Trip to the Lab

Last weekend, the Image Culture class visited a neuroscience lab. Why, you may ask, are a group of educators and future arts managers touring such a facility? Well, for these researchers images play a very large part in their studies and help them solve the mysteries of the brain. By touring this facility, we were able to glimpse a different way that images influence what many define as a world functioning on the opposite end of the spectrum from the one we inhibit.

After arriving uptown, the class was ushered into a room where we were given an enthusiastic overview of our host Dan Stettler’s research. While the mapping of neurological olfactory responses in mice went right over my head, I did enjoy his discussion of the importance of gathering aesthetically pleasing images for the purpose of publication and how that can lead to greater funding. The resulting images of the studies also impressed me with their abstract beauty.

Following this talk, we descended to a lab in which the research is conducted. I found it thrilling be in the real inner workings of the lab instead of a in a visitor intended environment.

The tour of the equipment was interesting. I was struck by the cleanliness of the lab. Yet clutter still existed, which reassured me of the humanity of the researchers.

Following the tour, we returned to Dan’s office where we where treated to a look of fruit flies under his microscope.

Drosophila melanogaster, aka fruit flies, only live for a short amount of time, so the flies we observed spent a significant chunk of their lives under this microscope being observed. Thanks fruit flies!

Following the fruit flies, we were allowed to smell single molecule solutions that mimicked more complex smells.

Cloves, orange, and musk liquids were sampled. These solutions have revolutionized the perfume industry as well as helped scientists understand how people process odors.

The trip to the lab made me understand that science and the arts are more connected than most people realize. Past generations were more aware of this fact, as seen in the number of academies that were founded as schools of arts and science. While it’s true that scientists must be disciplined and analytical, to have a truly significant breakthrough a scientist must also have creativity. Likewise, an artist without discipline will never succeed. This field trip helped to show me that the world of art and the world of science are not as different as I originally believed.