Rising Star: André Fenton,

playful problem-solver

On the Fourth of July in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, you might find André Fenton dressed up as a neuron, surrounded by students pretending to be calcium ions and electrical signals. You might also find him quietly pondering the meaning of ‘reality.’

Fenton, professor of neural science at New York University (NYU), is equal parts fun and philosophical. At the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, where he co-directs an eight-week course on the neural basis of behavior, he mixes deep discussions of the mind with water-balloon fights.