SciArt Magazine Volume 22
February 2017
Table of Contents

Cover image: "Grand Theft Fall" by Carter Hodgkin.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Picture
By Megan Llewellyn, Illustrator-in-Residence
Letter from the Editor

Dear readers,

How can we improve education, who can revitalize abstract painting, where is neuroscience headed, and what do we have to gain (or lose?) from our increasingly intricate relationship with technology in this 21 century? These are some of the questions we explore this February, our first issue of 2017.

Our out–loud recognition that it is, indeed, the 21st century, is increasing in frequency. Questioning both where we are and where are we headed, this emphasis on when we are arises from fear and frustration, but also hope and excitement. The 21st century carries the promise of progress while being stuck in the past (we can land a man on the Moon, but we can’t do x?!). Our dreams for ourselves continue to outmatch our current capabilities, because that is the nature of the arts, sciences, and technology—to dream beyond our means to ensure we get there.

We’ve been in this century for nearly two decades—but really, we’re only about a fifth of the way through. We’ve begun to answer some of our questions, and have made great headway on others. In many ways, the future is already here, its just not very evenly distributed (as William Gibson would say). And a bit of that future is here, in our pages. 

Sincerely,
Julia Buntaine | Founder, Editor-in-Chief

ON TOPIC
The Art of Science Learning

Every science student dreams of becoming a great scientist. During a tedious chemistry lecture, our wandering minds fill with visions of amazing discoveries, great inventions, solutions to humanity’s ills. The fantasy follows an inevitable chain of events—peer recognition, public fame, and then, of course, the Nobel. Time passes, however, and our academic pursuits seem at odds with these lofty fantasies...

SPOTLIGHT
Joshua Sariñana's "Prosopagnosia"

Using the circular frame, I telescope back in time to reconcile distinct representations of past and present self. These images were captured during the struggles of early adulthood, highlighting moments of love, wonder, and isolation. As a neuroscientist, I know that memories are inaccurate. Whenever a memory is recalled it is changed. Brain regions become reactivated when a meaningful cue (e.g., the smell of a loved one’s T–shirt, a melancholy song, a picture of a childhood friend) presents itself...

STRAIGHT TALK
Colliding particles with Carter Hodgkin

After art school in the late 70s, I lived in San Francisco. I was focused on painting and had no special interest in science or technology. But I was exposed to computer programming and digital imaging emerging from Silicon Valley and was impressed by the idea of encoding images into bits and bytes...

STRAIGHT TALK
Neuroaesthetics with Dr. Anjan Chatterjee

I have always been interested in aesthetic experiences. As a boy, I sketched frequently. In college, despite majoring in philosophy and being enrolled in a pre–med curriculum, I took drawing, sculpture, and printmaking classes. Later, after the aesthetic hiatus of medical school and residency, I became obsessed with photography...

FROM THE LIBRARY
Reductionism in Art & Brain Science

Like a once–perfect couple drifting apart, art and science are still trying to speak to one another in new ways. As two of the more prominent fractions of the intellectual whole, this pair has received some of the most ardent and impassioned attempts at reconnection: from C.P. Snow’s “third culture” to E.O. Wilson’s plea for “consilience” between the humanities and sciences, the quest to unify is always accompanied by the promise of a great intellectual flourishing thereafter...

SPOTLIGHT
Margaret Inga Urías' "Return to Me"

“Employing the forgotten past to explore the delicacy of existence and consequence, the works I make—including engraved sculptures, installations, large–scale murals, constructed photographs, and works on paper—tell the story of the evanescent and invisible, over vast expanses of time and space...

DISCUSSION
A review of Black Mirror

It goes without saying that Black Mirror is a show about the effects of new technology on society. From the very first episode—“The National Anthem,” which depicts a Prime Minister being forced into committing sexual intercourse with a pig in order to safeguard the release of the U.K. princess taken hostage—to the very latest episode released late last year—where social media empowers an intricate, autonomous system of murder which kills the most hated people on the Internet—the show depicts alternative (or, perhaps, entirely possible) varieties of the future...
Founder, Editor in Chief: Julia Buntaine
Contributing & Guest Writers: Joe Ferguson, Joshua Sarinana, Richard Bright, Noah Hutton, Margaret Urias, Neel V. Patel

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