Hello all, The next MaPSS talk of this semester will be at 17:00 on Mon 17th September in Carslaw 535. It’s a great opportunity to meet fellow postgrads, listen to an interesting talk, and of course get free food! ************************************************************************************** Speaker: Timothy Roberts Title: Thermoregulation: A Three Timescales Problem Abstract: The regulation of temperature in the human body is a critical task for survival. However, it is not known precisely how the body is able to monitor and maintain its temperature. In broad terms, the body does the following. Environmental temperature is sensed at the skin, and data relating to any changes in this ambient temperature is sent via the central nervous system to the brain. At the same time the brain is monitoring its own temperature, ie. the body’s internal temperature. These two sets of data are then used to determine how the body should respond, if at all, to changes in temperature. As a result signals are then relayed to various parts of the body to enact temperature regulation responses. However, the precise details of this process remain the subject of study. In this talk we look at a model of one small, but key piece of this system: a part of the brain called the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus (PO/AH). Specifically, we analyse a model for individual PO/AH neurons and look at how they may be able to measure and respond to brain temperature. To do so I will begin by introducing the foundations and intuition behind geometric singular perturbation theory (GSPT), then apply this to the model in question. ************************************************************************************** See you there! Details can also be found on the school’s new Postgraduate Society website: http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/MaPS/mapss.html Cheers, Alex