The Wonder of Being Human

Poets, philosophers and ecologists refer to wilderness as a process a well as a place. "Wilding" means the predators´ return or permission for weeds to flourish. Every time, the wild surprises. Ecosystems morph unexpectedly. Animals create and are altered by this change. Using a phenomenological framework, this presentation asks what it means for humans to be, not only intentional agents of rewilding, but also unconscious beneficiaries. What does the wild do to us, and how would we know?

The brain is one of the most protected organs in the body. The blood–brain barrier acts as a gatekeeper, tightly controlling what can enter the brain. I will briefly explain how this barrier works and why it is so important, before focusing on the few regions where this control is less strict. Why do these areas exist, and what do they reveal about how substances reach the brain? I will also talk about how we study them to better understand how access to the brain is regulated.

We often think of dreams as strange stories our brains tell us at night. But for many
communities around the world, dreams can also be messages, warnings, encounters, or
sources of knowledge.

Have you ever misunderstood a text message, a joke, or a sentence that suddenly changed meaning once you heard the context?
Our brains are constantly making rapid guesses about what other people mean using words, expectations, past experience and also context. In this talk we'll explore how humans read meaning "between the lines" .