The Nerve, 2016-2017, Vol 7, Issue 2

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https://hdl.handle.net/2144/50692

Full Issue: The Nerve, 2016-2017, Vol 7, Issue 2

Editors-In-Chief: Olivia Nguyen, Erin Ferguson, Colin Stuart
Writers & Editors: Gabrielle Abad, Ian Anderson, Sydney Crotts, Camila de Freitas, Erin Ferguson, Amanda Fortin, Mehul Khetrapal, Srijesna Khasnabish, Katherine Kolin, Tiantian Li, Haodong Liu, Janelle Maxwell, Ben Rabin, Priyanka Shah, Josh Strauss, Colin Stuart, Emma Wheeler, Ryan Wong, Emily Yao, Can Yumuk, Andrea Zhang
Artists & Layout Designers: Sydney Crotts, Radhika Dhanak, Nic Larstanna, Natalya Shelchkova, Martinelli Valcin, Valentina Wicki, Emily Yao

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    Neuroethics of identity
    (2016) Ferguson, Erin
    From whenever we begin to exist, we are taught that we are all individuals with unique traits and experiences. Everything from the fun facts we share in the beginning of the year to the résumés we hand out to employers feed into the notion that we all have distinct identities. To avoid technicalities within philosophy and for clarity, identity is defined by “the qualities, beliefs, etc. that make a particular person or group different from others”1. While sometimes versatile, identity is often something that remains constant. Our childhood memories rarely change as we grow older. We are either extroverts or introverts, and we like certain types of food. All of these pieces come together to create the illusion of identity.
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    The suffering artist
    (2016) Fortin, Amanda
    Pop culture loves the idea of the tragic, starving artist – the tortured soul yearning to be recognized for his or her talent as they waste away in a New York City studio. Scientists, meanwhile, are enamored with the idea that there might be a genetic reason why artists suffer. Plagued with mental illness, Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso are the sparks igniting a ferocious debate over how scholars analyze their masterpieces. Are Van Gogh’s erratic, revolutionary strokes pure creative genius, or a result of his fragilepsychologicalhealth? Canweconclude that Munch’s artistic prowess was pre-destined by his mental struggles? Picasso’s “blue period” was influenced by his depression; do all great artists suffer? And is creativity limited to writing, music, art, and dance? These inquiries all converge toward one overarching question: is there a link between creativity and mental illness? Recent genetics studies and anecdotal evidence paint a kaleidoscopic picture of how mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder influence, or perhaps even predict, creativity.
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    Restoring hearing loss
    (2016) Zhang, Andrea
    As we age, our senses begin to dull. Our eyesight becomes worse and worse, and we start to find a need for glasses, even after a lifetime of 20/20 vision. It becomes more difficult to focus on news in the newspaper or enjoy some light reading without having to squint and struggle to see. Our taste buds become desensitized and our favorite foods that we once loved become bland and tasteless. We also experience a gradual loss of hearing. The notes and tunes of our favorite songs become less distinct and, even with a hearing aid, turn into a jumbled mess. The once calming sounds of ocean waves or chirping birds become almost inaudible. As a result of these sensory declinations, our daily lives, previously filled with little pleasures of delightful sights and sounds gradually become less enjoyable. To this day, scientists have yet to discover a way to completely reverse these tragic aging effects; however, with continued research, they have been able to study the developmental aspects of our sensory receptors which could eventually lead to a cure that could significantly change the health of and medical care for the elderly.
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    Architecture & cognition in the monolingual & bilingual brain
    (2016) Crotts, Sydney
    As a child I can remember several times I was blown away by the brilliance of complete multilingualism. Flashback to my childhood: I’m standing in line with my parents for some tourist attraction—probably a zoo or an amusement park or some other escapade—and the couple in front of us is talking in a language that I can no longer remember, but I do remember that I definitely knew it wasn’t my own language (English).
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    The next generation of captain America
    (2016) Ichiki, Akane
    From neuroimaging to artificial intelligence, cutting edge technology that was thought to be a future achievement a few decades ago, is now actually happening. A lot of patients with physical or mental problems rooted in the brain are now receiving help because of advances in neuroscientific research. However, neuroscience is not just applied to medical use, it is also used in the military to create a “perfect soldier.”
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    Neuroeconomics: an emerging field of study
    (2016) Li, Tiantian
    When we hear the word “economics,” we instinctively think of banking, finance, and investment. This limited perspective makes us believe that the field of economics doesn’t extend beyond money and the stock market. It is undeniable that money and businesses are vital to the world we live in, however, we as human beings drive all these financial activities. So, if we want to understand how the world runs, we need to start by understanding one of the most fundamental human activities that exist in our day to day life: decision-making. Economics can be defined in many different ways. One definitions is the study of understanding how people take advantage of resources and make decisions. To achieve this, we must first understand how our brain, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of our system, runs all the algorithms when making decisions with financial consequences.
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    Conquer your mind
    (2016) Khetrapal, Mehul
    Do emotions get the better of you? Do you ever find yourself struggling to focus on an assignment because you are too overwhelmed by other factors in your life? What if you could avoid the battle between focusing and not focusing, and could instead, discover a way of unlocking your full potential? Although there is certainly no “magical pill”, we are beginning to realize that the solution may not come through future technological developments, but rather through an exploration of our ancient rituals.
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    Infrared vision in snakes
    (2016) Yumuk, Can
    Seven year old Claire and her family were walking in the woods after finishing a delicious picnic. Everything was calm and peaceful until they encountered a pit viper slithering on the ground, looking for food. Claire was so scared that she immediately hugged her father. In order to soothe his little princess, the father said that the snake was blind and it couldn’t understand that they were standing there so it would not attack. After some time, the snake went away without even coming toward them. Out of curiosity, Claire thought for a couple of seconds about how snakes could detect images if they were blind. However, her parents offered Claire ice cream, so she started to think about which flavor to eat instead.
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    Excoriation disorder
    (2016) Yao, Emily
    Sophia, a 20-year-old university student, recently visited her university’s mental health center for help with her problems with skin picking. According to Sophia, whenever she was stressed or bored, she felt compelled to pick at certain spots on her arms and scalp, sometimes unconsciously, until they were raw and bleeding. Even though it hurt, she admitted, picking at her skin felt like a heavy tension being lifted from her shoulders. She had numerous scars, scabs, and small open wounds, and usually wore long sleeves to hide the physical evidence, or avoided going to social events in fear of being judged. Her first memory of skin picking was in middle school, but her symptoms remained relatively absent through most of high school. Sophia said that it had come back full force once she started college, and she didn’t want to get help at first because she felt embarrassed and ashamed of her skin picking, and thought she could handle it herself. She tried multiple times to stop but nothing ever worked, so she finally turned to the mental health center despite her doubt that any treatment would help. According to her psychologist, she had low self-confidence and was also struggling with anxiety about her classes and family problems. Sophia was later diagnosed with excoriation disorder.
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    The Nerve, 2016-2017, Vol 7, Issue 2
    (2016) Yao, Emily; Yumuk, Can; Khetrapal, Mehul; Li, Tiantian; Ichiki, Akane; Crotts, Sydney; Zhang, Andrea; Fortin, Amanda; Ferguson, Erin