Category Archives: Neuroscience

More Awe, Please

Posted on December 27, 2013 by cicada

Last year I posted this essay on the awe-inducing power of murmurations, in which I mused on the relationship between awe and fear: When I’m lucky enough to witness dramatic natural phenomena (or even something as quotidian as an undiluted, … Continue reading →

Posted in Awe, Data Visualization, Neuroscience, Yikes! | Comments Off

Weekend Mappy Links: Ancient Landscapes, A Map Library Speakeasy, Forensic Topology, Mapping Disasters, Cymatics

Posted on September 21, 2013 by cicada

An expert on mapping ancient landscapes explains why Big Oil is his biggest customer, among other things. (interview at BLDGBLOG) For bibliophiles: a ton of photos from a visit to the Prelinger Library (AKA the “speakeasy of [map] libraries”). (by … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Data Visualization, Ephemera, Film, Video & Music, Maps, Neuroscience | Comments Off

A Murmuration of Cheese Balls: when nature enters the Uncanny Valley

Posted on August 19, 2012 by cicada

Murmuration, in addition to being a perfectly lovely word, also captures one of the most wonderful phenomena one can encounter in nature. Behold, one of the loveliest viral videos of recent years: Did you get goosebumps? Thomas Jackson’s series “Emergent … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Ephemera, Film, Video & Music, Neuroscience, Science, Web 2.0, New Media, and Gadgets, Wonder Cabinets, Yikes! | Comments Off

What neuroscience tells us about creativity

Posted on March 19, 2012 by cicada

A preview of Jonah Lehrer’s new book on creativity, Imagine: What do you think? I haven’t yet read it, but Lehrer is always an engaging writer; I’m sure it’s both entertaining and literate. My only concern is a general one: … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Books, Neuroscience, Science, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

What “science as science” can offer us – or not

Posted on February 18, 2012 by cicada

This fascinating essay by Marilynne Robinson, “Reclaiming a Sense of the Sacred,” is a thoughtful and insightful piece of writing. But unfortunately, as noted by my friend Jacob, it completely fails to distinguish science from scientism (or, I would hasten … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Littademia, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy, Words | Comments Off

Metaphors of Neurobiology: A neuroscientist-artist explains his work

Posted on February 11, 2012 by cicada

Required reading: this essay by Pablo Garcia-Lopez on the interaction between neuroscience and the arts: My work as an artist is directly inspired by my experience as a neuroscientist. I completed my PhD in conjunction with the Museum Cajal, working … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists & Art, Biology, Medical Illustration and History, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off

SF/F as a lens for looking at the law

Posted on November 1, 2011 by cicada

As Arthur C. Clarke once put it, technology is — at some sufficiently advanced tipping point — “indistinguishable from magic”.  An interesting question that follows from that realization is this: how big a difference is there, really, between the law … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Film, Video & Music, Gender Issues, Littademia, Neuroscience, Science in culture & policy | Comments Off