[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG DUNN: There is not one thing
a person can do in any capacity which
doesn't have some kind of a neurological component to it.
The brain's motivation to understand itself
is such a weird recursive loop, you know?
It's just it's so fascinating to me.
How often do you really just stop and think,
what is happening right now?
Why can I see, and think, and hear?
It provides an endless horizon of inspiration.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name is Greg Dunn.
And I am an artist and a neuroscientist.
The reason I study the brain, both from a scientific
and an artistic standpoint, is because it's
at the root of absolutely everything we do.
For me, the brain is a sacred object, and I think,
deserves to be treated as such.
I mean, it's responsible for our entire existence.
As a scientist, I did an undergrad in molecular biology.
But it wasn't until early grad school for neuroscience
at the University of Pennsylvania,
that I started to experiment with neuroscience-themed art.
And one of the reasons is that you're just
surrounded by incredibly gorgeous imagery
all day, you know, when you're in your classes looking
at micrographs under the microscope and whatnot.
I guess one thing led to another,
because I started doing work that was--
you know-- more in a Sumi-e type of style, Japanese
and Chinese ink painting.
I wanted to draw parallels between the classical subjects
of Asian Art and the kind of world
of neurons in neuroscience.
Because I think the subject material
is essentially the same thing.
The only difference between a landscape of a forest
and a landscape with the brain is
that you need a microscope to see one, but not the other.
It's really a reflection of the artist's mind.
And that being the case, couching
like a piece of neuroscience art in an aesthetic context which
people are familiar with, I think,
inspires the viewer to make that connection for themselves.
I use gold leaf, which is popular in that style.
I saw it in manipulating the reflectivity
of metallic surfaces could actually
impart a third dimension of information
into an otherwise two dimensional painting,
and for example, allow me to depict what
a neuron firing looks like.
And so I started to do etching and lithography
with fellow scientist, Dr. Bryan Edwards.
We use this technique because it allows
us to create millions, really, of microscopic details
in the surface of a micro-etching.
And it's those tiny little features
which are reflecting the light in very specific ways.
I'll start by creating a micro-etching by making
hand drawings or ink drawings.
Scan them into the computer, so I can assemble them
with Photoshop or Illustrator, get them put in a position
where we can start to run algorithms on them.
This is the actual etch data that's
going to be printed onto the transparencies.
So we zoom way, way, way, way, way in.
And you see the individual pixels here.
This is all going to be written by a laser
onto the transparency and printed.
Certainly, I think that in order to depict this something as
complex as the brain--
I mean, you just--
it's going to be complicated to make it.
So, photolithography is the process
of creating that surface.
And it's done by printing the data
that you want at ultra high resolution
onto a transparency material.
That transparency is then put down
on top of a photoresist, which is
laminated to a sheet of steel, in this case, we use.
UV light is turned on.
Anywhere where the UV photons come
through the transparent part, it actually
toughens the material up.
The black printing in the transparency remains unexposed.
Now you're left with a burned-in image.
So you're making something with single micron resolution
with this analog process, which requires this degree of control
over the variables that feels a lot like being in the lab,
quite frankly.
The lighting of a micro-etching is absolutely essential.
You can move a light source over the top of it, which will spark
this reflective animation.
And you can move your head around it,
or you know, walk around it and you'll activate the animations.
Some of the early pieces, Cata-connect-omb, Brain Bo
Hippocampus, these pieces are with discrete one-directional
etches.
And then, cortical circuit board was our first attempt
at a continuous animation.
That angle actually changes its direction over that form.
You can easily visualize a few neurons firing at once.
But to visualize many, many, many thousands
of them firing at the same time, I think,
was an important next step.
And for that reason, I wanted to make a visualization
of the brain that immediately and clearly communicated
its staggering complexity and sophistication.
And that's where this piece, Self-Reflected, came in.
It's a slice of your brain made as close to reality as we can,
in collaboration with dozens of scientists
with hundreds of papers a reference to it.
And it's got all the details of all the different regions
and what's connected to what, and what's firing here,
and what's the diameter of this axon.
And all that stuff is there, if you want it.
But I don't care if somebody goes to the museum
and comes away with none of that.
If what they've come away with is just a small taste
as to how complex and insane it truly is--
this is my brain looking at itself--
then we have completely succeeded.
Our minds and our brains are the fundament
of who we are as human beings, you know?
It's a concrete processing device
which allows us to go about our daily lives.
And I think it's important that people understand that,
that they recognize the preciousness
of their own brains.
LUKE GROSKIN: Hi, there.
This is Luke Groskin, video producer for Science Friday.
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