Category Archives: Neuroscience

More Awe, Please

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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