This week’s materials on neuroscience was very eye-opening for me because I really wanted to be a Psychology major. I had no clue that art is oftenly used to understand the human brain and neuroscience in general. I have never been able to understand how the human brain is able to comprehend a number of different vowels and sounds and can quickly interpret what someone is trying to say in nanoseconds. Not only can the brain instantly understand other people, but it starts to think of a response immediately. I found Pierre Paul Broca interesting for this reason because he was the first person to demonstrate the existence of a speech center in the brain.
The “Brainbow” showed me exactly how art is used today in order to figure out new information about the human brain. Brainbow is a new tool used by researchers and scientists and is a way of visualizing neurons. Bright colors are designated to a certain emotion. When the Brainbow is in use, the brain will fire neurons and the neurons will transmit different colors in order to understand human emotions more easily. I gained a new appreciation for art after reading about the Brainbow because it is evident how critical of a role art plays in scientific fields today.
The most surprising thing I learned from this week’s material is that a sea sponge shares 70% of its genes with humans, including the genes that are related to disease and cancer. Doctors are now studying sea sponges to better understand diseases and cures. I would never have guessed that a sea sponge could be the answer to finding cancer (although probably not).
Works Cited:
Kac, Eduardo. "GFP Bunny" http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor Web.
Uconlineprogram. "5 Bioart Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 May 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg>.
Vesna, Victoria. Narr. "Neuroscience + Art Lectures I-V.” N.p., . web. 5 Nov 2012.
Weissman, Tamily. "Brainbow: Cell Pictures." Cell Picture Show. Cell Picture Show, 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 May 2017.
Willoughby, Leslie. "As Sea Stars Die, New Worries About Urchins." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 15 May 2017. Web. 16 May 2017.
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