CTOR Bites - Episode 1 - Sama Ahmed Three Minute Thesis

Carry The One Radio is now releasing shorter morsels of science in between our longer full length episodes! We call them, CTOR Bites. For our first Bite, our own Sama Ahmed summarizes 5 years of his research on evolutionary biology into exactly 3 minutes! It’s an adaptation of his award-winning entry into the University of California Three Minute Thesis competition. Stay curious!

  Produced by Ryan Jones and Sama Ahmed

How the brain responds to pheromones: Lisa Stowers

Our brains are responsible for helping us understand and move around in the world. What we perceive through our senses is transformed into electrical activity in our brains, and that activity determines how we act and respond to the environment. Yet, scientists are unclear about how brain cells carry out this transformation.

Our guest this month is Dr. Lisa Stowers from the Scripps Research Institute. Her lab uses mice to study how chemical signals known as pheromones activate particular groups of neurons, and how this activity produces instinctive behaviors of fear, attraction, and aggression. By studying this system, Dr. Stowers hopes to shed new light on how the brain processes senses and generates behavior.

More on the Stowers Lab's research

Producer: Sama Ahmed