New York City Edition and All About the Brain

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO FOLLOW ME on Twitter, you probably noticed I struck up a love affair with New York City's famous Plaza Hotel this weekend. I was lucky enough to head to the east coast with my mom and I was able to recover from my nasty cold in the high-luxury digs on Fifth Avenue. Amazing how quickly a cold is scared off by white-glove service and a faux-mink comforter.

Loved my ride in the Plaza's Rolls Royce!

The first night I had a completely surreal experience in the hotel bathroom. You see, the tub was just so big that, while lying in it, I genuinely felt as though I had shrunk enough to actually go down the drain if I wasn't careful. I assure you, I was entirely sober -- from Nyquil and any other intoxicating liquids. (The second night, however, my sobriety made a quick getaway when the fixings for more than a few complimentary cocktails were sent up to our room.)

The week was filled with plenty of brain teasers and odd word associations. For instance, as my mom and I were walking back to the hotel along Central Park, she looked across the street and recognized something we had passed earlier in the day.

"Look, there's that Pinto again," she said. I immediately doubled over in laughter. I had completely forgotten that she was talking about one of the brown-spotted carriage horses and instead I pictured a dilapidated old Ford.

It's a good thing our main activity for the following day involved checking out Brain, The Inside Story at the American Museum of Natural History, currently on display through August 15, 2011. Here we were able to learn all about the human brain and the odd associations that sometimes spark within it. And I was reminded of this oldy-but-goody:

Say the color of the ink (don't read the word.) Red Blue Green

From the exhibition's webpage: “I see this exhibition as a coming-out party for the 21st-century brain,” says lead exhibition curator Rob DeSalle, a curator in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology who conducts research at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. “I think visitors will be fascinated with the complexity of their brains. Brains change with every bit of information that is taken in, and the stimulating information and stunning exhibitry of this exhibition will engage the brains of every visitor.”

The exhibit is filled with brain teasers that point out the odd ways in which the brain works. I couldn't help but think of the museum's resident astro-physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is always ready to point out the ways in which human brains are defective -- not teased. The exhibit points out all of the ways other brains may work differently from your own, too. 

Mona Lisa, upside down, made with spools of thread.

Entering the exhibit is a dramatic transition into the dark recesses of the human brain. Visitors meander a narrow, winding path among a dense forest of wires hanging from ceiling to floor in messy clumps. The hallway is dimly lit so that placards with facts about the human brain are visible ("The primate cortex is so large that it has to be folded to fit inside the skull. That's why the surface of the brain is wrinkly.") Bright pulses of light punctuate the wires, representing electrical activity in the nervous system, though actual brain signals "involve less than one-tenth the voltage of an ordinary flashlight battery."

At the end of this tunnel we were met with a giant model of the human brain. Alongside this model, a movie played about a woman who was preparing her audition for dance school. Through each step of her process, different parts of the brain model would light up, demonstrating what parts of the brain were in control at specific times.

The exhibit also explores the science behind why it's easier for children to learn new languages, why taxi drivers tend to have a larger hippocampus, and the intriguing condition known as synesthesia. There is a special focus on Daniel Tammet who is a savant living with synesthesia today. I am curious how many people discover that they see the world differently from the general population as a result of this exhibit. How many people will say to themselves, "You mean everyone doesn't see the number seven in pink? Not everyone feels the color red?" I know I always feel something special happen to me when I hear a champagne cork pop, but I suspect this is not because I have synesthesia.

Brain, The Inside Story not only explores the quirks of the human brain, but also how the act of thinking works, how the human brain changes over time, how 21-century technologies may alter our brains as well as the history of brain study.

Even if you're of the Emo Phillips school of thinking -- "I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this" -- there's no getting around that this exhibit really is filled with amazing facts and hugely fun interactive displays, making for a truly fascinating experience.

Brain or bug?

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
For many, a visit to the American Museum of Natural History is not complete without visiting the big blue whale, but for me I must visit the Rose Center for Earth and Space. And I had to see their space show again, too, called Journey to the Stars in the Hayden Planetarium. This is something that must be experienced. Watching images of outer-space on the giant curved 360-degree screen, you can't help but experience the surreal feeling of floating through space. 

From the Hayden Planetarium's webpage, the movie features "extraordinary images from telescopes on the ground and in space and stunning, never-before-seen visualizations of physics-based simulations, the dazzling new Journey to the Stars launches visitors through space and time to experience the life and death of the stars in our night sky, including our own nurturing Sun. Tour familiar stellar formations, explore new celestial mysteries, and discover the fascinating, unfolding story that connects us all to the stars. Those who come along for the journey may never see the night sky in the same way again." Check out the trailer.

This year also marks the museum's 11th-annual butterfly exhibit, The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter. Visitors can get up close to over 500 of these fluttering works of art. If you're unable to visit in person, be sure to check out the live webcams.