PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: TODAY (Wednesday, December 13) – see details below
A leading medical scientist, whose work on how memories are stored in the brain has earned him worldwide repute, will give a lecture to over 500 fifth and sixth year pupils from across the North-east today (Wednesday, December 13).
Dr Tim Bliss, of the Division of Neurophysiology at the National Institute for Medical Research, is visiting the University of Aberdeen to deliver the Annual Christmas Lecture entitled How The Brain Stores Memories.
Organised by the University’s College of Life Sciences and Medicine, the annual Christmas lecture is aimed at senior school pupils interested in a career in medicine or science.
Dr Bliss is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of memory. As well as his prestigious appointment to the National Institute for Medical Research, Dr Bliss is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences. In his talk today, he will describe the methods that scientists use to peer inside the brain and what he has learnt about how memories are stored and recalled.
Dr Bliss said: “Memory is perhaps the most precious of all our faculties. Like everything else in our mental life, memory depends on the properties of the billions of nerve cells in the brain, and their trillions of interconnections.
“I will also be talking to the pupils about where in the brain memories are processed, about the essential role of the junctions between nerve cells, about the possibility of improving memory, and about what goes wrong when memories fail.
“The lecture is an exciting opportunity to give young people what I hope will be a fascinating insight into the intricate work of the brain and how it stores our memories.”
William Wisden, Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Aberdeen, said: “Tim Bliss is one of the world’s most famous “memory scientists” – we are exceedingly pleased that he has come up to explain his research to young people in Aberdeen.”
Dr Bliss’s lecture – to pupils, teachers and University staff – takes place today in the Arts Lecture Theatre, King’s College campus, at 1.30pm today.