Author Page for Ben Ehrlich

Café Chats, by Santiago Ramón y Cajal

In 1920, the Nobel Prize-winning “founder of modern neuroscience” Santiago Ramón y Cajal wrote  Charlas de café (Café Chats), a popular book of aphorisms and meditations inspired by his years of participation in tertulias, or Spanish salons. Contributing editor Ben Ehrlich has been working on an original translation into English, parts of which have just been published by the literary magazine New England Review. As always, the new issue of NER features great poetry, fiction, and non-fiction (including, incidentally, a re-discovered translation of “Rome: First Impression” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whom Cajal revered). Half of the Café Chats piece, selected from two chapters “On Glory, Death, and Immortality” and “On Sorrow and Old Age,” can be seen online here. Selections two other two chapters, “On Genius, Talent, and Stupidity” and “Thoughts on Pedagogical and Educational Tendencies,” can be found in the print edition.

“It is a moving sight to watch on summer mornings as young bees gather honey for the exhausted and dying workwomen who, before their eyes grow dim, receive a passionate kiss from the sun, our father of life. Hear the anxious cry of the dying—“Light, more light!”—from the great Goethe to the humblest creature. Might this universal plea signify an optimistic prophecy? After death’s darkness, will the sun of immortality rise? It is comforting to hope and to believe so.”

Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Café Chats (translated by Benjamin Ehrlich)

Long Live Ignorance!

In an interview with Casey Schwartz for Newsweek — The Daily Beast, neuroscientist Stuart Firestein argues that knowledge is overrated:

As I began to think about it, I realized that, contrary to popular view, scientists don’t really care that much about facts. We recognize that facts are the most unreliable part of the whole operation. They don’t last, they’re always under revision. Whatever fact you seemed to have uncovered is likely to be revised by the next generation. That’s the difference between science and many other endeavors.  Science revels in revision. For science, revision is a victory. In religion, or astrology, or any other belief system, revision is a kind of defeat. You were supposed to have known the answer to this. But the joy of science is that it’s about revision.

Dr. Firestein, the chair of the biological sciences department at Columbia University, has taught a popular course called IGNORANCE, dedicated to what we don’t know.  His new book, Ignorance: How it Drives Science, was released today by Oxford University Press.  It promises to be a great read.

Rap about the Cosmos

If you love hip hop, you love the Wu Tang Clan, which many people would say is the greatest thing to ever come from Staten Island.  (Please understand that I mean no offense to Staten Island; we’re talking about legends here.)  Matthew Perpetua caught up with one of them — GZA aka The Genius aka Gary Grice — and asked about the influence of science on his upcoming album Dark Matter.  Here is an excerpt from the interview in Rolling Stone:

You have a new album, Dark Matter, that is coming out. I understand that you put another record on hold to start on this. What made this record more urgent?

I didn’t make it urgent. I just pick and choose. I mean, it would probably be urgent in the sense that I decided to do this before. Plus, the other needed more of a setup and different type of approach. I mean I had several different ideas and concepts in my head. It’s just a journey of the universe. Dark matter, dark energy.

So this is about astronomy and physics?
Yes. And not necessarily so in that sense. It’s just a beautiful story – planets, black holes, comets.

Painted Science

Neuroscientist Heather Bimonte-Nelson of the Memory and Aging Lab at Arizona State University paints in order to visualize her research.  Her artwork depicts neurons, cells, memories, and seizures.  Check out this article about her and her work.

Ride the Brainwave (2012)

The Rubin Museum of Art’s wonderful and acclaimed Brainwave series is in the middle of its third season. Check out the events, and see the collection and special exhibitions while you’re at it!  The museum is located on 17th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Sloan and Science on Screen

Yesterday, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced a nearly $500,000 dollar grant to the Science on Screen program.  Conceived by the Coolidge Corner Theatre, a beloved New England movie house whose foundation is dedicated to providing audiences with excellent and interesting cinematic experiences,  Science on Screen pairs feature films and presentations with lively presentations by science and technology experts.  In 2012 and 2013, 20 independent non-profit nationwide—up from 8 last year—will receive $7,000 dollar grants to develop their own Science on Screen programs.

For example, Randy Criss, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida Department of Physics explains the science behind Mel Brooks’ classic comedy “Young Frankenstein:”

Science on Screen