Science Art Everywhere!

Behold! Your parietal lobe! You can thank this lobe for your ability to slap yourself in the face! You’re welcome!

Because it allows you to know where in space your hand is, where in space your face is, and where they are in relation to each other. Congratulations! If you have parietal lobe issues, you might have issues slapping yourself in the face… among other issues but those are probably not relevant.

More specifically, the parietal lobe is split up into the above sections. First you have the somatosensory cortex

(This post was brought to you by me, figuring out how to “remove background” on an image and abusing this newfound power). So with the hand slapping thing, you will feel both your hand making contact with your face, and your face being slapped, thanks to this doohickey!

The superior and supramarginal cortices are visual, so it guides your movement to, say, pick up a water bottle. And slap yourself in the face, although you can do that with your eyes closed (go ahead, try it). That’s thanks to the posterior cingulate gyrus but we will get there later because it is a LOT. For now we have the friendly, simple

Angular Gyrus, which does what it says. So thinking about your place in space, where you want to go, where you’ve been, which way is north, which way is your house. Boom. Angular Gyrus. The Angular Gyrus and the Supramarginal Gyrus together make up the inferior parietal lobule (sub-lobe)

Now on the OTHER side of the parietal cortex (cut your brain in half, saggitally, to expose this part) (don’t cut, like, YOUR brain in half… couldn’t learn much then, could you) (actually) (we won’t go there). Episodic memory retrieval=who, what, when, where, and emotions of memories.Makes sense this is with visuo-spatial imagery. When you imagine up these memories, you envision the location of these memories and where these memories took place. Self-consciousness is also related to this area (but not exclusively located here. It’s pretty well understood that’s not located in one area but processed throughout the brain. NOW for the REAL doosy

Phew. Look at that. And such a small area. It is primarily known for its role in the Dorsal Stream in visual processing. A lot of its other roles kind of relate to this, as it is also known as the “where” stream. So spacial awareness, movements in space, mental rotation (that skill on IQ tests where they give you the shape and ask you to ID the shape from another angle), mental imagery, manipulation of visual imagery. So your understanding and manipulation of space. Interestingly (possibly connected) math and reading abilities are also highly related to this area. Spatial and non-spatial working memory (temporary memory holding, decision making), response inhibition, and task switching are all related to this area. Which is interesting because they are also all related to the medial prefrontal cortex. Pathway?? (Probably, I haven’t looked into it)

Not labeled here:

Medial Parietal-Pain processing and meditation

Intraparietal Sulcus-Saccadic eye movements, attention, reaching, grasping, tactile manipulation of objects, observing hand movements, passive tool use, object matching and object size and orientation discrimination. (aka REALLY relevant for slapping yourself)

Scientists find mind blowing feathered dinosaur tail suspended in amber

Scientists have discovered a 99-million-year-old fragment of a dinosaur tail suspended in amber.

It’s “a once in a lifetime find,” as paleontologist Ryan McKellar told CNN, because it provides rare insight into the way dinos actually looked.

These are “the first non-avialan theropod fragments preserved in amber.”

he segment is believed to have come from a juvenile dinosaur, possibly a coelurosaurian.

The tail is covered in brown and white feathers, with bones and tissues and even some blood mummified in its amber tomb. Read more

Chemistry Crayons Represent the Hue of Each Chemical Element

Independent boutique Que Interesante prides themselves in creating a union where art and science meet. The artist’s goal is to create an everyday children’s object into an educational and fun experience. She gives each color, its designated chemical element label under the flame test. For example, when lithium undergoes the flame test, it creates a red flame; thus the red crayon is renamed to “Lithium,” the color of an apple.

Instead of naming each crayon after the ordinary colors we have come to learned since childhood, she instills a chemistry experiment, where color theory is far more fun and intelligent. With chemistry expertise and careful attention, she appoints each crayon’s color its appropriate chemical label.

She confesses: “Children play and draw with crayons practically every day, so why not make the experience more educational? This listing is for a set of 48 labels to stick in the crayons in a basic 48 pack of crayons so that while children are coloring, they are also exposed to the names of chemicals that will make those colors! So instead of thinking ‘I want green’ they will think ‘I want Barium Nitrate Ba(NO3)2 Flame’ and then when they take chemistry in high school and their teacher sets some gas on fire and it makes a green color and they ask the class what chemical it was your student will know it was Barium! Genius!”

At Gowanus Canal, Turning Toxic Waste Into Art

New York’s Gowanus Canal is notoriously toxic — full of dangerous chemicals, industrial waste, and yes, poop. It reeks in the summer and lives in the popular imagination as the perfect dumping ground for dead bodies. No plant or animal life can survive in it for long. This tends to inspire two kinds of images: gritty photos of the filth and pollution, and scenic landscapes that try not to dwell too long on the former.

The GIFs above are from this beautiful video (made with footage shot by NASA and ESA using the Cassini spacecraft).  

EYESCAPE BY RANKIN