Too often we assume that that the only way to explain complicated concepts in science is to use words. And then we take those words and we add more words, occasionally putting tiny, boring pictures next to them to break up the text into easily digestible chunks.
That’s not very exciting to most people, even me, a professional scientist.
That’s why this feature on the language of smell by Perrin Ireland is so much fun. Perrin is an illustrator who recently has been turning lectures into illustrated lessons. It’s a really fun change of pace from the “normal” way we learn science, and you should check out the whole lesson on smell. If only my textbooks had been like this …
(I am trying to get Perrin to set up a Tumblr, cross your fingers!)
Science … illustrated … I was loving it until I started reading it …
“The olfactory nerve is the only part of the brain that sits outside of the skull.” … I’m not certain that statement is entirely accurate.
Stanford bioengineer Kwabena Boahen called the retina “a piece of the brain that lies inside your eyeball.” http://youtu.be/nyLYQYHGbvI
Maybe Boahen was being figurative, or maybe there is some key difference in neuroanatomy between the cells of the retina and cells of the olfactory epithelium that qualifies one or the other to be described as part of the brain. Any neuroscience tumblrs know?
(via jtotheizzoe)
Source: scientificamerican.com
