A restless mind is a mind that does not let you think the job is done or close to be done. Doesn't let you feel settled, it's always in search, sometimes of something not so clear but I call it passion when it's clear and not totally blind. Now that I think, I've been thirsty to see that passion in people as long as I can remember, a passionate love between two lovers, a passionate friendship, a passionate work and you know what? I feel excited for what I can see, it's like a a permission to fantasize about life that has a potential to get so ordinary a lot.
All these passions can last if you want them to last, otherwise they become part of your past that no longer their traces exist in your present. A painter cannot be novel if he does not have that passion, so a scientist.
Science cannot be looked as a job, you cannot have that great wish to find, to reach if you haven't been heartily in search. Science is nothing but constant search. I've always been looking for that sense of excitement in scholars whether I was studying in Tehran or here in Rotterdam and I've had higher expectation in here... higher hopes to see professors with passions and not with jobs. Science is certainly not a job.
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
The Scientist
Francis Crick was of two scientists who discovered the structure of the DNA molecule. The cognitive psychologist Vilayanur Ramachandran, a friend and colleague of Crick's, described him the last time they talked only three weeks prior to his death:"I visited him in his home in La Jolla. He was eighty-eight, had terminal cancer, was in pain, and was on chemotherapy; yet he had obviously been working away nonstop on his latest project. His very large desk- occupying half of the room- was covered by articles, correspondence, envelops, recent issues of Nature, a laptop (despite his dislike of computers), and recent books in neuroanatomy. During the whole two hours that I was there, there was no mention of his illness- only a flight of ideas on the neural basis of consciousness..." He was still correcting his last paper on his way to the hospital a few hours before he died, on July 28, 2004.
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Just noticed tomorrow will be the 6-years anniversary of his death!
Saturday, 27 February 2010
A short review
Five months from now and I should be able to finish my study. I cannot believe that it's already been a year and 7 months since I started. I came out of my field and entered this area because I believed, that was a right thing to do and because I believed there was a chemistry this time.
To my simple mind this subject seemed incredibly magnificent and extremely exciting.
After having to get through big and small challenges on my way, now I think this opportunity only has been a door to a starting point.
The diversity of mysteries is countless and it feels like being an immature baby trying to explore a complicated world, being curious is part of the deal, but you don't have the whole package unless you get to learn how to be patient, how to go and how to be that mature baby.
To my simple mind this subject seemed incredibly magnificent and extremely exciting.
After having to get through big and small challenges on my way, now I think this opportunity only has been a door to a starting point.
The diversity of mysteries is countless and it feels like being an immature baby trying to explore a complicated world, being curious is part of the deal, but you don't have the whole package unless you get to learn how to be patient, how to go and how to be that mature baby.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
On decision-making
A behavioral economist Dan Ariely talks on how irrelevant information can have an impact on our choices and how limited our cognitive abilities can be/get.
And here it comes the question of "free" will again.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Does falling in love make us more creative?
...The clever experiments demonstrated that love makes us think differently in that it triggers global processing, which in turn promotes creative thinking and interferes with analytic thinking. Thinking about sex, however, has the opposite effect: it triggers local processing, which in turn promotes analytic thinking and interferes with creativity. Read more
Monday, 11 May 2009
No conclusion- Yet
There has been a big debate over free will for centuries among philosophers and psychologists. Sigmund Freud as a mentalist put the subject in this way: Heredity, environment, instinctive and social factors influence understanding of one's self.
I don't like to think we don't have free will in its genuine term but whether I like it or not I cannot pass by without pondering over some existing realities that challenges free will in its true terms. Our brain chemistry, our history and sex hormones have a strong effect on who we become. Any of these factors could be slightly different and then our present self would turn to some one totally different. We are like products of several prior elements and then at this point we decide to think and believe in this way, act that way and feel as we feel and we think we are free in our choices and I assume it's healthier to have this sense of freedom though.
