project time
Alright, first post in a good while (thanks for the reminder Kelly ;).
So what's new in Liverpool? Everyone is settled in the program, the gears are turning and project ideas are being tossed around like mad. With a little luck I'll get to be a subject for several imaging studies and get some nice pics of my brain. As for me, I've decided to investigate the 'high' (euphoric feeling in scientific terms) that musicians often get when things 'click'. Looking at what stimulus exlicits the response (the physical activity, sociality or the synchrony with others) and what chemical mediates the experience (suspect endorphins). I have full control over the design and not suprisingly I've chosen percussionists as my subjects. Specifically, those that frequent drum circles. There's a professional group here in Liverpool that runs clinics, and hopefully will not object to donating a few hours of there time in the pursuit of science.
Course load is fairly light this semester as I dropped one module in favour of doing a minor dissertation instead. My aim, and it's ambitious, is to radically change current evolutionary theory... and I think I'm on to something. That said, tomorrow I'm meeting a prof to defend an essay last semester that received a poor mark. She's on my side, and giving me the chance so I can keep my mark in 'distinction'. Wrote my case out tonight and feeling confident.
Annie and I are great. It's not the ideal situation, her being in Leeds, me in Liverpool, but it doesn't seem to be that much of a problem (she may feel different ;). Lucky bugger gets to go to Kenya for a month in March for some fieldwork, then a few weeks holiday. I guess I can't complain considering the UK is a foreign country for me and this whole excursion could be considered a 'vacation'.
back to the grind.
So what's new in Liverpool? Everyone is settled in the program, the gears are turning and project ideas are being tossed around like mad. With a little luck I'll get to be a subject for several imaging studies and get some nice pics of my brain. As for me, I've decided to investigate the 'high' (euphoric feeling in scientific terms) that musicians often get when things 'click'. Looking at what stimulus exlicits the response (the physical activity, sociality or the synchrony with others) and what chemical mediates the experience (suspect endorphins). I have full control over the design and not suprisingly I've chosen percussionists as my subjects. Specifically, those that frequent drum circles. There's a professional group here in Liverpool that runs clinics, and hopefully will not object to donating a few hours of there time in the pursuit of science.
Course load is fairly light this semester as I dropped one module in favour of doing a minor dissertation instead. My aim, and it's ambitious, is to radically change current evolutionary theory... and I think I'm on to something. That said, tomorrow I'm meeting a prof to defend an essay last semester that received a poor mark. She's on my side, and giving me the chance so I can keep my mark in 'distinction'. Wrote my case out tonight and feeling confident.
Annie and I are great. It's not the ideal situation, her being in Leeds, me in Liverpool, but it doesn't seem to be that much of a problem (she may feel different ;). Lucky bugger gets to go to Kenya for a month in March for some fieldwork, then a few weeks holiday. I guess I can't complain considering the UK is a foreign country for me and this whole excursion could be considered a 'vacation'.
back to the grind.
posted by Ian at 8:12 PM
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