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Early last week, we visited a fromagerie as a class. Cheese shops can be seen all around Paris, but I had never been in one until this class visit. I had always thought of myself as a big fan of cheese for most of my life. Whenever I need a snack, I always eat swiss cheese and crackers or slices of cheddar. However, I had never tried any other types of cheese besides american, feta, cheddar, and swiss. I mistakenly assumed that this meant I would like most other types of cheese as well. When we got to the fromagerie, we went under the store into an area where they had different cheese samples ready for us to try.

Continue reading “A Cheesy Visit”

Do you remember Spongebob and his ‘Magic conch shell”, where Spongebob pulls a string and the “Magic conch shell” could answer all the questions he has? Do you want to have an all-knowing “Magic conch shell” that could help you make decisions? In one of our class visit, we went to the History of Medicine Museum in one of the medical schools in Paris and there was also a conch shell ear trumpet in the museum. However, the conch shell ear trumpet was not a magic all-knowing shell. Instead, it was a hearing aid that people used in late 19^th to early 20^th century.

Me standing in front of the eye ball models

Continue reading “Listening through the roar of the ocean”

Last Saturday, I visited Château de Versailles. It is supposed to be the most beautiful place in the whole world (Keith Easterling, personal communication, June 1, 2018).

At first, I certainly did not think that it was the most beautiful place, and it was not exactly what I expected. I did not look up photos of Versailles before visiting, so I had an unrealistic expectation. I have always had this picture in my head of what a royal palace should look like. I anticipated that, after I got off the train, I will spot a gold mansion across the meadow, under the sun, shining. But when I arrived at Versailles, it was cloudy, and the palace did not look very big to me at first sight.

Continue reading “Château de Versailles”

Reminiscent of middle school dances, Emily and I were pumped to see MIKA in concert. When he started singing Grace Kelly, it was hard not to be emotional, especially when Dr. Rommelfanger started dancing with us. We all have experienced music-provoked emotion, but why is that? Why do we feel instantly rewarded when a song we like comes on? Why did Emily start smiling and dancing when MIKA played Emeli Danse? Per usual, neuroscientists have the answer.

In 2005, two researchers investigated the reward components of music listening. They used fMRI to track the brain activity of people listening to 23 seconds of music or 23 seconds of scrambled music clips (Menon and Levitin, 2005). They found that during the music clips, participants’ brains were highly active in areas involved in reward processing, notably the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the hypothalamus (Menon and Levitin, 2005). Specifically, they found that interactions between the NAc and the hypothalamus were VTA-mediated, suggesting a strong connectivity between these areas while participants listened to music. No such connectivity was found when participants listened to the scrambled music clips…bad news for bad singers. Something else I found interesting was that they found affective connectivity between the NAc and the OFC and IFC, pathways involved in autonomic, somatic and emotional functions (Craig, 2002). Perhaps this explains why we just can’t resist dancing (or crying) when certain songs come on. Continue reading “Reward of MIKA <3”

Last Saturday Genevieve, Gabi, and I decided to explore more of the city, and embrace the Parisian lifestyle. In the late morning we walked to the local patisserie and fromagerie to pick up cheese and baguettes for a picnic. We did a quick google search for a new park to explore, and were on our way to Champs-Elysees Garden. After strolling around the park and eating our lunch we decided to check out the two museums: the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.

At the Grand Palais the exhibit Artists and Robots was being displayed. The whole theme of the museum was centered around how art and technology are intertwined. At the entrance to the exhibit there are a few questions posed that I reflected on as I walked through the museum.

The Questions:

1. What can a robot do that an artist cannot?
2. If it has an artificial intelligence, does a robot have an imagination?
3. What is a work of art?

Continue reading “Robot Art Connection”

As I sat in my assigned seat at the Stade de France to watch a game of Rugby, I noticed the excitement and uproar of the crowd. I had never seen a Rugby game before, but I was intrigued by all the thrill (see figure 1). The game began, and I immediately started to question people’s reactions to the players getting bumped, hit and basically “knocked-out.” As soon as a player had the ball, he ran until he was tackled. Numerous studies have isolated the effects of contact sports on the brain, and how repeated bumps to the head and concussions can lead to neurodegenerative disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalography (CTE) and dementia (Perrine, 2017). The neuroscientist in me wondered why people enjoyed and cheered to this brutality.

Figure 1. Me and Emily at Stade de France watching the rugby game

Continue reading “Does something in us enjoy violence?”

When I told my dad I was going to a rugby game as a class field trip, he replied by saying “Rugby is a barbaric game played by gentlemen. Football is a gentlemen’s game played by barbarians.” Having had the chance to see both games live as well as having lived in America for 21 years and amongst the Parisians for a little over two weeks, I completely agree. For 80 minutes we watched gentlemen run around the field tackling each other with full force, in order to get possession of the ball. Not ten minutes went by when the medics were not called to the field to assess a player’s injury, whether it was a torn ear, broken nose, or a particularly strong blow to the head. Surprisingly, none of the athletes were taken off the field to recover, they all decided to play through the pain.

Continue reading “The Risks and Benefits of Rugby”

On June 2, we attended a rugby match, which was the Finale du Top 14. The atmosphere was electric and so many people came out to support their favorite team. While enjoying the fast-paced game and the zeal of the French crowd in the stadium, we completed our assignment of tracking a selected player’s head impacts throughout the game. The idea was to examine the danger of high-level rugby compared to sports with which we were more familiar with in the United States.

Continue reading “Rugby: A Concussion Discussion”

I am constantly surprised by the culture and am humbled by how much I do not know. Stepping into a culture I know nothing about, I have found it fascinating to track the similarities and differences I see between different people. Even though I do not know any French and still have much to learn about the history, culture, and politics of Paris, I have appreciated finding common threads between both what I have experienced and from what I am learning by taking in a new city.

In this way, I find medicine and history fascinating because it tells a story of how many cultures have impacted medicine in different ways yet have collaborated and learned from each other to contribute to the progression of humanity. Walking into the Musee d’Histoire de la Medicine, I was excited to integrate my interest in both history and medicine. I personally am really passionate about pursuing a neuroscience degree; however, I truly enjoy branching out to other disciplines that broaden both my knowledge and appreciation for research within different subjects.

Continue reading “Integrating History and Neuroscience”

This week my Neuroscience class visited the Museum on the History of Medicine. The experience was extraordinary– I learned how medical techniques have transformed over the course of human history. Each technological evolution explored the human body in a novel way and challenged our understanding of physiology and disease.

Some parts of the exhibit were grotesque- replete with bone saws, human tables, and blunt skull drills. Others were awe-inspiring in how surgeons had found unique ways to battle different kinds of diseases and afflictions. One device that had captivated our entire class was an electric shocking device from the late 1800’s. The device would deliver an electric current to patients with depression. As our guide explained the nature of the invention, an almost audible gasp came from our class. We had all read about the medical torture that the mentally ill had gone through in the last few centuries. For many in our class, this device embodied the poor medical understanding medicine has had of mental disease. I, on the other hand, was shocked at how right the inventors of this device had been.

Continue reading “Shocking Psychiatry”