"Ever Changing Brain " Humanities Senimar University of Arizona - 6 sessions

Some of our snow bird friends recommended seminars here in Tucson at the University of Arizona.  This seminar, the Ever Changing Brain was completely booked in 1 hour.  Registration began on Nov 23 and I signed in at 7pm on Nov 23 only to find that registration was closed.  Silly me.  I forgot this demographic would call, not sign up on line.  Still I took a chance to email if there was a waiting list.  So did about 100 other people.  Luckily, the professor had an open Wed morning and agreed to schedule a second class.  We left Kenosha Jan 21 so we could get here for the first class on Jan 27.

Sunny day but still only 40 degrees.  The campus is lovely. This is the parking garage located across from the Humanities Classroom

Here's our classroom.  Not to worry.  It fills up.  We always arrive early to get a good seat although the front and side screen are very large and easy to see. Class starts at 10 and finishes at 12.

We have a syllabus with recommended articles to read and 2 books. Last class is March 2.

“Rethinking the brain: How the songs of canaries upset a fundamental principle of science,” by Michael Specter. The New Yorker, July 23, 2001. Available at https://www.msu.edu/course/psy/401/Readings/WK6.Supplement%20- %20New%20Yorker%20Article.pdf . 

 “The challenge of connecting the dots in the B.R.A.I.N,” by Devor et al. Neuron, Vol. 80, pp. 270-274, October 16, 2013. Available at http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0896627313008064/1-s2.0-

The 2 books are wonderful - and encouraging.  There are so many new advancements in how the brain works.  

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind, by V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D., and Sandra Blakeslee. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. 

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, by Norman Doidge, M.D. Penguin Books, 2007.

After lunch at Panda Express we caught the 1:35 showing of Spotlight, about the newspaper The Boston Globe's investigative reporting on child molestation by priests.   Very sobering and disturbing, but reassuring that the issue was finally brought into open and criminal behavior is no longer covered up.