Description
In this episode, host Rachel Feltman interviews neuroscientist Kauê M. Costa, who is among Scientific American’s inaugural cohort of Young American Scientists honorees. Costa shares how being surprised by experiments has led him to new ways of thinking about learning in the brain. He explains how dopamine does more than signal reward, how there are two big frameworks of how the brain learns and how his findings could help us better understand—and treat—mental illness.
0:00 Introduction
0:48 The "Slightly Cursed" Scientist
3:15 A Common Lab Mouse Model's Hidden Flaw
5:44 How We Learn: Model-Free vs. Model-Based
11:28 Implications for Mental Illness & Addiction
14:38 Open Questions in Learning & the Brain
Recommended Reading:
The Young American Scientists
https://www.scientificamerican.com/report/young-american-scientists-2026/
Kauê M. Costa’s Young American Scientists profile
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kaue-m-costa/
Join our Summer Reading Challenge
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/join-the-scientific-american-summer-reading-challenge/
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/getsciam/
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences/
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.
https://www.regeneron.com/