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AskDifferent #34 – The brain is a complex system, and an extremely clever one, too. In order to remain functional, it constantly compensates for external changes and influences. In this episode of #AskDifferent, we learn from Einstein BUA/Oxford Visiting Fellow Andrew Sharott how understanding these fundamental properties of brain activity can help the discovery and treatment of Parkinson’s. Sharott is a professor at the University of Oxford’s MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and an internationally recognized expert on how neuronal activity changes in Parkinson’s and its treatment with neurosurgery. Bearing in mind the fact that more than 10 million patients are affected by the disease worldwide, we talk about chances of finding a cure, what the abbreviation DBS stands for, and the progress Professor Sharott hopes to achieve through his research.

AskDifferent #33 – Olena Kononenko left her native Ukraine to work in Berlin at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where she is a fellow in the Einstein Foundation’s Academic Freedom Program. As an expert in economic and social geography, she is interested in how cities are reconstructed in the aftermath of disasters such as wars. In this episode of our podcast, she speaks about the power of urban gardening, her vision for postwar Ukraine, and why it is never too early to start rebuilding, even under the most challenging circumstances. A crisis, she believes, is always the best opportunity to start something new.