Category Archives: Exhibits

BNA 2013: FESTIVAL OF NEUROSCIENCE & PUBLIC PROGRAM

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The British Neuroscience Association’s (BNAs) Neuroscience festival is being held April 7-10 2013, right at the heart of London at the wonderful Barbican centre. This will be a unique event – this is the first Neuroscience festival engaging both with scientists and the public.

The Wellcome Trust and Barbican have teamed up and will be programming an array of exciting events for the public, “Wonder: Art and Science On the Brain”, to take place in the run up and alongside the Festival of Neuroscience.

“Wonder brings together the Barbican and the Wellcome Trust for the first time. These two cutting-edge organisations from art and science combine to create a rich season of events that explore, and are inspired by, the human brain.” – Barbican website 

Highlights include a music inspired performance lecture by Marcus du Sautoy; Ruby Wax giving a personal insight into her journey from the heights of fame to depression; a film season exploring mental health on the big screen; Salon a Parisian theatrical 19th century styled event that allows you to debate the big topics of 21st century; a hands-on interactive neuroscience Street Fair – and a feast of other events that invite you to think, to explore and to wonder. Continue reading →

Death: A self-portrait. Exhibit at the Wellcome Collection opens today.

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The new winter exhibit at the Wellcome Collection opened today. Assembled by Richard Harris and curated by Kate Forde,  Death: A self-portrait has on display ~300 works that, together, aim to illustrate the “iconography of death and our complex and contradictory attitudes towards it”. Continue reading →

Lessons from Leonardo: What makes a great scientist great?

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In the normal course of events many men and women are born with various remarkable qualities and talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvelously endowed by heaven with beauty, grace, and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired,and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human art. — Giorgio Vasari. Lives of the Painters,Sculptors and Architects, 1568

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an artist, architect, engineer and scientist. But today, he is best known for his sculptures and paintings – the Mona Lisa alone averages 15,000 visitors a day, most of whom have traveled a long distance to take a snapshot of the world-famous masterpiece. However, the exhibit of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings at the Royal Collection portrays Leonardo above all as a scientist, at least in the second half of his life – with painting placed largely to the side. More importantly, this exhibit shows that the scientific methods of deduction and experimentation employed by Leonardo remain applicable today. Continue reading →

Wellcome Image Awards 2012

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Every year since 2000, the Wellcome Trust has celebrated “the creators of the most informative, striking and technically excellent images” that the Wellcome Images picture library has acquired along the way.

The winners of the 12th Wellcome Image Awards were announced five days ago. This year, winners have used techniques ranging from medical photography to electron microscopy and have encompassed a wide range of areas across medicine and the life sciences. Continue to photos

Neuroculture: cultivating our gardens and shaping the arts

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“Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain” – Cajal, 1923

Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852 –1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist and histologist. Voltaire (1694–1778) was a French Enlightment writer, historian and philosopher. Pablo Garcia-Lopez (1977-current) is a neuroscientist and an artist. His work as an artist exemplifies the rising influence of neuroscience in popular culture.

So what is the link between these three men?

Continue reading →

“The mechanics of memory” – Lecture in London 30/05/2012

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How does the brain store and recall memories? What molecular mechanisms enable the storage of memory? What underpins the learning process? Continue reading →

A bit of ‘brainistory’ & exhibit review – “Brains: The mind as matter” @ The Wellcome Collection

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‘Brains’ asks not what brains do to us, but what we have done to brains, focusing on the bodily presence of the organ rather than investigating the neuroscience of the mind.

This is the aim of the new exhibit, Brains: The mind as matter, at the Wellcome Collection. I found this quite a refreshing approach after the five years I have spent questioning the brain’s effect on us.

The curators have brought together a variety of perspectives, genres and media to capture the brain both in respect to medicine and as a cultural object. 150 artifacts surrounding the theme of the brain are brought together and displayed in four sections:  Continue reading →

Biology CAN be fun, I promise!!

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The independent charity, the Wellcome Trust, was set up in 1936 in the aim of funding and improving health and public awareness of medicine and biology. They are the second largest private funding body in the field of medical research (second to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

The Wellcome Trust funds research, promotes the publishing of articles and encourages the existence of public databases for the storage and distribution of information. What I find most inspiring though, is the dedication to promoting public awareness of biology research and medical endeavors. The Wellcome Trust hosts a variety of exhibits at the Wellcome Collection opposite Euston in London – the exhibits are free and open to all.

The permanent collection, Medicine Now, combines art with medicine and art and is divided into five sections: The Body, Genomes, Malaria, Obesity and Living With Medical Science. Continue reading →