EXHIBITIONSSeeing
How does vision work—and do we really see things differently? This exhibit explores how we experience depth, color and motion. It also reveals how the context in which we look at images and items determines what we think we see.
Exploratorium, San Francisco
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Permanent display
415-397-5673
Brainzilla
For an encounter with a mental giant that you will not likely soon forget, consider taking a tour of this gargantuan, interactive model of a human brain.
Explorium of Lexington, Lexington, Ky.
Permanent display
859-258-3253
[break] MEETINGSHot Topics in Humor
The members of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor holding this meeting might prescribe a laugh box rather than a pill bottle for your medicine cabinet. Conference papers will address the latest on how to incorporate laughter and play to improve health and, dare we say, happiness.
Austin, Tex.
Feb. 16–19
512-514-5141
Brain Conference
Scientists from a variety of backgrounds will come together in the Arizona desert to apprise one another of their work in understanding the brain and related systems.
Sedona, Ariz.
March 15–18
352-392-4081
2006 International Conference of the American Creativity Association
Innovators in business, industry, education and the arts aim to foster the use of creative solutions to various problems.
Austin, Tex.
March 22–24
512-223-7074
2006 Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
Presentations will offer new perspectives on human behavior, health and illness as part of this year's theme, “Behavioral Medicine across the Lifespan.” The annual meeting is the largest specifically devoted to behavioral medicine, typically drawing some 1,300 attendees.
San Francisco
March 22–25
414-918-3156
[break] MOVIES/TVA Scanner Darkly
Many addicts of Substance D, a widespread drug in future America, find themselves suffering from split personalities. One of the afflicted is an undercover cop named Fred (Keanu Reeves), whose other self, Bob, is a drug dealer whom Fred sets out to destroy. In animated form, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey, Jr., lend their performances to this film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's cautionary novel about drug use.
Warner Independent Pictures
March 2006
Unconscious
Freudian psychoanalysis is at the heart of this period comedy set in 1913 Barcelona. Alma, married to a psychiatrist, is about to give birth when her husband vanishes. Alma and her brother-in-law search for clues in an analysis of female sexuality and “hysteria” written by her husband. Does Sigmund Freud's arrival in Barcelona have anything to do with her husband's disappearance?
here! Films
Spring 2006
[break] WEB SITES
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/brain
Online exhibit from the Science Museum in Britain that explores aspects of the human brain. Highlights include how the brain developed language, how we store memories and why we have emotions.
Hugo Heyrman, a Belgian artist, aims to explore the connection between art and mind in his Museum of the Mind. The site includes paintings, writing and Net art experiments. It also has interesting links to museums around the world as well as sites that delve into synesthesia, a condition in which sensory input is blended.
Victims of obsessive-compulsive behavior feel as if they have “a case of mental hiccups that won’t go away,” according to the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation. The site describes the many variations of this illness, suggests treatments and offers links to resources.
www.pacsci.org/education/sow/brainpower/onlineexhibits.html
An online permanent exhibit from the Pacific Science Center in Seattle that lets kids of all ages learn about their inner gray matter by investigating how different drugs act on the brain. Explore images of healthy and addicted brains, how drugs keep spiders from spinning successful webs, and more.
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