Science as a human endeavorScientific training makes it clear that science is bigger and more important than the scientist(s) doing the work of science. Scientific discourse is in the third person and is devoid of emotion. This is understandable – the pursuit of the sciences requires (and trains) a mind that needs to deeply focus on a single problem to the exclusion of all else. However, in popular culture, this has led to the archetype of a scientist as a socially inept “lonely genius”.
Despite depictions of scientists as lonely, the “doing” of (applied) science is a group process consisting of an ecosystem of students, technicians, administrative support staff, mentors, mentees, janitorial services, cleaning personnel, administrators, animal, and vet techs. Science is not done in a silo, and the scientific ecosystem includes universities, funding agencies, and administrators. What are some ways in which you have experienced the human side of science?
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Failure highlights the humanistic aspect of the sciences and the artsContinuing the humanistic explorations of science, we looked at the role of gurus and institutions of higher learning in both disciplines. Another commonality between the sciences and the arts is failure. Indeed, failure is an inherent part of science and takes its toll on scientists. That said, outside of quotes by Thomas Edison on the importance of trying and failing, scientists are not expected to talk about failure. While scientists know that negative results are also meaningful and help push the field forward, they are rarely published as they are seen as failures [1]. This lack of reporting of negative results often leads to publication bias [2], impacting the field and scientific inquiry at large. The lack of avenues to report negative findings has also led to a lack of appreciation of ambiguity in science, enabling (unwittingly so) the failure of non-scientists to appreciate scientific ambiguity, giving the impression that all of science “works” perfectly all the time. Scientists face professional failures as well, including (contrived?) scarcity of the academic world, a toxic lab environment, the advisor’s funding running out, simply not having the aptitude for the field of work, and above all, imposter syndrome. Moving out of the academic world is considered a failure too – not moving on to an academic career of one’s own, going into the private sector - is looked down upon. How can we embrace failure in the scientific endeavor and highlight its humanity? Literature cited:
Excited to start as a Board Member of National Organization for Arts in HealthI'm excited to announce that I have joined the board of directors at the National Organization for Arts in Health! Learn more about the board at https://thenoah.net/board-members-staff/ NOAH is dedicated to uniting and advancing the field of arts in health as an integral component to health and wellbeing. Its members include artists, creative and expressive arts therapists, architects and designers, representatives of creative and cultural agencies, educators, administrators, doctors, nurses, and others working in medical care, medical education, and public health. NOAH is shaping a reality where the arts are fully incorporated into medical treatment, medical education, prevention, and public health and wellbeing. Learn more about our mission at https://thenoah.net. A study of movement: Science and Dance at the 6th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and ExpoAs the narrator (Sutradhar) for the 6th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo held in Ahmedabad in Dec 2023, I helped weave the dance that students of Nritya Kala Kendra did, with science. In this video, I talk about movement, and how the study of Bharatanatyam can be considered a neuroscientific study of movement. I also introduce the piece - Thillana in the ragam (melody) Behag. The transcript can be found under the video and in the close captions in the video. Transcript:
The third piece that students Nritya Kala Kendra are going to be presenting for us today is a Thillana. it is a piece that's literally a study of movement. As we know in Bharatanatyam, we have very soft subtle movements that are only (for example), of our eyes, to those are of that are movements of our eyes and the neck, to really big sweeping movements. And we'll see a variety of movements in the thillana. There's going to be a lot of poses as well, and this is an occasion for us to think of how the brain (first of all, how the brain) perceives the difference between movement and stillness as an audience or as a spectator, as well as how the brain makes movement and stillness possible. There is a new branch (or maybe a not so new branch) of neuroscience which is called neuroaesthetics, and neuroesthetics is really a field that aims to think about why we find certain works of art (whether it's visual art, performance art, arts of all kind); why we find it beautiful, and really what is happening in the brain that leads to this perception of beauty. We mentioned different kinds of movements in thillana, and in dance in general, and it is interesting to think about how the brain creates movement. While it is a topic of great discussion and study amongst the scientific community, we do know that a part of of the brain called the motor cortex is responsible for movement. The cortex is the outermost layer of our brains, and the motor cortex as the name suggests is something that is critical for movement. There are parts of the brain (again speaking to the specificity of different parts of the brain), there are parts of the motor cortex too that are responsible for initiation of movement, for planning of movement, as well as terminating the movement. So something that might appear so simple to us, for for example