ART – SCIENCE – TECHNOLOGY – ENGINEERING: RESEARCH FOR + WITH SOCIETY
SCIENTIFIC SEEDS
A SEED is a small scientific note with multidimensional inspirational information. In other words, a topic that inspires artists in the process of creating SciArt and STEAM works. For example, a seed can be a published article, a research project or a scientific paper. Scientific seeds do not have to be linked to the artistic world and can come from any area of scientific knowledge, from Biology or Anthropology to Artificial Intelligence or Philosophy.
SEED 1 - Crossing the veil
Brain death involves the complete and irreversible cessation of the functions of both cerebral hemispheres and the brainstem. In contrast to vegetative or comatose states, where some areas of the brain may remain functional, in brain death brain activity disappears completely, resulting in the de facto death of the patient. This process can be observed in patients who have suffered an insult to their brain...
SEED 2 - The thread of your fragments
Learning and memory are the most important processes for understanding and adapting to our environment. Learning is the overall process of acquiring information, while memory involves being able to encode, store and retrieve that information. Some consider memory to be the most important of all cognitive functions. As Eric R. Kandel said, ‘we are what we are because of what we learn and what we remember...
SEED 3 - Dancing in the Night
Restless Legs Syndrome is characterized by an unpleasant sensation in the lower limbs that creates an irresistible urge to move the legs, classifying it as a movement disorder. This uncomfortable sensation typically occurs, although not exclusively, during periods of inactivity and in the evening. As a result, it interferes with the initiation of sleep and diminishes the patient's quality of life by causing discomfort, sleep...
SEED 4 - Night Terrors
Night terrors are a type of parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by aggressive behaviors secondary to an intense sensation of fear, such as screaming, crying, hitting, running, or breaking objects, all while the person remains asleep. For this reason, even though the individual may appear to have their eyes open, they typically do not recall anything that happened (unlike nightmares). Night terrors are more common...
SEMILLA 5 - The essence of being
Phineas Gage was a 25-year-old American who suffered a workplace accident in 1848. Before the accident, Phineas was a kind, polite, and responsible man. In 1848, while holding a responsible position in railroad construction, Phineas experienced an accident in which, after an explosion, a 1-meter-long rod, 3.2 cm in diameter, and weighing about 6 kg, was propelled through his skull at high speed. The rod entered...
SEMILLA 6 - A Prisoner Brain
The skull constitutes the bony structure that surrounds the brain, protecting it from impacts and atmospheric pressure changes. It is made up of several bones that, at birth, are separated from each other and gradually fuse by around the age of two. These bones include the frontal, the two parietal bones, the two temporal bones, and the occipital bone. Inside the skull, the brain, brainstem, and cerebellum are...
SEMILLA 7 - Meta-ASTER
Neuro-art or neuro-aesthetics is the discipline that studies the brain processes underlying artistic creation, ideation, and interpretation. The observation and execution of an artwork involve a complex network of neural circuits associated with perception, emotion, memory, psychomotor skills, and cognition. These circuits not only allow us to objectify and discern the shapes, colors, and movements of an...
SEMILLA 8 - Through the Keyhole
The base of the skull, understood as its most caudal surface, is an anatomical area of enormous complexity. Dozens of nerves and blood vessels move through them and enter and leave through small foramina that transmit nerve information and nutrients to the orofacial structures (the tongue, eyes, nose...). This intracranial region is a challenge for neurosurgeons due to its difficult access, as it is...
SEMILLA 9 - Mapping the Mind
Like pharmacological medicine, surgery has undergone a radical transformation in the last 200 years. In the nineteenth century, amphitheatre operating theatres were common, with insufficient anaesthetic techniques and no established antisepsis protocols. In the twentieth century, surgery underwent a revolution thanks to the use of general anaesthesia, surgical asepsis and the design of the main...
SEMILLA 10 - A Bomb in the Brain
The brain, like any organ in the body, requires a supply of oxygen and nutrients that arrive through the bloodstream. Blood reaches the brain parenchyma through a system of arteries that branches neatly into an infinity of capillaries that nourish the brain. The blood, once deoxygenated, is drained from the brain through a profuse venous system that returns the blood back to the heart. Arteriovenous...
SEMILLA 11 - The invisible choreographer and the silent cry of the cells
The project is motivated by the need to know the role of mechanical variables on biological processes, such as the rigidity of the cellular environment or forces transmitted from it to the biological system. To address the challenges arising from the project, we have set up a highly multidisciplinary team, with the participation of researchers with very...
SEMILLA 12 - Neuroemotional Symphony
This seed explores the neurobiological and physiological mechanisms by which emotions, both positive and negative, affect brain activity and physical health. From the perspective of the neuroscience of well-being, the pathways by which positive emotions, such as gratitude, joy and calm, activate specific areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, favouring internal balance and self...
SEMILLA 13 - NeuroHarmony
The connectome, an ever-changing network of neural connections, adapts through brain plasticity, allowing the brain to reorganise itself and learn from new experiences. Epigenetic factors influence this plasticity by modifying gene expression according to the environment, while the microbiota, the microorganisms in our body, also affect the brain, modulating neurotransmitters and mood. These interactions...
SEMILLA 14 - Expanding the brain. Beyond the last frontier.
In recent decades, advances in the field of Neurotechnology, a branch of Neurosciences, have undergone a great development. The main objective of this discipline is aimed at understanding the brain as an interface that allows us to relate to the environment, but through the development of technologies that allow us to visualise its processes and even control, repair or...
SEMILLA 15 - Boldage
It is based on the group's research project that uses a compound of natural origin, boldin, extracted from the boldo tree, to improve cognitive, motor and metabolic alterations derived from ageing. Boldine is added as a supplement to the diet of experimental animals in order to increase the functionality of different physiological systems during ageing. 1.3 Metaphor. Is there any metaphor that helps to explain this seed...
SEMILLA 16 - Towards General Artificial Intelligence through Natural Intelligence
General or strong artificial intelligence is a type of artificial intelligence capable of performing any cognitive task that a human being can carry out, using abilities exhibited by living beings considered intelligent, such as reasoning, learning, creativity, and adaptation to new contexts. The goal of achieving a model capable...
SEMILLA 17 - GANsensus
GANsensus explores the convergence between artificial intelligence and neuroscience, creating learning models inspired by the neuroplasticity of the human brain. This approach looks at how the human brain processes information, allowing systems to learn and recognize patterns by creating generative art based on patterns learned from...
SEMILLA 18 - Noise turns subconscious information into conscious knowledge
The search for a comprehensive understanding of human consciousness is a long-standing endeavor. Many disciplines have tried to elucidate and define consciousness, with special emphasis on its etiology...
SEMILLA 19 - Synesthesia
Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense elicits an automatic and involuntary response in another. Some people can “see” sounds in colors, “taste” words or “feel” textures when listening to music. Although historically considered a rarity, neuroscientific research has revealed that synesthesia is...
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