Samuel Lagier
UNILausanne, SamSpeaksScience
Place: Room 31
How does our brain interpret our environment? How are photons, smells, air pressure waves transformed into electric signals to create meaningful perceptions? I have studied olfaction and hearing, at the molecular level, local neuronal network and large ensemble level to try to answer those questions. I had the thrill to hear neurons fire action potentials in real-time with both in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological recordings; I saw the brain of a mouse literally light up with each breath as it was smelling banana with fluorescence in vivo imaging. In my last couple of years in a lab, I became interested in sensory perception in the context of schizophrenia. What if the inability to concentrate was coming from a deficit in filtering out irrelevant sensory stimuli?
Very few people would put improvised comedy and science together. Yet a little digging can reveal unexpected, exciting and useful parallels. Like languages, play and laughter are attractors, bringing people together, providing a sense of belonging and building communities. For young academics, often uprooted, finding a "home", a safe space, is invaluable to help them face the challenges of the early academic career.
Regardless of your knowledge of academic research, regardless of your experience with improvised comedy, regardless of your community, we’ll explore the power of play, together.
Dr Samuel Lagier is a scientist and a comedian. He specializes in communication, collaboration and creativity. He runs SamSpeaksScience, dedicated to help researchers talk about their work. Sam joined the TEDxLausanne team for 6 years as a curator, coach and host. He brings storytelling to experts for them to effectively share their rational, factual and thorough vision of the world to society. Sam holds a PhD in neuroscience and his 15 years of scientific research made him an expert in the exploration of complex systems, processes and ideas.
With over 13 years of experience with improvised comedy, he gives a serious playful twist to his experiential trainings. Learning is most effective through action and his situation-based activities provide the ideal platform for participants to understand the necessary ingredients for efficient collaboration and co-creation.