Hey guys!
So a couple of weeks back, I visited the Donders Institute on their open door day. The Donders Institute is an institute that focuses on the cognitive neurosciences and investigates a
lot around the cognitive neurosciences and new neurological developments. On the open door day they invited Victor Mids a medical specialist and illusionist, which I found a rather peculiar combination, to host the day.There was so much to see and do and we didn't really get to do everything we wanted to due to lack of time and it just was a bit too crowded sometimes. But overall, it was an amazingly interesting day. The science nerd inside of me was very pleased at the end.
Before that day I had never even heard of the Donders Institute. Two friends asked if I wanted to come and as soon as I heard the word neuroscience I was hooked. Just a fun fact about me: my favourite bit of the human body is the brain due to its complexity and the endless amount of options and functions it has. We have so much left to discover about it and we can do so many things with neuro-rehabilitation which we've only just scratched the surface. So yeah, I really like the brain.
During the open door day there were a lot of demos, but also some live MRI-scan experiments and some really interesting lectures. The demos varied from getting an up-close look of the brain (which was one of my personal favourites), to the connections between food and the brain, to the NOA-robot (a robot that helps kids with autism develop social skills), and just a close-up look at the MRI-scan machine. They even had a special children's corner, and free poffertjes which was a big plus!
The lectures, were in my opinion, the best bits of the day. The first lecture we attended was about reading minds and if it's possible to read minds off an MRI-scan. This experiment failed a bit due to lack of time and the early stages of reading minds via an MRI we are still in. So in this experiment the illusionist, Victor Mids, turned out to be better at reading minds. But in the future, I honestly we believe could read minds via an MRI in the future, just you wait!
Then there was the lecture on neuro-myths which was very educational and hilarious. This lecture was easier to follow for non-anatomically educated people as it didn't contain too many anatomical terms which were thrown around in the other lectures.
There was also a lecture on gaming with your brain but we decided not to go there. Last but not least there were the lectures on optical illusions, which showed some really cool virtual and augmented reality
developments in the treatments of Parkinson's disease, and another MRI experiment to watch the effects of fear on the brain which did work out and was sooooo interesting.
The demo's were really interesting as well, although it was so busy at certain demo's that we didn't have a chance to ask questions or even enter the room which was a bit of a bummer. Although that didn't keep me from having an amazing day. Like I actually held a brain, nothing can beat that right?! So if you're from Holland or happen to be in or around Nijmegen next year at the next Donders Institute open door day, I truly recommend you go there! It's free and really worth going! I'll leave a link to the website of the Donders Institute here! Oh wait, the Donders Institute also has a blog called Donders Wonders blog, you should check it out! Here's also a link to Victor Mids' TV-show MindF*ck, it's pretty cool!
Lots of love! (also brain related)
ThatDutchGirl96
Hey guys!
So there was no blog on Thursday.... I owe you an explanation for that and I promise I will give you one once I figure out how. The blog that was supposed to go up on last Thursday will come, I've been trying to write it for a couple of weeks now but something is keeping me from finishing it. As soon as I finish it I will post it so keep your eyes open for that one. For now you'll have to put up with my writers block and I.
Blogpost 40, take 54. Here we go again. Another attempt at writing a blogpost that is funny, holds a secret message or teaches you one of the important lessons of life. Another attempt that will probably fail and end in me holding the backspace button until every last letter is gone. A new chance, a new beginning, a new river of words waiting to flow out of my mind through my fingers onto paper. A river that keeps flowing, sometimes longer then others yet it always stops too soon. There's no way I seem to be able to finish a blog this week. It's like something is stopping me. My brain isn't working the way I want it to and it's utterly annoying. It drives me insane even though it shouldn't. Why isn't it working the way I want it to? Am I not the person in control of my life and therefore also in in control of my brain and the stream of thoughts moving through it.
No, no I'm not, my brain is an extraordinary thing. It does as it pleases, helps me escape from the dark and grey reality, lets me wander through the darkest forest accompanied by nothing but my biggest fears and worst enemies. The brain is an odd thing. A thing doctors and scientist have been trying to get a grip on for decades, they think they're getting closer yet some mysteries remain unsolved and I believe they'll stay that way forever. The brain is such a strange organ. The most interesting organ in our body, the one with the most unsolved mysteries left but also the most underrated organ we own. Underrated in a way that only a small percentages of the diseases that are brain related are being acknowledged. The rest is called imagination. As if they're not real, as if the you're making them up, your brain is making them up and having you believe in them. One of the brain's finest works. Creating diseases in such a way other brain's don't believe in them. Someone please explain this to me.
And cut! What was I talking about again? Brain? No not specifically. Oh wait I remember (just kidding I scrolled back up) I was talking about how I kept failing to write a complete blogpost from start to finish because my brain(?) wouldn't let me. Well I believe I finally did it, sort of at least. I'll leave it at this anyway, now I'm still in control, now I'm still able to keep my finger of that backspace button and start deleting every single letter I have typed so far. And you know what? Maybe it's good, maybe it's just good that there are so many brain related mysteries that remain unsolved. Nowadays society is so focused on solving mysteries and getting control of everything whilst a bit of the unknown is all we need some times. A bit of the unknown, not knowing what will happen tomorrow is exactly what I need right now.
For tomorrow, the biggest part is already known to me but who knows. Maybe life has a lovely surprise to me by tomorrow and there's only one way to find out.
See you all next week.
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
lot around the cognitive neurosciences and new neurological developments. On the open door day they invited Victor Mids a medical specialist and illusionist, which I found a rather peculiar combination, to host the day.There was so much to see and do and we didn't really get to do everything we wanted to due to lack of time and it just was a bit too crowded sometimes. But overall, it was an amazingly interesting day. The science nerd inside of me was very pleased at the end.
During the open door day there were a lot of demos, but also some live MRI-scan experiments and some really interesting lectures. The demos varied from getting an up-close look of the brain (which was one of my personal favourites), to the connections between food and the brain, to the NOA-robot (a robot that helps kids with autism develop social skills), and just a close-up look at the MRI-scan machine. They even had a special children's corner, and free poffertjes which was a big plus!