I came to an article incredibly interesting from Nature Neuroscience titled: "Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain". It was in fact the resource of my main talk in the presentation that I mentioned before. To put it short, in an experiment subjects were asked to press a button and 10 seconds before they become aware or conscious about their own decisions of which button to press, some certain regions in the brain showed activities indicating prediction and storage of the upcoming decision in those areas, this says there is this high-level network that begins to shape an upcoming decision long before the person enters awareness about that. This research is not obviously going to wrap up this old debate to any final conclusion but it's an open door for more questions in the field of hard core science rather than seeking for answers only through the philosophical theories.
I don't like to think we don't have free will in its genuine term but whether I like it or not I cannot pass by without pondering over some existing realities that challenges free will in its true terms. Our brain chemistry, our history and sex hormones have a strong effect on who we become. Any of these factors could be slightly different and then our present self would turn to some one totally different. We are like products of several prior elements and then at this point we decide to think and believe in this way, act that way and feel as we feel and we think we are free in our choices and I assume it's healthier to have this sense of freedom though.
I came to an article incredibly interesting from Nature Neuroscience titled: "Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain". It was in fact the resource of my main talk in the presentation that I mentioned before. To put it short, in an experiment subjects were asked to press a button and 10 seconds before they become aware or conscious about their own decisions of which button to press, some certain regions in the brain showed activities indicating prediction and storage of the upcoming decision in those areas, this says there is this high-level network that begins to shape an upcoming decision long before the person enters awareness about that. This research is not obviously going to wrap up this old debate to any final conclusion but it's an open door for more questions in the field of hard core science rather than seeking for answers only through the philosophical theories.
Friday, 24 April 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Free will (?)
Free will... Is it just an illusion or something that we really have?
This is the subject of my upcoming presentation, I'm wondering if Neuroscience and free will can coexist. Most of the discussions have been based on Psychological outlook so far, I have to find a reliable article to support and take the side of any of these views.
Will write about it later but till then tell me what do you think? ;)
This is the subject of my upcoming presentation, I'm wondering if Neuroscience and free will can coexist. Most of the discussions have been based on Psychological outlook so far, I have to find a reliable article to support and take the side of any of these views.
Will write about it later but till then tell me what do you think? ;)
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Friday, 13 March 2009
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
New Big Bang
Apparently, science gets noticed when it seems frightening otherwise people like to talk about politics preferably and maybe it's because politics IS frightening.
Large Hodron Collider is a device built and located near Geneva, Switzerland and it's expected to answer several crucial questions. Tomorrow is the experiment day at the LHC. Some see the outcomes comparable with Einstein's theory of relativity and some others think tomorrow is their last day as the world will be destroyed!
Large Hodron Collider is a device built and located near Geneva, Switzerland and it's expected to answer several crucial questions. Tomorrow is the experiment day at the LHC. Some see the outcomes comparable with Einstein's theory of relativity and some others think tomorrow is their last day as the world will be destroyed!
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Saturday, 5 April 2008
SandPlast!
I think every one knows this as a fact that plastics do not break down and they stick in the nature. There has been a research that the scientists sampled the sand on beaches and the result shows that one quarter of the sand's component on the shore line is made of plastic!This is the consequence of throwing away litter without thinking of how drastic would be its effect on the marine ecosystem and the environment around people itself... The worst part is that all these plastics allow the accumulation of toxins and concentrate them which stay for generations.
This week in science
Monday, 15 October 2007
Chemiology!
During my study at university, Organic and Quantum Chemistry were the top two of the whole courses that I truly liked. At the time, I thanked God for having to study Pure and not Applied chemistry because of its superb materials. As I hadn't started basic courses in a good state in the first year of my study, I could feel the shadow and the pressure of consequences of that bad start on my shoulders for the remaining years. Although it could not prevent me to enjoy some of those beautiful topics in the last couple of years of my study.Anyways, Organic Chemistry always amazed me the most...I tried to analyze chemical reactions between two molecules and then their characterizations as parts of a compound and also each molecule's elements individually, then the fact that how much they could define the fate of those interactions. I always felt that they all had spirits as if they were humans with all the factors that could interpret a person's behaviors which were built on her/his own specifications and also the environment that s/he lived in.
I know it's the universal rule that leads many facts and living things in life to walk and act in similar ways, but it was just amusing to me. Sometimes, while studying I felt some sympathy for some of those molecules :)...It was like studying sociology in a different level... I will put some real examples in this regard later.
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