As Californians, we hear talk of “waves” and our thoughts naturally extend to the surf – past PCH and deep into the swirling, vibrant blues and greens of the white-capped Pacific.
Try to capture the beauty in a picture, and you’ll get a snapshot in time, but you’ll miss the motion, the constant activity, the energy. The same holds true for the human brain - a boundaryless, uncharted territory where different kinds of waves drive our every thought, emotion and behavior. The brain is constantly changing and learning, developing from before birth through our twilight years. And just like the ocean forming our western border, a picture doesn’t do it justice. To understand the brain, we need to understand the changing brain and its relationship to behavior throughout the entire life course, from every stage of development to the environmental, social and biological factors that help or hurt its progress.
Nestled just five miles from the Pacific Ocean in a remarkably diverse community, UC Irvine - with its new
