On October 7, 2023, we reached one of our biggest milestones in SFB Outreach and Science Communication: A full-length stage program in one of the most renowned and internationally known German theaters – with our science on the big stage.

The Braintalks took place in the packed (!) Schauspielhaus Bochum. On stage SFB 1280 speaker Onur Güntürkün and four Early Career Researchers of the SFB 1280, plus the live band Alma Sunshine. And in the audience nearly 800 people interested in the SFB’s research. The stage presentations by Robert Reichert (RUB), Harleen Chhabra (IfADo), Javier Schneider (RUB), Marie Jakobs (UDE) and Onur Güntürkün (RUB) and the information stations set up in the foyer were simply about everything that moves us: memory and brain research, questions of learning, unlearning, remembering and forgetting, about what happens when extinction learning occurs. How do you image these phenomena? How can something as abstract as extinction be studied experimentally? What is the point of this research? Who does extinction affect? We were able to convey all these questions and more, and for the first time tell such a large and heterogeneous live audience about what is happening at the SFB. We are simply overwhelmed by the response to this offer. The Braintalks are a real success and a milestone for the SFB 1280. We thank our huge audience for the attentive listening, the good conversations, the incredible encouragement and the interest in our research.

A special thanks goes of course to our slammers and the band Alma Sunshine from Bochum, who actually made the audience dance in the tight rows. And of course we thank all participants in front of, behind and beside the stage and the great team of the Schauspielhaus Bochum. Those were the Braintalks – an evening to forget, which the participants and the audience have made unforgettable forever.

On stage: Onur Güntürkün, Robert Reichert, Harleen Chhabra, Javier Schneider and Marie Jakobs; from the Schauspielhaus ensemble: Marius Huth
Band of the evening: Alma Sunshine
Video documentation: Sven-Daniel Gettys/about:stories
Coaching: Sven-Daniel Gettys