In the 1970s, evolutionary neurobiologist Matthew Cobb decided to study psychology because he wanted to understand “how and why animals and people behave the way they do.” When he stumbled upon an article in New Scientist about the memory-impaired Drosophila mutant named “dunce,” he was struck by “the idea that you could use genes to get at fundamental behaviors like learning and memory.” Cobb completed his PhD in psychology and genetics at the University of Sheffield in the UK in 1984, and has dedicated the last 40 years to studying how genes and evolution shape nervous systems and behavior. His main focus has been olfaction in Drosophila larvae. Cobb’s research has shown that different odors activate the same neuron in different ways, eliciting a range of responses even in a genetically altered larva with only a single neuron in its nose.
Cobb is also a science historian whose new book, ...
