This week on Brain Matters, Matt and Dr. David McCormick (Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Yale) start off 2017 right. On this episode you'll get a quick briefing on the early history of neuroscience, information about Frankenstein's monster, a look at neural circuits, and perspective from the Buddhist Monks of Tibet. You're gonna want your cochleas ready for this one.

David mentioned a ton of people and books. Here's a list in case you wanna dive in.

Major Figures in the Early History of Neuroscience:

Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, René Descartes, Jan Swammerdam, Alessandro Volta, Emil de Bois-Reymond

Texts David Referenced:

1. Animal Electricity (Galvani, 1791)

2. Essay on Galvanism: "Précis des expériences galvaniques faites récemment à Londres et à Calais" (Aldini, 1803)

3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)

4. The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine (Eccles, 1967)

Further Reading (if you're into it like we are):

1. Early History of Neuroscience, Charles Gross

2. Giovanni Aldini: From Animal Electricity to Human Brain Stimulation, André Parent

3. History of Psychology, Ideas and Context (Chapter 8) King et al.

We partnered with Wiley Neuroscience on this one. Follow them on twitter at @neuroscience. Shout out to their team for getting the twitter handle coveted most by neuroscientists.

The music on this episode was by Noveller. The first track was "Trails and Trials" from the soon to be released album "A Pink Sunset for Noone", the second track was "Rubicon" from the Fantastic Planet LP. Go check out and purchase her music at noveller.bandcamp.com, or at her current label, FireRecords.com

The Nature of Nature (and the brain too) with Dr. David McCormick