture, genes and environment. They combine in a myriad of complex ways during embryonic and postnatal development to sculpt our brains and bodies…
We live in an age of great public fascination with minds and brains; books about brain plasticity, for instance, regularly make the bestseller lists. This fascination is not merely the product of our thirst…
Is sex addiction real? That is, is it really a disorder, involving diminished control over behaviour? Questions such as these are difficult to answer because it’s always difficult to distinguish diminished…
An American neuroscientist claims to have solved the problem of free will. Peter Tse, who works at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, says that the key to free will lies in how neurons can rewire each…
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has attracted attention in the past week for two contradictory reasons: the Japanese government has withdrawn its recommendation for the shot, while public health…
MATHS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION: We’ve asked our authors about the state of maths and science education in Australia and its future direction. In this instalment, Jee Hyun Kim examines how the culture of academia…
Certain types of long term memories can be “rewritten” without drugs or surgery, according to a new study that experts say offers hope for sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder. The study, conducted…
Scientists have found a way to control the reward centre of the brain, using a miniature wireless device that emits light and causes the brain to release dopamine, the chemical associated with pleasure…
The human brain is the most complex and extraordinary structure in the known universe. And while there are many awe-inspiring facets of the brain, I will focus here on “neuroplasticity”, a term that has…
If you could erase your memories, which ones would you choose? As a neuroscientist, one of my raisons d’etre is to achieve, in a way, some form of memory erasure, especially for individuals that suffer…
It now appears that the scientist who seemed to be advocating that we clone Neanderthals was suggesting only that “we need to start talking about it.” Ethics is an essential part of such a conversation…
The infamous Youtube video capturing a young man abusing women on a Melbourne bus for the crime of singing in French, and being supported in his violent tirade by fellow passengers, raises the uncomfortable…
Are animals conscious? Notoriously, the famous 17th century philosopher René Descartes thought they were not. He believed that possession of a soul was necessary for rational thought and for consciousness…
If memory can be defined as “a past that becomes a part of me”, can forgetting be defined as “a past that is no longer a part of me”? Smokers who have abstained for years may not consciously be able to…
Memory is difficult to define without being circular. People often define memory as “something you can remember”. But we cannot deny the existence of a memory when there is no recollection. Sigmund Freud…
Whenever I hear dire predictions concerning the social impact of new technologies, I recall a similar prediction made nearly 2,500 years ago. In the Phaedrus, Plato recounts a myth, according to which…
Criminalisation of many drugs of abuse has done little to deter their use. Recent estimates tell us nearly one in 20 individuals aged between 15 and 64 are experimenting with illicit drug use worldwide…
For most of the last couple of centuries, philosophers have had the question of free will largely to themselves (prior to that date, the distinction between philosophy and the natural sciences was less…
Authors
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Professor and Head of Epigenetics and Neural Plasticity, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Head of Epilepsy Cognition Laboratory, Clinical Neuropsychologist, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Professor of Neurophysiology, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Professor and Head of the Epilepsy Neuroinformatics Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Associate professor, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Senior Research Fellow, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Head, Statistics and Decision Analysis Academic Platform, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Professor, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Research Fellow, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Research associate, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Research Fellow, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Professor and Director, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Head of Genes Environment and Behaviour Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Professor, Neurologist and Clinical Director, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Laboratory Head of Translational Cardiovascular and Renal Research Group, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health