This Is Your Brain On Sugar | Amy Reichelt | TEDxYouth@Sydney

As a neuroscientist, Amy is fascinated with how our brains control our behaviours in our dynamic and changing world. Things we eat, like junk food also affect our brain. Dopamine is released when we eat junk foods, this makes us feel good and crave more, but we risk becoming sugar dependant. Amy is an Australian Research Council Research Fellow and lecturer at RMIT University. Her research seeks to explore how the brain controls our behaviour and understanding the mechanisms by which our experiences in the environment can shape our responses to events. A major focus of her research is how our modern day diets full of soft drinks and junk foods can change our brains besides just making us overweight. Our brains not only make us want to eat more of these foods, but these foods are damaging areas critical for forming memories and behavioural control. Amy tries to explain these neuroscience discoveries on radio, TV and print, as well as to general audiences at scientific communication events such as National Science Week. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at