Who hasn't felt the temptation to fling a lengthy manual into the bin, or just drive on instead of asking for directions? After all, following instructions is often tiresome, and we can just figure it out on our own… Or can we? A study published today (May 19th) in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour challenges prevalent theories about our capacity to solve complex problems and how certain mental disorders influence it.

Sabine Renninger

POST DOCTORAL RESEARCHER, VISION TO ACTION LAB

"Have you ever walked to school or work and suddenly seen something that has always been there but that you never noticed before?

Dr. Ryll has been an extremely active member of the EU Cancer Mision Board, and a pioneer in how good patient-researcher partnerships can boost the quality of research and the impact of its results. 

A fruit fly walks on a small styrofoam ball fashioned into a floating 3D treadmill. The room is completely dark, and yet, an electrode recording visual neurons in the fly’s brain relays a mysterious stream of neural activity, rising and falling like a sinusoidal wave.

When Eugenia Chiappe, a neuroscientist at the Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal, first saw these results, she had a hunch her team had made an exceptional discovery. They were recording from visual neurons, but the room was dark, so there was no visual signal that could drive the neurons in that manner. 

This lecture is part of the "Champalimaud Cancer Talks" series, organised by the Champalimaud Foundation with the aim of offering the general public unique opportunities to hear the world's leading authorities in different fields related to cancer research and clinical practice. This time, Professor Hidde Ploegh will present his research work on: