'Inside Out' Movie Reflects the Realities and Fantasies of Neuroscience

"Inside Out" is more than just the latest animated movie from Pixar the makers of "Toy Story," "Up," "Finding Nemo" and more. It's also a kid-friendly introduction to real-life neuroscience.

Eric Chudler, who's the executive director of the University of Washington's Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering as well as the creator of the "Neuroscience for Kids" website, thinks that's great: "Any type of portrayal of the brain in cartoons can get kids interested in how the brain works and what makes it tick," he said.

And "Inside Out" isn't just any portrayal: Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, an expert on the science of emotions, was a consultant on the movie which portrays Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear and Disgust as colorful characters interacting inside the brain of an 11-year-old girl named Riley.

"I'm getting emails from all over the world," Keltner told NBC News. "What people are learning is that emotions have a purpose, that they change, and that we should embrace that."

"Inside Out" turns neuroscience inside-out: The choice of characters reflects the research of Keltner's mentor at Berkeley, Paul Ekman, who studies how emotions are expressed across different cultures. Ekman and his colleagues determined that humans possess a standard toolkit of facial expressions for six or seven emotions, regardless of their upbringing.

The filmmakers turned five of the emotions on Ekman's list into animated characters. Two others surprise and contempt were left out of the script for simplicity's sake. Who knows? Maybe they'll pop up in the sequel.

Flash Interactive: A Road Map to Your Brain

In the movie, the characters inside Riley's head support each other, or get in each other's way, just like the emotions in our own heads.

"It's nice to see that the different emotions are somewhat separate but talk to each other," Chudler told NBC News. "For example, there's no real 'anger center'; rather, different parts of the brain work together to make sense of the world and coordinate complex behavior."

Christof Koch, chief scientific officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, said the inner workings of emotional responses are far less clear-cut in reality than they might seem in the movie. "This assumes that you have these five explicit conscious streams in front of you, but of course you don't have conscious access to those things," he told NBC News.

"We are strangers to ourselves, and in particular we are strangers to our own mind," Koch said. "We have all these emotions, but very often we have no idea why we have them."

It turns out that "Inside Out" came into being partly because Keltner and Pixar director Pete Docter who have been friends for a long time were intrigued by the mysterious ways of emotions in their own kids. "Our conversations are really a series of questions, and Pete asked, 'What are emotions like in a 12-year-old girl?'" Keltner recalled. "So we were thinking about how emotions shift."

The research suggests that kids in their pre-teens and early teens often experience a precipitous drop in happiness and a rise in anxiety. "It's like the world crashes down on them," Keltner said. The movie traces that shift, with tear-inducing as well as laugh-inducing effects.

Keltner likes how "Inside Out" shows Riley dealing with that shift. "You're not forever held hostage by your emotions," he observed. And he likes how the parents deal with it as well. "They embrace her change," Keltner said. "You have to embrace that because that's where kids have to go."

Getting a better understanding of how the brain works, and particularly how our own emotions work, would be a dream come true for adolescents and their parents and for neuroscientists as well.

Related: This Is Your Brain on Movies

For some hands-on experiments in brain science, check out Chudler's website, Neuroscience for Kids. One of Chudler's favorites is an exercise that helps you find your visual blind spot. You can read more about Keltner's perspective on the neuroscience of "Inside Out" in this Berkeley news release.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/inside-out-movie-reflects-realities-fantasies-neuroscience-n378846

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gilles retsin flips bilbao inside out for guggenheim helsinki proposal

dec 12, 2014

gilles retsin flips bilbao inside out for guggenheim helsinki proposal

gilles retsin flips bilbao inside out for guggenheim helsinki proposalall images courtesy of gilles retsin

for the guggenheim helsinki design competition, gilles retsin has proposed a museum that turns its bilbao relative inside out: all the structure is visible, there is no cladding, and the spaces are all flexible. the entry uses advanced computation methodologies to develop the roof, yet it is erected from cheap, recycles, and large standardized building elements. instead of a glossy metal surface, it proposes a rough and tactile material character.

view towards the main entrance

the mass consists of three large-scale strata two floors and a profiled cover which are supported by groups of slender columns.the footprint presents dimensions similar to the big city blocks and port infrastructure characteristic of the citys etelsatama area, although the facility itself is considerably lower than the surrounding context. it is deliberately ambiguous, in between a pitched roof, vaults or thick, volumetric layer reminiscent of boathouses or factories.

the roof would be formed from reused timber

instead of a surface, the roof is conceived as a volume and performs as a beam, similar to the engineering of airplanes. a custom-made algorithm distributes strips of timber, which cross in two directions to create a stiff shell. the density of these linear components is oriented and proportional to the localized stresses and proximity to support posts. the lightweight stressed skin system makes use of low-grade and recycled wood, which would otherwise not be suited for the construction industry and be used as fuel. to prevent a difficult or massive customization of joints, there is a high degree of repetition in the composition. slender glulam posts are organized in strategic clusters to support the canopy.

