Welcome to the first episode in the XLabs "Breaking the Code" series in which we interview key experts in moonshot technologies. Today we are happy to welcome Professor Bharath Chandrasekaran, Associate Professor of Auditory Neuroscience at UT Austin and soon to be Vice Chair of Research at the University of Pittsburgh. We have known Bharath for over 15 years now and there has never been a dull conversation. Join us in today's episode to learn about:

the future of Neurotechdirect read and write to the brainhow vagal nerve stimulation can significantly increase the speed of learning a second languagewhy he believes the childhood "window" for language acquisition is a myth andwhy we may see something as Sci-fi as see-through skull replacement in our lifetime

About Bharath:Bharath Chandrasekaran, Ph.D., joined the CSD faculty in Fall 2010. He received his bachelor's degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from Sri Ramachandra University, and his master’s degree in Speech Sciences from Purdue University. He completed his Ph.D. in Integrative Neuroscience from Purdue University in 2008 and a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University in the Communication Neural Systems Research Group and the Auditory Neurosciences Lab. His research interests uses functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques to examine neural bases of speech perception, neural plasticity, and learning. He teaches a course on Language and the Brain (CSD 350, LING 350). Bharath has published articles in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Neuron, Brain and Language, Ear and Hearing, Journal of Acoustical Society of America, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, among others. He has presented his work at National and International meetings and his research work has been featured in various print and television media.