Posted in SNAP25, Uncategorized, tagged Art, evolution, Frontal lobe on January 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »
… but you knew that already. Here’s an example of how a phenomenon known as exon shufflin’ can lead to evolutionary diversity (here involving SNAP25‘s exon 5a variant for early brain development while the exon 5b variant is used later in development) . Perhaps we owe our awesome, ahem, “higher” cognitive abilities to this ancient exon duplication … video below notwithstanding.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on December 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on December 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on November 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on August 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, Genetic testing on August 16, 2011| 6 Comments »
Having some fun here learning to visualize data using Processing. Here is a map showing the relative number of genetic testing laboratories. California is listed with the most (35 labs). *Note, these are genetic testing laboratories which may service a wide range of health care providers and clinics.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, helix on May 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in APOE, Hippocampus, tagged aging, Art, Development, Memory on April 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Have you ever suddenly realized, “OMG, I’m just like my dad (or mom)!” Oh, the horror .. the horror. Here’s John Updike from A Month of Sundays:
Also my father, who in space-time occupied a stark room of a rest home an hour distant, which he furnished with a vigorous and Protean suite of senility’s phantoms, was in a genetic dimension unfolding within me, as time advanced, and occupying my body like, as Colette had written to illustrate another phenomenon, a hand being forced into a tight glove.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on April 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, personal ads on April 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on March 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Liking the way their legs are helically intertwined. DNA is everywhere …
photo cred to gildam (nsfw).
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on March 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, DearDiary on February 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, personal ads on February 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on February 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in MAOA, tagged Art, Emotion on February 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on February 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art on December 31, 2010| 1 Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, Yoga and Meditation, tagged Art, Auguste Rodin, Nataraja, Shiva, V.S. Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran on December 26, 2010| 2 Comments »
In the early 1900’s the world-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin was observed at a museum in Madras, India performing various yogic poses as he stood in front of a statue of Nataraja (Shiva performing a cosmic dance – shown here). In fact, Rodin was nearly arrested for performing his strange contortions as the local Indian patrons and the museum guards looked on in horror, at the strange foreign man – who was moved to tears by the statue – deforming himself publicly.
This is the story told by V. S. Ramachandran in chapter 8 of his book, The Tell-Tale Brain. In this chapter, Ramachandran explores the brain systems that underlie our aesthetic experiences – the aesthetic jolt – as experienced by an enraptured Rodin, at the sight of the dancing Shiva. There is much brain science and biology at work here (more posts to come).
For the moment though, just consider how deeply moved was Rodin by Shiva’s physical forms. He wrote a poem, “The Dance of Shiva“ (covered here). A master sculptor, and expert on human anatomy, Rodin’s poem reveals his deep sense of bones and musculature and is even echoed today by yoga instructors who prompt students to remain strong and poised while softening the face and emotions. He declared the dancing Shiva, “the perfect embodiment of rhythmic movement”!
Wow! Who would have thought that one’s ongoing voyage into yoga – often practiced as a slow rhythmic dance of shifting postures – could end up, not just in better physical and mental health, but as a living, breathing form of “high art”! These are my favorite lines:
The human body attained divinity in that age, not because
we were closer to our origins … but because we believed in freeing ourselves completely
from the constraints of now, and we spun away into the
heavens. It is a pleasure sorely missed…
Ramachandran explores the brain circuitry that we use when we feel the ecstasy of an aesthetic jolt – the kind that leaves us “spinning away into the heavens”. Its an ability we all have – to feel free – & I hope I can learn to tap into it. Yoga – with its bizarre and exotic forms – and meditation may provide a means to explore this aspect of life.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, Arts on December 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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