{"id":3403,"date":"2015-02-16T18:08:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T17:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=3403"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:33:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:33:58","slug":"1502-insight-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight or flight?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>During the 2014 <a title=\"EMBL Insight Lecture\" href=\"http:\/\/emblog.embl.de\/ells\/eil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EMBL Insight Lecture<\/a>, an annual event that engages young people in the latest research in the life sciences, Gross asked the 200-strong audience of school students \u2013 and hundreds more tuning in remotely via the web \u2013 to consider their own responses to scary situations, and to reflect on a question humankind has long been puzzled by: why do we do what we do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFear has a major impact on the choices we make,\u201d explains Gross, whose research group studies the role of neurons in organising emotional behaviour such as fear and anxiety. \u201cBy studying fear, we can learn more about our own behaviour. It is possible to recognise and compare fear responses between different animals, where other emotions such as happiness or jealousy are much more difficult to recognise and interpret.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The talk weaved through diverse areas \u2013 from the history of neuroscience to the application of emerging techniques such as optogenetics. \u201cUntil recently it was not possible to block or mimic neural activity in defined cell types in the brain, and virtually nothing is known about the circuits that support fear of predators and social threats,\u201d Gross explains. \u201cBut using optogenetics, researchers can genetically engineer neurons to respond to light and then use powerful lasers to stimulate and control their pathways. Together with work in fields such as psychology, computer science, linguistics and philosophy, such approaches will help us to better understand connections between genes and behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen it came to taking to the stage, the audience certainly showed no anxieties, with questions ranging from the philosophical definition of emotion through to opportunities and challenges in tackling mental disorders,\u201d adds Philipp Gebhardt, Head of the <a title=\"European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS)\" href=\"http:\/\/emblog.embl.de\/ells\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS)<\/a>, who organises the lectures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video on demand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered  size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/medias01-web.embl.de\/Mediasite\/Play\/9f5cbf1b27e44fcd8ec1eeac93f33dbd1d\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"380\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-21.jpg\" alt=\"Insight lecture 2014: Why do we do what we do? Exploring the neural basis of emotions. View video on demand. \" class=\"wp-image-3421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-21.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-21-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Insight lecture 2014: Why do we do what we do? Exploring the neural basis of emotions. <a href=\"http:\/\/medias01-web.embl.de\/Mediasite\/Play\/9f5cbf1b27e44fcd8ec1eeac93f33dbd1d\">View video on demand. <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EMBL Insight Lecture \u2013 Why do we do what we do? \u2013 now available to view online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,17591],"tags":[413,92,74,67,363,514,27,245],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-3403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-science-technology","tag-ells","tag-event","tag-monterotondo","tag-neurobiology","tag-optogenetics","tag-rome","tag-training","tag-video"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>If you heard chilling screams echoing around the EMBL Advanced Training Centre at the end of last year, don\u2019t fret. Rather than a giant spider scuttling towards a group of arachnophobes, or a cohort of mytophobes who have been plunged into darkness, Cornelius Gross, deputy head of <a title=\"EMBL Monterotondo\" href=\"http:\/\/www.embl.it\/\" target=\"_blank\">EMBL Monterotondo<\/a>, was using sound and imagery to illustrate how the study of fear is helping researchers better understand human behaviour.<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"EMBL Insight Lectures","link_url":"http:\/\/emblog.embl.de\/ells\/eil"},{"link_description":"European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS)","link_url":"http:\/\/emblog.embl.de\/ells\/"},{"link_description":"Gross group, EMBL Monterotondo","link_url":"http:\/\/www.embl.it\/research\/unit\/gross\/index.html"},{"link_description":"Want to know more about optogenetics? Read 'Cell control in a flash'","link_url":"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/science\/1501-cell-control\/"}],"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fight or flight? | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EMBL Insight Lecture \u2013 Why do we do what we do? \u2013 now available to view online.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fight or flight? | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMBL Insight Lecture \u2013 Why do we do what we do? \u2013 now available to view online.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-16T17:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T12:33:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-ib.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Gristwood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Gristwood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adam Gristwood\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c8259826dbd1b46613f2b3c6d88953\"},\"headline\":\"Fight or flight?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-16T17:08:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T12:33:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-ib.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ells\",\"event\",\"monterotondo\",\"neurobiology\",\"optogenetics\",\"rome\",\"training\",\"video\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"Science &amp; Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\",\"name\":\"Fight or flight? | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-ib.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-16T17:08:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T12:33:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"EMBL Insight Lecture \u2013 Why do we do what we do? \u2013 now available to view online.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/1502-insight-lecture\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-ib.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/1502-insight-lecture-ib.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":425,\"caption\":\"Cornelius Gross presents the 2014 Insight Lecture. 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