Author: Emily Sanborn

In our 402 class our fifth blog post was on nicotine and how different behavior can potentially be a predictor to who becomes addicted to smoking. When people think of the French culture cigarettes come into mind, and there is the paradox of the French diet – how they seem to smoke so many cigarettes but do not have as many adverse health effects. An Ipsos survey in 2013 showed as well that around one million French people regularly use e-cigarettes (The local, 2017). And, although there are laws against smoking in public they are not heavily enforced, and many people smoke on the streets. Due to this prevalence of smoking ingrained in the culture we took a class trip to Le Musee de Fumeur.

Continue reading “Smoking as a Cognitive Enhancer”

One Friday we woke up early and went to two chateaus in the Loire Valley – Ambroise and Chenonceau. Both of the chateaus were beautiful, but what struck me most were the gardens surrounding the chateau de Chenonceau. There were multiple perfectly kept gardens with tons of flowers, as well as a hedge maze and intricate paths in the forest surrounding the chateau. I have noticed that to all the monuments we visited, like Versailles, there is some elaborate garden or outdoor feature. There are current neuroscience studies showing that being around plants and spending time outside make people feel happier. Perhaps this was understood even back when the chateaus were being made, and that’s why they all have elaborate and beautiful gardens.

Our very first field trip was to the Veterinarian School. There we went to the Musee Fragonard, which was on the campus of the school. In the museum there was a large historic collection of animal models that were all hand painted. Every detail of animal anatomy had to be made and were used to teach future vets as there were no photos or other ways to teach. In the museum there were also all documented diseases an animal could get. One in particular was a disorder called cyclopia which resulted in the animal only developing one eye. The genetic disorder impacts brain growth and there are other neural deficiencies seen in these animals. It was interesting to me knowing back then they didn’t have the technology to figure out the mechanics of how a disorder was impacting the body, but they didn’t need that knowledge to figure out how it was created.

While in Paris I think we were living in one of the best neighborhoods. It was quiet without too many tourists with good places to get food nearby, but my favorite part was that it was only about 1.5 miles from the Eiffel tour. Because it was so close me and Genevieve took advantage and would go on runs to the tower. Every time we ran there we would always stop and admire the tower because of its grandiosity. Even though we ran to the tower multiple times we still haven’t gone to the top! My last day I will plan a final trip to the tower. I will miss being able to run there because it always made my day – seeing something so grand on top of the running endorphins elevated my mood, and made the stress of all our work decrease.

In our first full week of Paris one of the first few excursions we took was to a cemetery: Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. The cemetery was massive, and had many famous people buried there, including one of my favorite playwrights Oscar Wilde. After wandering around the cemetery we went on a hunt to find his grave. Looking at it made me think about how he’s influenced my taste in plays and literature, and I reflected on one of his famous quotes is “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”. In Neuroethics we discussed what it truly means to be yourself and whether the human identity is based solely on the brain, or other factors such as culture, people’s perception, and memory. One case we talked about was the potential of having a head transplant surgery – in which case you really can become someone else!