John Kubie

  • Downstate Medical Center

I work at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, where my time is divided between research, teaching and avoiding committees. In grad school I studied olfaction in snakes and salamanders, but I’ve been studying the rat hippocampus and its relations to navigation and memory since the 1980s.

Outside of science (and perhaps inside) I’m a boring guy. Interests include people, movies, philosophy, travel, computers and family. I’ve been blogging for less than a year, but it has become a strong interest and hobby. The other blog is Coronara Radiata.

Articles by John Kubie

Designing a Robot
As a Neuroscientist I want to understand how the brain works. A frequent exercise is to imagine building a robot.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
To Eat or Not to Eat
Today's New York Times has a nice video showing how stimulating a small set of neurons in the amygdala can turn off a rat's motivation to eat. The stimulation relies on a newly discovered technology called 'optogenetics'.
Brain Mechanisms of Skill Learning
Think of a skill you have, something that took practice, but now feels easy. Perhaps it’s serving in tennis, or a new dance step, or juggling — something I used to be able to do.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map: The Book
A few weeks ago the Nobel Prize Committee announced that John O’Keefe, Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser would be the recipients of the 2014 prize for Physiology and Medicine for their work in deciphering the neural code in the rat hippocampal region
Book Review: Consciousness and the Brain
Every ten years the scientific study of consciousness passes a milestone. A decade ago the milestone was the publication of Chrisof Koch's book "Quest for Consciousness" (2004).
Let's Get Rid of the Term "Hard Wired"
“Hard wired” is science fiction and should be abandoned.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
What is this thing called "Love"?
Lucy Brown and Helen Fischer use both psychological and biological approaches to gain insights into the mystery of “love” and share their insights on the website The Anatomy of Love.
How does Pixar Implement Group Creativity?
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, gave a lecture at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting. What does movie making have to do with brain science?
  • BrainFacts/SfN
The Neuroscience of Moby Dick
Taking cues from Carl Zimmer, let’s examine the Neuroscience from the great whaling novel, written in 1851, about 50 years age before the dawn of modern Neuroscience.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Memento and Personal Identity
I’ve been reflecting on issues of Personal Identity; last month I wrote a blog post on this. On Saturday evening I rented Memento (2000) and watched for the second and third times. This remarkable film features adventure, mystery, human drama, and fascinating movie technique.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Voluntary Control Over Pupil Size
A fascinating report in the journal "Current Biology" states that patients with "locked in syndrome" can communicate by controlling the size of their pupils
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Human Grid Cells
Grid Cells in rat entorhinal cortex were discovered in the Moser lab in Trondheim, Norway. These cells were first described in a paper in Nature 20051; For the past 8 years these neurons have been objects of intense study.
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