Kate Jeffery is a Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College London, researching how the brain assembles sensory information into an internal representation of space for navigation. Her current research focuses on how the brain represents complex space like three dimensional space, as well as the internal sense of direction. She founded and is currently the director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Institute of Navigation.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:48) – Entropy and life
(05:58) – Evolutionary transitions
(19:36) – Evolution of spatial navigation
(22:37) – Discovering the neural representations of space
(35:54) – Spatial maps
(1:05:25) – Mapping 3D space
(1:30:35) – Mapping arbitrary dimensions
(1:36:18) – Kate’s journey into neuroscience
(1:48:10) – Existential risks
(1:58:55) – Meaning of life
(2:04:18) – Extraterrestrial life
(2:07:45) – Advice for young scientists
