Scientia panelists offer insight at lightning speed

By Amanda MacDonald     1/23/13 6:00pm

 

In just over 30 minutes, attendees of the Jan. 22 Scientia colloquium listened to Yousif Shamoo, James Pomerantz, K. Jane Grande- Allen and Marcia Brennan while gaining an appreciation for the tireless heart valve, questioning their perception of reality, learning the power of creative expression at the end of one's life and discovering similarities between the functioning of society and of a cell. 

Scientia, an annual lecture series founded in 1981, aims to bring together the Rice community to explore a topic from a variety of perspectives, according to Scientia Director and professor of anthropology Susan McIntosh. 

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For this year's theme, "The Power of Ideas," four speakers from different departments across campus were each given five minutes to speak on a topic they found intriguing. 

Martel College freshman Rachel Sterling said she liked the conciseness of the lectures and that they were a perfect break from her homework that afternoon. 

"Even though it was short, I was exposed to a lot of new ideas," Sterling said. "It was a little bit like a TED talk." 

Sterling said her favorite speaker was Shamoo, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology, who discussed the change in scientists' understanding of biological systems. Although he learned as an undergrad that a cell was like a factory assembly line, he said scientists now understand biological processes to be more dynamic and complex, much like the Internet. 

"Our social values and culture move hand in hand with science and technology," Shamoo said. "These new ways of thinking have completely transformed the field of biology, and I'm sure that 30 years from now, there will be equally transformative revelations." 

Pomerantz, a professor of psycholorgy, said he wanted to challenge the audience's perception of the world. 

"We create a neural model of the world around us," Pomerantz said. "It need not resemble the world; it only needs to correlate with it." 

Pomerantz said the color yellow is simply the product of certain neurons firing in our brain and that it only exists in the physical world as a wavelength. 

"We are prisoners in our own mental architecture," Pomerantz said. "You want to know what reality is really like? Forget about it." 

While our neurons may be unreliable, other parts of our bodies, such as our heart valves, are biological marvels, according to associate professor of bioengineering Grande- Allen. 

"The heart valve is the most mechanically active tissue," Grande-Allen said. "With each cycle of our heart, the heart valves slam shut with enough force that [the noise] can be heard outside our bodies as a heartbeat." 

Grande-Allen said recent research has found heart valve tissue to be dynamic and responsive to mechanical stimulations, challenging long-held beliefs about anatomy. These developments will be important for understanding and treating heart-related diseases such as myxoid degeneration, which affects one in 20 men around the age of 60, she said. 

The experiences shared by associate professor of religious studies and art history Brennan encouraged the audience to see medicine from a completely different perspective. 

For four years, Brennan has worked as an artist in residence at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she helps dying patients transcribe the memory of something they love into a handmade paper journal. 

"I work to create human connection across a formidable gulf of separation," Brennan said. "With an open heart, the patients find heightened awareness, and their trauma can be profoundly intertwined with visions of beauty, joy and love." 

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