Brains

Hello!

I survived midterms! Wahoo! I did the best I could, so hopefully it was good enough. I had my behavioral genetics exam first thing. I finished in about an hour, faster than anyone else. So I went through the exam a number of times hoping information on MAO A would come back to me (it didn't) leaving after one person did. Then I had about 2 1/2 hours before my stats exam. I feel good about both exams (and did pretty well on the genetics one). The problem with the stats course is that I never know if I'm using quite the right language. I try to avoid causal language. I am a big fan of the term "may." May and many... do those words really mean anything? Anywho...

So, just a few minutes ago, I was zoning out whilst cleaning dishes, thinking about this guy I knew and stuff we did. Sort of good reminiscing stuff. Then I starting thinking about remembering... and then started remembering a conversation last quarter in my research issues course about event memory. Every time you remember something, the memory is changed. It gets tied into the current context and there are new neuronal connections. (Yes, this means that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind isn't real and will never be...) I am just amazed at how plastic our brains are.

My genetics professor told us a few lectures ago that the main point he wants us to get in this class is that it all boils down to biology. Every behavior is an expression of something going on in the brain. Now, I'm not a very "spiritual" person, but for some reason that idea is mind blowing to me. It really does all boil down to molecules, though I'll argue that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

During brown bag yesterday, I was distracted by my own thoughts and sat back and realized that we are really interesting primates. But that's what we are. And it is so cool! The amount of chance that was involved in homo the sap coming to be is almost spiritual in and of itself. And the way we learn, and communicate, and love, and work... is so amazing.

I feel like I am rambling! So I will leave you with this quote that I've been thinking about!

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

-Douglas Adams