Speaker: Egor Shelukhin (University of Montreal)Title: Non-orderability and the contact Hofer metricAbstract: We discuss a recent joint work with Jakob Hedicke which relates contact non-orderability, the existence of positive contractible loops in the contactomoprhism group, and shortening in the contact Hofer metric. Together with considerations of contact open books, this shows that contact boundaries one-stabilizations of Weinstein manifolds, including the standard tight S1 x S2, are non-orderable.

Speaker: Tang-Kai LeeTitle: Uniqueness problems in mean curvature flow

Colloquium on the Brain and Cognition with Ivan Soltesz, PhD, Stanford UniversityDate: Thursday, April 17, 2025Time: 4:00pmLocation: 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium (Third floor of MIT Building 46)Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91469352101Organization and Control of Hippocampal CircuitsWhen animals are in an off-line, non-locomotor behavioral state, neuronal activity in the hippocampus is thought to be largely disengaged from the present setting to enable cognitive mechanisms such as memory consolidation and planning. But how does the brain re-engage with the present surroundings during this behavioral state and permit access to current sensory information or promote new memory formation? I will present recent results that indicate that dentate spikes may support associative memory during non-locomotor behavior, extending the repertoire of cognitive processes beyond the classical “off-line” functions. In the second part of the talk, I will show new evidence that suggests that a rarely studied part of the hippocampus, the Fasciola cinereum, may play surprisingly significant roles as a novel site of seizure onset and target for interventions in temporal lobe epilepsy in both mice and humans.Ivan Soltesz Ph.D. is the James R. Doty Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. He established his laboratory at UC Irvine in 1995, where he served as department Chair from 2006 until his return to Stanford in 2015. He is interested in the nature of inhibition in the CNS. His lab employs experimental and theoretical techniques to explore the synaptic and cellular organization of GABAergic circuits in the hippocampus under normal and pathological conditions.

Recreational swims provide a fun and engaging way for children and parents to practice new skills, stay active, and enjoy quality time together in the pool with the MIT community.No Z Center (MIT Recreation - Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center) membership is required to participate.A parent or caregiver must accompany children in the water. Per Z Center policy, each adult may supervise up to two children at a time.Children must be at least 6 months old to join. If younger, they must be able to hold their head up comfortably. Registration is here. Only for MIT Spouses and Partners Connect members.

Ryan Gilmour (University of Münster)Talk Title: TBAhttps://www.uni-muenster.de/Chemie.oc/gilmour/

Speaker: Mehtaab S. Sawhney (Columbia University)Title: Quasipolynomial Bounds for the Corners TheoremAbstract:We prove quasipolynomial bounds for the corners theorem for general abelian groups. The proof draws on a number of themes in additive combinatorics, including recent work of Kelley-Meka on 3-term arithmetic progressions, work on almost periodicity, and work of Conlon, Fox, and Zhao on densification. Based on joint work with Michael Jaber, Yang P Liu, Shachar Lovett and Anthony Ostuni.