Go For Brain Gains

Unlock your brain’s potential through Center for BrainHealth's speaker series

The speakers for BrainHealth Presents 2025.

Photo courtesy of Center for BrainHealth

Discover the power of neuroscience and incorporate brain health into your 2025 wellness goals with the help of Center for BrainHealth, a cognitive neuroscience leader focusing on proactive brain gains that make a difference to overall brain health.

Its speaker series, BrainHealth Presents, lets you engage with renowned experts in an exclusive social setting while learning how to harness your brain powers of memory, self-agency, creativity and hyper-efficiency.

All events begin with a VIP reception at 6:15 pm before the talk starts at 7 pm, and are in-person by subscription only. Here is the 2025 speaker lineup:

April 17: Why We Remember – and How to Hold on to What Matters Most
Charan Ranganath, PhD

Dr. Ranganath explains the hidden role memory plays in our lives and how we imagine the future. Author of the New York Times best-seller Why We Remember, he has pioneered a new way of thinking about the everyday act of remembering.

One of the world’s top memory researchers, his work sheds light on the powerful role of memory in nearly every aspect of life, from recalling faces and names to learning, decision-making, trauma, and healing.

He is director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at UC Davis and is an affiliated faculty with the Center for Mind and Brain, and has appeared on the Huberman Lab Podcast, NPR’s Fresh Air, and the goop podcast with Gwyneth Paltrow.

May 8: Reducing the Risks of Brain Injury
Kim Gorgens, PhD

Dr. Gorgens reframes our understanding of brain injury by connecting with often-overlooked populations.

Reaching millions of viewers through inspiring TED Talks on youth sports concussion and brain injuries in criminal justice, she has appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper, NPR, and 20/20.

A professor of psychology at University of Denver, she manages a large portfolio of brain injury-related research and has lectured extensively around the world.

October 9: Unleashing Imagination: The Creative Brain and AI
Adam Green, PhD

In an age driven by AI, neuroscientist Dr. Green predicts an increasing demand for human creativity.

Leader of a $2.5 million National Science Foundation project on creativity in STEM, he seeks to measure innovative thinking as a predictor of success, gauge how different aspects of creativity may work together, and map the seemingly miraculous process of creative ideation.

He directs the Lab for Relational Cognition at Georgetown University and is co-founder of The Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity.

November 6: Hyper-efficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work
Mithu Storoni, MD, PhD

A physician, cognitive neuroscientist, and author, Dr. Storoni advocates for a new, hyper-efficient way of working.

The work that matters most in our technology-dominated workplace — generating brilliant ideas, solving complex problems, and learning — can’t be manufactured like outputs on an assembly line. Our brains function like a car’s engine, with multiple gears that put the brain in optimal mode for different mental challenges to create, solve, and learn.

Your $150 subscription includes an array of benefits. In addition to admission to all 2025 talks, you'll receive:

A VIP reception at 6:15 pm that includes light hors d'oeurves, beverages, and specialty mocktails catered by Eating Royally, whose chef-owner once cooked for members of the British royal family
Complimentary valet parking
Access to full recordings from the 2025 season
The opportunity to interact with the speaker and other like-minded attendees

Learn more and subscribe to BrainHealth Presents here.

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Wild Idea

First holographic zoo in the U.S. without animals opens in Texas

Photo from zoocade.com

Zoocade, the US's first completely holographic zoo, is now open in Austin.

A completely holographic zoo has opened in Texas: CalledZoocade, it's a zoo experience but without animals that has opened its first location in the U.S. in Austin.

One ofTime Magazine's "Best Inventions of 2023," Zoocade was previously only available in Australia, China, and Canada.

"At the hologram zoo you don’t just see an elephant – you see a herd of elephants that stampedes toward you and then runs through you," says the write-up. "What’s more, it’s a way for the public to see and learn about wildlife that doesn’t involve keeping animals captive."

Guests can put on 3D glasses and peruse Zoocade's 60-foot holographic tunnel, where they'll come face-to-face with hippos, giraffes, and even long-extinct prehistoric animals. Smaller groups of four to five can also experience Zoocade's smaller holographic rooms for a closer look at some of the animals.

Aside from lifelike animal encounters and holographic photos, Zoocade also includes an arcade with more than 30 games, a gift shop, and more.

It's no secret that unless it's a rescue or rehabilitation zoo, most zoos are not doing wildlife any favors. At best they're stressful for animals that need much more space; at worst they're neglectful or cruel.

So, perhaps not only is a holographic zoo a fun family-friendly use of our advancing technology, but it's also a useful one. As long as it doesn't go the way of Ray Bradbury's The Veldt, of course.

Zoocade comes to Austin by way of local entrepreneur Reva Enzminger. As soon as she learned about this award-winning tech, she jumped on a plane to Australia to experience it for herself and was amazed by its capabilities. Since Austin is a growing tech hub, she knew it would be a great fit.

“From the minute I stepped inside the holographic tunnel in Australia and heard the shrieks of joy, I knew Zoocade would be a hit in Austin," Enzminger says in a press release. "Holographic technology and Zoocade is the future of family-friendly entertainment, and I’m thrilled to be the first to offer this in the United States."

Zoocade is located at 11000 Middle Fiskville Rd. #A1, and normal hours are Thursdays from 5-8 pm, Fridays 10 am to 9 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays, from 9 am to 9 pm. Reservations are available online and range from $25-$65.

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