- Photo: GV (“Pippi”)
If you care at all about creativity and/or dogs and/or the most exciting frontier for research these days, have a look at the interview with Princeton neuroscience professor Samuel Wang in the Science Times last week: ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/science/09conv.html?scp=2&sq=claudia%20dreifus&st=cse).
Learn why he chose neuroscience over physics as his career (isn’t it obvious); learn that Sudoku won’t do us older folks any mental good (though more exercise might), and that playing Motzart for babies is a waste of time (for both parent and baby).
But the really intresting part is about dogs. Dr. Wang studies dog MRIs (brain scans) looking for correlations between brain size/characteristics and dog breed characteristics. There’s quite a range, because dogs can vary by a factor of x60 in body mass and x3 in brain size.
So, poodles are smarter than most dogs, and pugs (Wang has one) are sweet but not so bright. I will assume for now that my French Bulldog’s brain is closer in size to that of the pug than the poodle, but I (we both) await Dr. Wang’s findings.
Of course, compared with dogs, humans are all alike, Einstein’s brain included.
Where’s this all going? I don’t know, but stay tuned, it’s got to come around to art sooner or later.
Filed in: Neuroscience, Uncategorized.
Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum since 1994, has been with the Baltimore institution for more than 20 years. A native of Minnesota, Gary received his B.A. from Carleton College in 1967 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1976 before working as Senior Associate for Byzantine Art Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.
That dog looks brilliant to me!