even taking (or) picking up a glass of water - a movement as simple as that has a lot of things that are happening in the brain to make that movement possible. This thillana is in the Ragam (or melody) Behag, and is in the talam Aadi. It has been composed - the words and the dance - have been composed by our Guru Smt. Maheshwari Nagarajan, and this is an ode to Sadguru Gyananada who is again the beacon of light and knowledge. Hastas and Mudras at the 6th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and ExpoAs the narrator (Sutradhar) for the 6th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo held in Ahmedabad in Dec 2023, I helped weave the dance that students of Nritya Kala Kendra did, with science. In this video, In this video, I talk about symbols and semiology, and talk about how the brain makes sense of (seemingly random) symbols. I link it to the hastas in Bharatanatyam. I also introduce the piece - Tridevi Stuti, where students will be praying or will be dancing to three goddesses - Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, and Goddess Durga. The transcript can be found under the video and in the close captions in the video. "Transcript:
We talked about the years and years that go into studying dance and science, and in these years, we are really learning the different elements of both science and dance in dance. We study different steps, we study rhythm (or talam), we look at emotions, gestures etc., and in this the piece that our students are going to perform next, I wonder if we can look and think a little bit about the gestures that we are using. Bharatanatyam students are familiar with a book called the Abhinaya Darpana which is literally translated or described as a "mirror of gestures". And one of the things that always (to this date after decades of studying Bharatanatyam) really stands out to me is how relevant Bharatanatyam is even in today's time. You know, one might wonder this is a 2,000 year old art form; what more is there to do, and hasn't everything that could be done, could be created? Hasn't that already been done? But we also know that that's not the case. And I think that's another point of commonality between the arts and the sciences where there's always more to study, there's always more to explore. Coming back to gestures, as you know, as students of Bharatanatyam, we use our hands to tell tell stories. And these stories or these gestures are called 'hastas" or "mudras" in our tradition. And we can think of them as symbols. I remember growing up in Ahmedabad, and one of my earliest memories was I hadn't yet learned how to read but I was going through a book and I was looking at these words and I was just fascinated by the shape of the words. This really led to my love for words, and thinking about how these seemingly random shapes on a piece of paper tell us something, that there's a story to be told, there's a narrative. In a similar way these hastas are giving us a narrative and and there's meaning in each of these gestures. In Bharatanatyam, we have gestures for animals for example, this is a peacock, a deer, a bird. We also have gestures for various deities. While this gesture is used to show a flute, we also know that it is used to show Krishna who is seen with a flute. A peacock, while it is can be used to show peacock (the bird), it can also be used to show Lord Kartikeya, whose vehicle is a peacock. So how does the brain make sense of these symbols around us? While in dance we have a very systematic way of thinking about the symbols, still there are symbols all around us at all times. One might think of the the Giant "M" of McDonald's and how when we see that that symbol (that icon), we know that there's a McDonald's near us. So how does the brain know what these things are, and how does the brain know how to make sense of these these symbols? When we think of reading (looking at reading or how children learn how to read or how as adults we learn to read a new language), it is a great way to understand how the brain makes sense of symbols. And studies done using MRI scans have shown the involvement of a very specific part of the brain called the ventral occipototemporal cortex - this is a part of the brain that's located in our temporal cortex (somewhere towards the back), and what scientists found using MRI scan is that as we there was also a gradient; so there was also a change with the involvement of this part of the brain (that) happened as people were learning and once they had already recognized what these symbols meant. And this gradient was that there was more activity towards the the the back portion of of this brain region, and as folks learned a particular symbol there was more activity towards the frontal part of the brain. And so even in this very specific example we can see how there's specificity in the parts of the or the part of the brain that is involved. In the piece that our students are going to do next I wonder if we can take a look at the gestures they're going to be using. This piece is called a Tridevi Stuti and students will be praying or will be dancing to three goddesses - Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, and Goddess Durga. As we know Goddess Lakshmi is the symbol or she is the goddess of wealth of good fortune of prosperity. Goddess Saraswati who's shown in a white sari, she is a symbol of knowledge and somebody who dispels darkness and ignorance and ego. Goddess Durga is symbolizing courage and feminine strength. This piece has also been sung by Sri Jayan Nair. The ragam - there are various ragams used - it is Ragamalika (or a garland of ragams), and the talam is Aadi. I hope you enjoy! |
About SlokaMy name is Sloka. I am a neuroscientist and Bharatanatyam dancer; you can find more about me here. Archives
February 2024
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