Something Neuro

Robert Luck European Center for Angioscience, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
Credit: Robert Luck European Center for Angioscience, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University

The Protection of Nature Starts in Our Mind
by Robert Luck

Luck is a neuroscientist at Heidelberg University in Germany who studies the development of the cerebellum, located where the spinal cord meets the brain. Alarmed by climate change and deforestation, he created a “mind forest” that resembles birds-eye-view photographs of real forests. The “trees” are 65 individually traced images of mice’s Purkinje neurons, which play important roles in controlling coordination and movements. “I chose the number 65 to represent the number of years needed for the rainforest to regrow and gain back at least 80% of its diversity,” Luck wrote in his statement. “[Sixty-five] years—a human lifetime!” (scientificamerican.com)

 

 

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