From Chromosomes to Consciousness

Down Syndrome is caused when people are born with three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. This chromosome contains over 200 genes, some of which have been associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. For this reason, people with Down Syndrome have an 80% chance of developing Alzheimer’s during their lifetime. So which genes are driving this connection? We will aim to answer this question using cutting-edge 3D brain models grown right in the lab!

Can we truly ignore information we think is unreliable, and how aware are we of its influence? This talk presents new research on how people process unreliable or misleading information. Even when clearly flagged, misinformation still affects our decisions! And even when we are aware of this bias, our brains struggle to counteract it. These findings could explain the shortcomings of strategies like explicit labelling of misinformation in curbing its impact on our psychology.