Integrated Calendar

Astronomy, most particularly astronomy of the transient sky, is going through a transformative phase with the advent of affordable large cameras and the increased availability of computational resources. The field is shifting from a 'single astronomer'+'single project'+'single telescope' paradigm to a survey, multi-science, multi-messenger approach. Facilities such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) promise to push this frontier further. I will specifically discuss how we leverage this opportunity to promote our understanding in two major fields. I will show that Type II supernovae can be used as cosmological probes, in order to ultimately constrain the equation of state of Dark Energy. This method is complementary to the successful use of Type Ia supernovae, which is now dominated by systematics. I will also show that we can use these data streams to study how some stars end their lives in perplexing ways, shedding new light on stellar evolution.

Understanding the neuronal events linking sensory inputs with behavioral outputs in complex organisms is a central goal of neuroscience. First steps in this enormous endeavor can be made by focusing on the relatively simple and stereotyped class of chemosensory triggered innately encoded physiological processes. Until recently, analysis of the circuits that underlie these processes was hampered by the lack of a reliable method for stimulus delivery to the vomeronasal system, which in mice, like many other mammals, plays a key role in processing pheromonal information. To address this issue, I developed an experimental preparation that allows in-vivo stimulus delivery to the mouse vomeronasal system and combined it with multisite neuronal recordings to measure stimulus evoked neuronal activity. Recordings from the early processing stage of the accessory olfactory bulb reveal the broad range and high acuity of ethologically relevant sensory representations, and furthermore suggest that these involve integrative processing. Recording from subsequent processing relays in the vomeronasal amygdala reveal several similarities to the olfactory bulb representations but also some intriguing differences raising new hypotheses about the role of the amygdala in these processes. Finally, I will describe how I am extending this approach by employing optogenetic techniques to record neuronal activity from scarce and genetically defined neurons in subsequent processing regions. Taken together, these experiments are beginning to illuminate the function of entire neuronal circuits involved in mediating ethologically and clinically relevant endocrine processes.

Opinions can be considered moral or immoral by observers of
different political affiliation. We study the relation between
cognitive styles and political affiliation. In a society of
agents, which learn the opinions of neighbors on issues, we
consider a family of learning algorithms which give different
relative importance to corroborating and novel opinions. Using
large data sets of questionnaires on moral issues we show
statistical similarities between cognitive styles of agents and
political affiliation of respondents. Also, when issues under
discussion change, the adaptation of a society of novelty seekers
agents is fast, while a society of corroboration seekers adapts
more slowly, reinforcing the identification of agents with
different cognitive styles in terms of the liberal-conservative
labels.