Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Show notes: braininspired.co/podcast/245
Patreon (full episodes, archive, Discord, more): patreon.com/braininspired
Apple podcasts: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-inspired/id1428880766?mt=2
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2UZj8c8Ap5oc2gh2rJxLLe
Music by @dunovank
The Transmitter is an online publication that aims to deliver useful information, insights and tools to build bridges across neuroscience and advance research. Visit thetransmitter.org to explore the latest neuroscience news and perspectives, written by journalists and scientists.
Read more about our partnership: thetransmitter.org/partners
Sign up for the “Brain Inspired” email alerts to be notified every time a new “Brain Inspired” episode is released: thetransmitter.org/newsletters
To explore more neuroscience news and perspectives, visit thetransmitter.org.
Daniel Levenstein started his NeuroAI and Dynamics Lab at Yale University about a year ago. We briefly discuss what it's like to transition from a postdoc to a principle investigator, i.e. head of the lab. But most mostly we discuss his work and ideas. Dan studies spontaneous neural activity during sleep, specially in brain areas like hippocampus and cortex, and how this internally generated spontaneous activity is related to learning and memory and navigation. Really, he used to study those processes directly through experimental brain recording datasets. These days he builds and studies models of those processes, using AI models and seeing how their dynamics and functions match what we see in brains.
0:00 - Intro
9:12 - Neuro-AI
18:23 - Experiment vs theory
20:36 - Ground vs active state neuron activity
25:38 - Beginning a lab
31:34 - Sleep and Internally generated activity
40:02 - Spiking neural networks
52:13 - Naturalistic neuro-AI
59:52 - Cognitive maps, world models
1:04:16 - Weasel words and motifs
1:08:17 - Transformers and brains
1:18:53 - AI vs biology
1:24:32 - Neuroscience theory
Show notes: braininspired.co/podcast/245
Patreon (full episodes, archive, Discord, more): patreon.com/braininspired
Apple podcasts: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-inspired/id1428880766?mt=2
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2UZj8c8Ap5oc2gh2rJxLLe
Music by @dunovank
The Transmitter is an online publication that aims to deliver useful information, insights and tools to build bridges across neuroscience and advance research. Visit thetransmitter.org to explore the latest neuroscience news and perspectives, written by journalists and scientists.
Read more about our partnership: thetransmitter.org/partners
Sign up for the “Brain Inspired” email alerts to be notified every time a new “Brain Inspired” episode is released: thetransmitter.org/newsletters
To explore more neuroscience news and perspectives, visit thetransmitter.org.
Daniel Levenstein started his NeuroAI and Dynamics Lab at Yale University about a year ago. We briefly discuss what it's like to transition from a postdoc to a principle investigator, i.e. head of the lab. But most mostly we discuss his work and ideas. Dan studies spontaneous neural activity during sleep, specially in brain areas like hippocampus and cortex, and how this internally generated spontaneous activity is related to learning and memory and navigation. Really, he used to study those processes directly through experimental brain recording datasets. These days he builds and studies models of those processes, using AI models and seeing how their dynamics and functions match what we see in brains.
0:00 - Intro
9:12 - Neuro-AI
18:23 - Experiment vs theory
20:36 - Ground vs active state neuron activity
25:38 - Beginning a lab
31:34 - Sleep and Internally generated activity
40:02 - Spiking neural networks
52:13 - Naturalistic neuro-AI
59:52 - Cognitive maps, world models
1:04:16 - Weasel words and motifs
1:08:17 - Transformers and brains
1:18:53 - AI vs biology
1:24:32 - Neuroscience theory
