Friday, December 4, 2009

Brain Slices


As I write this, you can watch live streaming video of a frozen brain being sliced into sections for study at the Brain Observatory at the University of California, San Diego. The brain belongs to a man who lost his short-term memory after an operation to help his seizures.

From CNN:

A camera is taking a picture of each individual slice, and these pictures will also be made available on the Web. The goals are to map the human brain in new ways and correlate individual structures with specific functions such as memory.


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Nature Art -- Big and Small



I finally got the chance to interview (via email) local nature writer/illustrator Carol Coogan. Read "How to Get Your Kids Out Drawing Nature" on GeekDad.

And The Micropolitan Museum of Microscopic Art Forms is a website featuring images of teeny tiny organisms. Here's their description:
For several centuries artists have depicted the human figure, still-lives, landscapes or non-figurative motifs. One subject has been widely neglected all those years: Micro-organisms!

The Micropolitan Museum finally exhibits these often overlooked works of art which are only visible with the aid of the microscope. Curator Wim van Egmond has collected the finest microscopic masterpieces nature has ever produced during eons of natural selection.
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