Skirkanich 1

I am very happy to share that I've been selected for the Skirkanich internship in Network Visualization at the University of Pennsylvania this summer. They are teaming up artists, scientists, high school students and an art teacher (me!) to explore visualizing scientific concepts- especially how the brain and other networks work. The first resource we've been asked to consider is the video above.
I love thinking about the brain. It's such a complex organ that controls everything we do and say. How do we end up being such unique individuals with different ways of thinking? How does creativity work? How is it possible that I can think about how I think??!? I love it. This video shares research about how semantics are stored in the brain. I've heard about there being a "language center" in the brain, but this video seems to refute the idea of language being only in one place. Words and their meanings and related categories are grouped all over the brain. I'd like them to do more study on how foreign language is stored in the brain and how the translations may be grouped. Is mere and maman and annecigim and mom all stuck in one spot in my brain? Is that why I mix up french and turkish and english words all the time? And why do I feel a throbbing or strain in my left temple area when I'm trying to think of a word? Or why do the words breakfast, lunch, and dinner seem interchangeable when they come out of my mouth? How do the words get from auditory processing to understanding to saying? Could there be too many connections?
I like how in this video they used color to help map out categories of words and where they lived in the brain. I also found it interesting how they kept changing the way the brain was represented- sometimes showing all the wrinkles, sometimes butterflying it out, playing with 2D and 3D versions.

I expect I will continue to post more about my experiences as I go through the internship- as long as I'm allowed to share openly.