Author Archives: tobias

It’s Christmas Time in the City

by Aileen Marshall Like the old song says, the “city sidewalks, busy sidewalks” are “dressed in holiday style.” Besides the hustle and bustle of this busy shopping season, New York has many time-honored holiday activities.  Here are just a few … Continue reading

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Improv Your Life

by Christina Pyrgaki Did you know that there is a Tri-Institutional improv group? Well, there is. A bunch of witty, quirky, and overall lovable improvers gather every Tuesday in the Caspary music room and, for an hour and a half, … Continue reading

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On the Importance Of Fun

by Dan Gareau Everyone likes to have a good time and “laughter is the best medicine,” but for scientists, having fun may serve a greater purpose. Science is a creative process, and that creativity can be seen in glimpses that … Continue reading

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New York State of Mind

This month Natural Selections interviews Alpha Greengard, from the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. Country of origin: Switzerland.

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Life on a Roll

Boardwalk to Nowhere by Andrej Ondracka December 2012

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For Your Consideration – And They’re Off! Edition

by Jim Keller The Oscar race can be best thought of as a horserace in which each studio bets on their thoroughbreds and hopes that they can at least place in the end. In this analogy, the studio is the … Continue reading

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Natural Confections

by Carly Gelfond Pretend something with me for a minute. You are 28 years old. It’s August and you’re standing in Bloomingdale’s, a department store you rarely set foot in except for the occasional free spritz of perfume in the … Continue reading

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Political Polemics

by Daniel Briskin With the ultimate mandate of giving a select few the power of making decisions for the masses, politics carry an inherent nature of polarity, as differing viewpoints compete for legislative, executive, and judicial power. However, in the … Continue reading

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CULTURE CORNER Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

by Bernie Langs The three current kingpins of British literature are, in my opinion, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes. In the past I have enjoyed novels by all three, reveling in their tragedies and comedies filled with satire, … Continue reading

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Marx Was a Neuroscientist, Part 4: Dance Dance (Cognitive) Revolution

by Benjamin Campbell These petrified relations must be forced to dance by singing their own tune to them! Karl Marx In November, The Atlantic published an interview with Noam Chomsky on the state of contemporary cognitive science and “Where Artificial … Continue reading

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PDA Corner—2012 Postdoc Retreat

by Asma Hatoum At a quarter to six on a crisp September morning, eighty-five of us eager Rockefeller postdocs lined up at the main gate to board the buses that would whisk us out for the retreat. Along the way, … Continue reading

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Natural Confections

by Carly Gelfond For a food writer, fall can be a time of complicated emotions. Among the general population, fall is full of seasonal whimsy, all crunchy and leafy underfoot, smoke-scented, vested, and mittened. And to be sure, it is … Continue reading

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CULTURE DESK Reviews: Various Art Exhibitions and an Evening at Carnegie Hall

by Bernie Langs On a much too hot and humid Thursday in early October, I was determined to see as many top notch art shows in Manhattan as I could and succeeded beyond my expectations. I began the day at … Continue reading

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For Your Consideration—Ones to Watch Vol. 3 Edition

by Jim Keller In this final installment of the series, we take a look at the leading men. Not surprisingly, it’s a bit easier to gauge those that might fall within the Oscar wheelhouse—given that it’s later in the year … Continue reading

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New York State of Mind

This month Natural Selections interviews Dáibhid Ó Maoiléidigh, Postdoctoral Associate from the Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience. Country of origin: Ireland.

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Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Marxian Neuroeconomics

by Benjamin Campbell “Either the Devil has come amongst us having great power, or there is a causal explanation for a disease common to economics, science and art.” Christopher Caudwell, Studies in a Dying Culture

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Sounds of Science: Can Music Help Bring Science into Pop Culture? An Experiment in Public Communication

by John LaCava With this short article, I’d like to re-introduce the campus community to a project I started a few years ago: The Sounds Of Science. In February 2010, I penned an article for Natural Selections introducing the project … Continue reading

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Life on a Roll

Nafplio, Greece, 2006 by Christina Pyrgaki November 2012

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Halloween: A Celebration of Mortality

by Christina Pyrgaki I love Halloween, more so than any other holiday, and this is rather curious since Halloween is not celebrated in Greece, my home country. It was in 1993 when Tim Burton released The Nightmare Before Christmas that … Continue reading

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Culture Desk: Exhibition Review: “Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats” At The Metropolitan Museum of Art, through January 6, 2013

by Bernie Langs The great art historian, Lord Kenneth Clark, entitled two of his best essays, What is a Masterpiece? and Moments of Vision. If you would like to experience moments of greatly enhanced visual experience while gazing upon a … Continue reading

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