The organisers of the Ar programme of events DançAr were invited to join a group who has been working on a very special project called Dancing with Pk, to celebrate International Dance Day 2015.

Dancing with PK started organising dance classes for Parkinson’s patients in late 2014. To celebrate the 2015 International Day of Dance, the team organised an event at the S. Pedro de Alcântara Convent, in Lisbon.

The European Research Council (ERC) awards Champalimaud Research Director Zachary Mainen an Advanced Grant for the sum of 2.5 M Euros.

The newly awarded research grant is the second consecutive ERC advanced grant awarded to Dr. Mainen, representing the first time a researcher working in Portugal receives this award two successive times.

This grant will be dedicated to study how serotonin influences the way we perceive the world and consequently our behaviour.

What are the challenges facing private foundations to promote research? How does the interaction between private foundations and public bodies work to advance science? High-level representatives from both private and public sectors came together to discuss these and other topics, last Wednesday, May 20th.

Scientists at the Molecular Medicine Institute in Lisbon, Portugal, namely, Dr. Domingos Henrique, who leads a research group associated with Champalimaud Research, in collaboration with scientists at the University College London Ear Institute, United Kingdom, have developed a simple and efficient protocol to generate inner ear hair cells, the cells responsible for our hearing and sense of balance.

Last week, on May 28-30, a group of CNP members attended the National Science Communication Conference – SciComPt 2015, in Lagos, Algarve.

The meeting was organised by three Science Centres – Centro Ciência Viva Lagos, Faro and Tavira and counted with Champalimaud Foundation as one of the sponsors.

Similarly to humans, rats offer help without self-benefit, say researchers at Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Our social connections and social compass define us to a large degree as human. Indeed, our tendency to act to benefit others without benefit to ourselves is regarded by some as the epitome of human nature and culture. But is it truly a quality unique to humans, or is this apparent virtue common to other species such as rats?

“Why not bring science to primary school?” – was the motivation behind the initiative of 4 researchers from the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Cristina Afonso, Gabriela Martins, Ana Fernandes and Nuno Loureiro.

Q&A with Alex Gomez-Marin, a postdoctoral researcher at CNP about his recently published study where the behaviour of Drosophila larvae was controlled remotely using optogenetic techniques.

The course is part of the CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme aimed at establishing neuroscience training centres in Europe.

Researchers find that just like humans, zebrafish use eavesdropping to gain useful information about their social environment.

Did you ever find yourself trying to listen in on a conversation at the next table? You might have even felt a bit guilty about it, but you just couldn’t stop? As it turns out, eavesdropping, though commonly perceived as a negative behaviour, has its biological advantages and is practiced not only by humans, but also by other species, such as fish.