Science, Religion & Society: An Online Series 
Inaugural Sessions that started during summer of 2020

For 65 years, The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has held summer Conferences on Star Island, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our 2020 Star Island conference until the summer of 2021. In order to continue to engage with IRAS themes and the IRAS community, with Star Island’s generous support, we launched a live webinar series: Science, Religion, & Society. Below are the collected session videos.

Next Session:

The Embodied Brain:  How the Electric Blood Vessels Connect in Real Time
with Dr. Christopher Moore

April 9, 2025, at
4 PM Central time
5 PM Eastern time
​
This IRAS webinar is FREE but
​registration is required.
​Please register using the link below.
If you have questions, contact
JD Stillwater: [email protected]​
About the April 9, 2025 webinar: 
The Embodied Brain:  How the Electric Blood Vessels Connect in Real Time

Presentation Overview:  
Neuroscience is the study of how biological machines create us: How cells, chemicals, and circuits can create our thoughts, personality and choices. While there has been revolutionary progress in understanding these questions, there is a central problem: 'Neuro'science is likely a terrible name for this pursuit, as the field is named for 'Neurons.' While these cells are important, a wealth of new studies are showing that the body--many kinds of organ systems and non-neural cells--are crucial to behavior. In our work, we are studying a specific prediction, the Hemo-Neural Hypothesis, that blood vessels in the brain act as a computer. We have found many ways in which they rapidly talk to each other, and let the body communicate with the brain in real time. We are also making new methods that allow us to control these vessel dynamics with light pulses. We will discuss these new findings within the state of 'Neuro'science, how the brain responds to spiritual impulses and more general ways the body acts as a biological computer.'
​About the presenter:
Chris Moore is professor or neuroscience at Brown University, in Providence, RI and Associate Director at the Carney Institute for Brain Science. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and formerly associate professor of neuroscience at MIT where he earned his PhD. His work has earned honors from NIH, the Martinos Center at Harvard, MIT, the Kira Institute at Amherst, the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, among others. At the Carney Center, with a multi-level team, he is helping to create tools for controlling circuits and image activity using BioLuminescence with OptoGenetics, novel methods for transmission of optical signals between synapses in the brain. Dynamics in non-neural systems are a major focus: these ‘Dynamics’ refer to millisecond-to-second time scale changes in activity that impact behavior in real time. Most notably, the research proposes a framework for vascular contributions to information processing. Chris has a high commitment to teaching with inquisitive students and to applying findings from research to practical issues that we all confront in everyday life.

​Upcoming Sessions:

May
TBD

Find past sessions in the Webinar Archive