Computational neuroscientists use many software tools, and NEURON has become the leading tool for biophysical modeling of neurons and neural network.

Today’s guest has been the leading developer of NEURON since the infancy almost 50 years ago.

We talk about how the tool got started and the development up until today’s modern version of the software, including CoreNEURON optimized for parallel execution of large-scale network models on multicore supercomputers.

The idea that memories are stored in molecules was popular in the middle of the 20th century. However, since the discovery of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the 1970s, the dominant view has been that our memories are stored in synapses, that is, in the connections between neurons.

Today, there are signs that the interest in molecular memory is returning, and the guest has presented a theory suggesting that molecular and synaptic memory might serve complementary needs for animals.

Is quantum physics important in determining how living systems, including brains, work?

Today's guest is a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Surrey in England and explores this question in the book “Life at the edge: The coming of age of quantum biology”.

In this “vintage” episode, recorded in late 2019, we talk about how quantum physics is or may be key in photosynthesis, smelling, navigation, evolution and even thinking. And we also touch on development of new antibiotics, another expertise of McFadden.