EricM DESMA9

On April 19th, I got the opportunity to attend a local church event that delved into advancements in healthcare and treatment of neurological diseases. I am highly interested in exploring a career in healthcare and as such, I took up the opportunity to hear from professionals in different healthcare careers.  In the event, I learned about the basic propagation of the action potential and the many ways that this signal transduction can be altered (ie. destroyed).   Neurological diseases encompass a wide variety of conditions such as Alzheimers, muscular dystrophy and myasthenia gravis. However, in essence, all of these conditions represent a fundamental disconnect between neurons and the target cells that they innervate. I learned that in the case of Alzheimer's, when cells called microglia are unable to clear a build-up of proteins, plaque forms around the brain cells. In Lecture 1 of the Medtec + Art lecture, Dr. V mentions the Human Genome Project and the importance of locat...

This week's topic challenged a lot of my preconceived notions of art as well as medicine. My major is physiological sciences and as such, I was required to learn all parts of the human body in my classes. In her lecture, Dr. V mentions "Gray's Anatomy" by Henry Gray and all of the subsequent iterations of the book (Lecture 1). In the book are detailed representations of human physiology and anatomy illustrated by Henry Carter. This book is a masterful example that exemplifies the inherent relationship between medicine and art. In order to explain medicine to the masses, it is necessary to first present the material in the form of CT scans and X-rays (Dr. V Lecture 2) . Likewise it is equally important to update the information as more is obtained which explains the many editions of the book. In the Casini reading, she posits the idea of an MRI being analogous to a portrait (pg. 16). Through the advent of social media and forums of social opinion (ie. Twitter), most h...

Industrialization is the very being that keeps society going. Without the advent of mechanization,  much of our daily tasks such as driving, farming (ie. food production), etc. would be much harder and severely reduced. In the Benjamin reading, he states, "one of the foremost tasks in art [is]... the creation of a demand which could be fully satisfied only later" (pg. 4). Art in conjunction with mechanization/ automation reduces the niche and exclusivity associated with the former. The demand for new art continuously persists thus necessitating the creation of revolutionary outlets of expression. Society responds to this demand by drawing parallels between mechanization and art. Thus, industrialization becomes the art that fills the void created by itself. I argue that it is the exclusivity and not the art itself that creates the demand for new industrialization. Professor Vesna speaks on the creation of the printing press and how it revolutionized the production of books, an...

Mathematics go hand and hand with art, however the relationship between the two is rather complex. It is easy to reduce the relationship between the two as math being a necessity in order to produce art, however, the readings have offered me a different perspective on this intrinsic relationship. Particularly, the idea of the "fourth dimension" in the Henderson reading speaks to the importance of time as an additional parameter by which the world should be examined. The traditional three-dimensional view of the world offered by our eyes does not account for the phenomenon of spatial time and the many different versions of something present at different times. The example provided in the reading of the "enveloping super lion" formed by "all the points of the lion and all its instants and positions" (pg. 208) presents the art of a highly visual being (an African lion) in a non-visual form (the super lion).      In the lecture, Dr. V speaks to the importance ...

  Hello, my name is Eric Musgrave and I am a fourth year Physiological Sciences major. The two cultures discussed in the Snow reading define a shift in my thinking and outlook on life both in and out of school. Growing up, I believe I was a lot more in touch with my creative, artsy side and I enjoyed painting, dancing and drawing. I made it a mission to learn everything about a particular topic when it peaked my interest. However, after years in the education system, I lost some of the creativity that defined my childhood. In Two Cultures, C.P. Snow speaks to the stark divide that exists between those in humanities and those in STEM. The language of the scientist  is oftentimes foreign to that of the artist (Snow). Upon being at UCLA, I have seen this phenomenon illustrated explicitly. Students here often struggle with enrollment passes and have to prioritize their major requirements when choosing classes. Hence, there is little to no space available to explore other fields of...