The Making of a Neurocomic

The brain is an amazing organ, with rich settings and intriguing characters. It lends itself nicely to metaphors. Unfortunately, there is little room for metaphor in scientific papers.

In this video, you can follow artist Matteo Farinella and neuroscientist Hana Ros of University College London as they collaborate to create a graphic novel called Neurocomic.

This scientific fantasy is about a hapless character who is sucked into a human brain where he encounters bizarre creatures and famous neuroscientists.

Their objective is to introduce the neurochemical workings of the brain to a wider audience, so entertainment, storytelling and clever metaphors are just as important to the enterprise as the science.

(via The Guardian)

Studio 360: So You Think You're Creative?

Host of NPR's Studio 360, Kurt Anderson, talks with professor and author Gary Marcus (Guitar Zero) about what science tells us about creativity. A researcher shoves jazz musicians into an fMRI machines and has them improvise; an intrepid reporter gets her creativity tested and scored; and a little girl introduces us to her imaginary friends (all of them).

Original broadcast: Friday, November 23, 2012 | LINK to program page

peterdurand

Peter Durand is an artist, educator & visual facilitator based in Houston, Texas.

He is the founder of Alphachimp LLC, a visual facilitation company that helps clients understand and communicate complex systems visually. He is a leader in graphic facilitation and a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.