Senior Vice President, Treasurer & Chief Accounting Officer, Lincoln National
Search every verified Adam Cohen interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Adam Cohen, a scientist and researcher, has given presentations on neuroscience and sustainable building design. In a 2016 TEDxCambridge talk, Cohen described his work developing optical techniques to both stimulate and record electrical activity in neurons. He explained that his laboratory created a system using light-sensitive proteins from microorganisms to create a "bidirectional optical interface" for neurons, allowing them to be stimulated with blue light and recorded with red light. Cohen stated that this approach enables the study of electrical impulses propagating through cells at high speed and that the technology has been used to study neurons derived from skin cells of ALS patients, contributing to a clinical trial for a potential treatment. In 2018, Cohen spoke at the North American Passive House Conference about the future of shelter and building materials. He discussed the need to move away from fossil-fuel-based materials toward biology-based alternatives, suggesting that buildings could be "grown" using materials like mushroom-based insulation. Cohen also commented on the resilience of natural and human systems, stating that while the current global system is "both robust and incredibly fragile," he expressed confidence that systems "would rebalance" after disruption. He advocated for a shift in mindset among designers and builders toward creating integrated, modular shelter systems that can be assembled and reassembled as needed.
“Individually weak but as a group they're really powerful — they're powerful enough to shake their environment and their species.”
“If insects were to be removed from our global system equation it would have an effect — it could be a balance that would be unstruck and then have to be restructured, but the thing that I have ultimate confidence in is that the system would rebalance because it always does.”
“If it were only so simple... the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being — who's willing to destroy a piece of its own heart? It brings it down to our individual responsibility in every action that we take.”
“Increasingly I feel that the climate imperative will be nested in this — escalate the movement of people on a very, very large scale; we know people will be moving miles.”
This is the last part of Adam Cohen's presentation at the North American Passive House conference.
Every thought, feeling, sensation, and idea you have is encoded in little electrical impulses that travel through the neurons in your ...
So and not the boring stuff let's just get right to Adam he's got um a great presentation he's going to do a lot of introduction I ...
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