GORDON CONFERENCE on Neuroethology

Magdalen College, Oxford, UK. August 10-15, 2008

Conference Chairs: Paul Katz pkatz@gsu.edu and Catherine Carr cecarr@umd.edu.

Conference website with registration information: http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2008&program=neuroetho

This conference will focus on the evolution of neural circuits underlying species-specific behavior. In the spirit of the Gordon Conferences, the meeting is meant to foster intense discussion with the intent to push the frontiers of the field.

Students and postdoctoral fellows are especially invited to register also for the two-day Graduate Research Seminar ³Neuroethology 2050²
http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2008&program=grad_neuro

This unique venue, which will be held in Oxford on August 9-10, 2008, the weekend prior to the main Neuroethology Gordon Research Conference, provides an opportunity for the next generation of scientists to imagine what the field will look like in the year 2050. Students and post-docs who are accepted to ³Neuroethology 2050² will be accepted into the main Gordon Conference provided that they apply to both.

Please register soon as space at the conferences is limited.

The Gordon conference will focus on the evolution of neural circuits underlying species-specific behavior. In the spirit of the Gordon Conferences, the meeting is meant to foster intense discussion with the intent to push the frontiers of the field. Each speaker is being asked to speak for 20 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for discussion. These will not be conventional data-driven talks; rather, the speakers have been asked to address the central questions of the session using their own work and the work of others in their field to illustrate their ideas.

The main Gordon Conference will start with dual keynote talks on aspects of decision making by Joshua Gold and Michael Platt. The next day will have two sessions on the fundamentals - current views of the origin of nervous systems and structure function relationships of neural circuitry. There will be a sessions on homology, homoplasy, and divergence in neural circuits to discuss whether evolution always yields a common solution to similar problems of neural coding. Another session will discuss animal models of human characteristics and ask if we are anthropomorphizing or whether there are common substrates for human traits such as love, dreaming, and social climbing? We will also discuss the evolution and development of neural circuits in order to ask how much can we learn about the function of neural circuits from developmental rules. We will devote a session to discuss variability and homeostasis. Our final session is a round table discussion on uncovering general principles in neuroethology. In addition, two poster sessions will permit all participants to contribute. There will also be an ad hoc session in which speakers will be chosen from the poster presenters.

The meeting agenda is on the website and you will see many neuroethologists among the list as presenters, discussants and organizers. Check your calendars and see if you can find the time to join us in Oxford for this unique meeting!