the supporting glulam beams correspond to the density of the roof above

the ground level of the museum is completely transparent and accessible via multiple entries. this is accompanied by the possibility to run different security regimes, shifting ticket control and bag check to the first level, which would effectively turn the previous platform into a generous, freely accessible civic space, a meeting ground for the metropolis. the floors are designed as brettstapel timber composite floors with efficient thermal properties and are largely fabricated off-site. the used ingredients result in a complex that would be carbon-negative, providing a minimal life cycle impact on the environment.

the complex would be carbon-negative, providing a minimal life cycle impact on the environment

low grade timber roof structure

closeup of the roof

structure diagram

longitudinal section

cross section

ground floor plan

first and second floor plans

project info:

design team: gilles retsin, lei zhengstructural engineer: robert nilsson, tim lucas of price & myers engineeringsustainability consultants: jessica grey of price & myers engineeringspecial engineering consultant: guy mouton of studieburo moutonrenderings: flying architecture

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readershere.

Gilles Retsin

dec 12, 2014

Source: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/gilles-retsin-bilbao-inside-out-guggenheim-helsinki-12-12-2014/

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Pixar's new movie turns the human brain 'Inside Out'

So did Peter Docter, one of Pixar's earliest employees and the guy behind such classics as "Toy Story," "Up," and the "Monsters Inc." films. For his new movie "Inside Out," Docter takes us inside the human mind, breathing life into the emotions that govern our daily activities: joy, anger, disgust, fear and sadness. It's a unique concept, and one the 46-year-old admitted was not easy to script.

"The difficult thing on this one was not only did we have to chart the story, but there are two stories going on at the same time the outside story with Riley and then the inside story with Joy," he told Empire Online earlier this year. "What she does affects the human, and what Riley does affects Joy. But the human doesn't know about Joy; she's just going through her life. I'm not sure we've 100 percent solved it yet, but that's been the challenge, having two stories that affect each other."

In the first full trailer for the film, set during a family dinner, we're given a front-row look at not only the emotions inside Riley's head but also those of her parents. It's a hilarious take on communication in family relationships and instantly makes "Inside Out" one of the more intriguing films of 2015.

"As soon as we came up with the dinner scene, that set our future, because it really sparked with people," added Docter. "So the idea of being able to go into different heads, that kind of set our tone."

"Inside Out" is set for release on June 19.

Related on MNN:

Source: http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/pixars-new-movie-turns-the-human-brain-inside-out

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Woman 'Burns' From Inside Out After Reaction to Friend's Medicine

A young mother is in intensive care after having a rare but serious reaction to a friend's prescription antibiotics that caused her to "burn" from the inside out.

Yassmeen Castanada, 19, wasn't feeling well on Thanksgiving, so she took a pill that her friend had left over from a previous illness. Soon, Castanada's eyes, nose and throat began to burn, and she was rushed to the emergency room, her mother, Laura Corona, told ABC News.

Her body erupted in blisters over the next few days, Corona said. She had to be sedated and placed on a ventilator.

"Her face changed within four days," Corona told ABC News. "I would wipe her face and all the skin was just falling off."

Doctors diagnosed Castanada with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare but serious drug reaction that can occur even when drugs are taken as prescribed by a doctor, said Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatology professor at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan who was not involved in treating Castanada.

"You're not truly burned, but what happens is you have compromised the skin barrier function," Zeichner said.

Laura Corona/KABC

PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada has been hospitalized for three weeks as a result of a rare reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Inflammation and blistering occur on the outer layer of skin as well as the lips, eyes and genitals, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection and unable to properly balance electrolytes and stay hydrated, Zeichner explained. As such, these patients are treated like burn victims.

"You get very painful lesions on your skin that are basically blisters," said Neil MacKinnon, dean of the University of Cincinnati's Winkle College of Pharmacy. "Your whole body is in excruciating pain."

Castanada was eventually transferred to the University of California Irvine's burn unit, where doctors said over 70 percent of her body was damaged, Corona said. She's undergone several surgeries over the past few weeks, but her feet are still blistering.

Zeichner said he sees it most often with antibiotics, but MacKinnon said this sometimes fatal reaction is different from most reactions to antibiotics, which are usually limited to gastrointestinal symptoms.

"Unfortunately, we have no way of predicting who would have this type reaction," Zeichner said, advising that patients only take prescriptions given to them by their doctors. He said they should report any reactions following new medicines immediately to their doctors. And, if necessary, go to the emergency room.

Laura Corona/KABC

PHOTO: Yaasmeen Castanada is in intensive care after having a severe allergic reaction to a mediation that caused her body to burn from the inside out.

Though Castanada is expected to miss her baby's first Christmas, Corona said she has hope her daughter will survive. Another patient with Stevens-Johnson syndrome spent two months in the same hospital and went home on Tuesday.

"Heartbreaking, just unreal," Corona told ABC's southern California station KABC. "Just watching your daughter burn in front of you, literally burn in front of you."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/woman-burns-inside-reaction-friends-medicine/story?id%3D27478608

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