Tomorrow I’m off to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa as a member of its Science Advisory Board. Above is an article from today’s NY Times on one of the risks of being a primatologist–at least in Brazil. I’m always concerned when scholars are locked up by governments–and sixteen years in the case seems egregious.

Jim

It’s not often that I get excited about the New York Times business section, but here’s an article about an idea that I’ve proposed myself to colleagues at Krasnow: the notion of the subject taking measurements from their own fMRI scan in real time.

Jim

In thirty minutes, I’ll be joining the rest of the Krasnow staff to welcome our incoming cohort of neuroscience graduate students–burgers, hot dogs, potato salad–you get the drift. It’s always a very enjoyable occasion and serves as a fantastic opportunity for everybody to get acquainted.

In the meantime, I’d also like to welcome the new cohort of graduate students in computational social sciences

So welcome to the Fall semester. I look forward to spending time with all of you.

Jim

I am continually impressed by the disconnect that I see evidenced often between what the public thinks science is, and what science actually consists of. Most interesting is the surprised looks I get when I explain gently that trying to understand the universe/nature per se is not science. That science is the intellectual practice of constructing theories, developing hypotheses from those theories and then designing experiments with the explicit goal of falsifying the cherished hypothesis.

The lay public too often confuses science with religion, technology, clinical practice and just plain curiosity. Karl Popper would be rolling in his grave.

Jim

After Yale decided no, another big player decides yes. It’s getting interesting in the science publishing world.

Jim

The Neuroimaging Core of the Krasnow Institute (NICKI) elected Raja Parasuraman as its chair Friday for a two year term. I’m really looking forward to working with him and the rest of NICKI to get the maximum scientific productivity from our 3T MRI. I’d also like to thank outgoing co-chairs Layne Kalbfleisch and Kevin McCabe for their hard work in getting the center going and especially to Layne for staying on as Chief Magnet Safety Officer in addition to her role as the head of KIDLAB.

Jim

Of course that moniker usually is reserved for the one in Princeton where Einstein was. Recently I saw the term used on its own for another institute at Los Alamos. That got me thinking about the usefulness of the term in communicating to stakeholders what we do at Krasnow. This week, I reported to Mason’s Board of Visitors on the past academic year and started out my remarks by referring to the successful year of the institute for advanced study–the one at George Mason.

Jim

It felt good to drive onto Campus this morning and walk into my office here at Krasnow. Today is crammed with meetings, but I do hope there is time to savor a quiet walk through the new wing of the Institute.

Jim

This small vignette is so typical of thirty years of memories in this place. I had been working on a book project this afternoon and needed a break. I walked out the grated fire-escape from my ancient building (Homestead) and walked into the Village. I heard a bit of music coming from a restaurant called Phusion just proximal to the Woods Hole draw bridge. It must have been the end of the Sunday brunch festivities. Looking in the door, I notices that it was just the acoustic band and the wait staff. The bartender suddenly called out and said, “let JJ sing.” JJ is one of cook staff at Phusion. He demured. But the entire staff and the band started clapping and cheering for him to come out and sing.

So he did. And as he banged out the best Bob Marley reggae that I’ve heard in years, the entire staff (no customers) started dancing and singing along–owner included. It was so good that it sent shivers down my back.

Why does such a small scientific village have such incredible music talent?

Why does live music have the power over the human mind that is so clearly evident?

Jim

A close friend and colleague emailed the other day and asked “How is creative “drive” or creativity defined so that you can look for it?”

This is a somewhat distinct question from the related Krasnow scientific question of recognizing/studying fluid intelligence (or “g” as it is called).

It’s also very closely related to what my job is about, since as an institute director, probably the most important requirement is to recruit and retain the “talent”.

The glib answer of course is that I recognize it when I see it, even if I might not be able to define it. But I think that’s not a particularly satisfying answer. Instead, I would put forward the notion of someone who has both depth and breadth of knowledge (in whatever field) yet remains essentially curious about the nature of the world around them. I believe that it’s the curiosity part that drives the creativity part. If your curious about the world, then that implies a drive to learn more about the world (in spite of knowledge), which in turn drives the creative quest to devise new ways to learn more.

In science of course this happens within the structure of Popperian hypothesis testing (usually).

Jim