Erich Jarvis (Duke/HHMI): Song and Dance

www.ibiology.org/profiles/dancing-to-science/

As a promising young ballet student, Jarvis thought he would pursue a career as a dancer.  After considering how he might best serve society, however, Jarvis decided to become a scientist.  He has now come full circle with his work on songbirds suggesting a link between the areas of the brain involved in vocal learning and those involved in coordinated movements such as dance.

About the speaker:  Upon finishing high school, Erich Jarvis was invited to audition for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Instead, he chose to study science at Hunter College. Now a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Jarvis studies the ability of songbirds to learn vocalizations as a model for how the brain learns behaviors.