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Squishy brains
Mar. 20th, 2004 01:37 pmI got to handle a brain the other day. This is perhaps commonplace for some people, but it was the first time I'd done so and thus is fairly noteworthy.
It's weird how things happen on college campuses; there's no way for everyone to be informed of everything that goes on, at least not at a large school like mine, so the only way to find out about cool events that are taking place is to either constantly check the websites of the groups that tend to host such events (provided you even know about them in the first place), or to stumble on random fliers outside your math class. Or recruitment tables on Sproul Plaza, which is how I got involved in my choral group, but that's a different story. In this case the Cognitive Science Students Association had put a flier up in Evans Hall advertising a brain-related event of some sort on Thursday--I don't recall the details, as all I jotted down in my Palm was "squishy brains" and the location, but I do recall having the distinct impression that there would be hands-on participation. And I was right.
There was a lecture first, given by a very animated speaker who evidently was trying to tell us all she possibly could about the nervous system in one hour. I was rather glad that I'd already picked up some of this stuff in my MCB class and some more of it during Academic Decathlon back in high school, because she was covering a lot of ground and didn't have much chance to explain things in detail. It was kind of odd that she spent so much time on things like gross anatomy and other seeming basics, given that she was going on the explicitly stated assumption that most everyone there was a cog sci major; on the other hand, I got great amusement and satisfaction out of the fact that most of the things she skimmed over, saying "well, you're cog sci majors, you all know this already," were things I did know despite not being one. (For example, I'm all too familiar with the name Phineas Gage.)
Then came the brain wrangling, about which I can only say that it was about what I'd expected only not quite...but I can't remember just what about it was different than I'd anticipated. I think I hadn't expected it to be quite as soft as it was, probably because I'd heard repeatedly how the formaldehyde made them firmer, but afterward it seemed as though it should have been obvious that it wouldn't be that firm. I'd also worried that I might be a little squicked by it, but I should've trusted my ability to detach: I wasn't bothered in the least.
And yes, this is the first chance I've had to write about it; it's been a whirlwind week. I've been compensating with a vengeance for my previous loneliness, with six dates in the last seven days (albeit with only five different people). This lecture was in fact one of them, though my date ran for the door during the hands-on portion. It was a good date anyway, on the whole, but come to think of it, this seems to be part of a pattern. I all too often can't think of things to do with people, but when I do think of something to drag someone to, it's invariably something in which I end up participating more than they do. I just hope they're all being sincere when they say they're having a good time even without joining in.
It's weird how things happen on college campuses; there's no way for everyone to be informed of everything that goes on, at least not at a large school like mine, so the only way to find out about cool events that are taking place is to either constantly check the websites of the groups that tend to host such events (provided you even know about them in the first place), or to stumble on random fliers outside your math class. Or recruitment tables on Sproul Plaza, which is how I got involved in my choral group, but that's a different story. In this case the Cognitive Science Students Association had put a flier up in Evans Hall advertising a brain-related event of some sort on Thursday--I don't recall the details, as all I jotted down in my Palm was "squishy brains" and the location, but I do recall having the distinct impression that there would be hands-on participation. And I was right.
There was a lecture first, given by a very animated speaker who evidently was trying to tell us all she possibly could about the nervous system in one hour. I was rather glad that I'd already picked up some of this stuff in my MCB class and some more of it during Academic Decathlon back in high school, because she was covering a lot of ground and didn't have much chance to explain things in detail. It was kind of odd that she spent so much time on things like gross anatomy and other seeming basics, given that she was going on the explicitly stated assumption that most everyone there was a cog sci major; on the other hand, I got great amusement and satisfaction out of the fact that most of the things she skimmed over, saying "well, you're cog sci majors, you all know this already," were things I did know despite not being one. (For example, I'm all too familiar with the name Phineas Gage.)
Then came the brain wrangling, about which I can only say that it was about what I'd expected only not quite...but I can't remember just what about it was different than I'd anticipated. I think I hadn't expected it to be quite as soft as it was, probably because I'd heard repeatedly how the formaldehyde made them firmer, but afterward it seemed as though it should have been obvious that it wouldn't be that firm. I'd also worried that I might be a little squicked by it, but I should've trusted my ability to detach: I wasn't bothered in the least.
And yes, this is the first chance I've had to write about it; it's been a whirlwind week. I've been compensating with a vengeance for my previous loneliness, with six dates in the last seven days (albeit with only five different people). This lecture was in fact one of them, though my date ran for the door during the hands-on portion. It was a good date anyway, on the whole, but come to think of it, this seems to be part of a pattern. I all too often can't think of things to do with people, but when I do think of something to drag someone to, it's invariably something in which I end up participating more than they do. I just hope they're all being sincere when they say they're having a good time even without joining in.
