Your Brain on fiction and The Mighty Mathematician Youve Never Heard Of - Essay Example

Opinion Articles The articles in discussion in this informative essay are all scientific. They have both been written in response to certain scientific theories or studies that had been done earlier in order to explain a particular fact in life. Annie Murphy Paul wrote the first article and it was published on 17 March 2012. It was entitled Your Brain on fiction. Despite, the evolution of digital devices, the fiction that is derived from reading novels is not completely dead. There is a group of individuals who have completely devoted themselves to the understanding of fiction through neuroscience. Annie writes that they have developed brain scans that reveal what happens in the brain when people read detailed information in the books or even articles in the newspaper, evocative character or an emotional exchange between characters in a movie or a book or even a magazine interview. Stories have affected the way people act or even the way they view certain situations in life. It was discovered that some of these stories stimulate the brain in a manner that directs the brain to do certain things in accordance to what it was stimulated to do. Researchers and scientists have always known the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area as the regions in the brain responsible for interpreting motor speech and written data respectively. However, it has been noted over the past few years that other brain parts are also stimulated when one reads a books, by so doing making the experience of reading feel very real in the eyes of the reader. According to scientists, there are words such as lavender, perfume or cinnamon that may stimulate the parts of the brain responsible for smelling. Annie explains that even descriptions such as “The singer had a velvety voice,” may stimulate the part of the brains responsible for hearing. Written statements such as his leathery hands touched this or that may also activate the part of the brain that deals with the tactile senses. In a particular study in 2006, researchers in Spain carried out a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which indicted that by reading certain words the participants olfactory nerves were stimulated, for instance the smell of perfume or coffee. In another study, a cognitive scientist Véronique Boulanger, claims that the use of sentences such as “Terry grasped the object” or “Peter kicked the ball” stimulated the motor cortex which is responsible for the coordination of the bodily movements. What’s more, the brain seems not to differentiate the experience it gets through reading and real life, this is because the same neurological regions are stimulated in each case. A University Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto stated that the reading produces stimulation of reality. These fictional stories and novels are just are essential in describing life’s social and emotional situation (Dwight 65). Most importantly, Annie wanted to bring out the idea that most of these stimulations that the brain receives have been evident by reading about them in books that have good descriptions of the movements, smells and actions of characters in the books or articles. Another article is The Mighty Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of, which was written by Natalie Angier and published by the New York Times on March 26, 2012. This article talks about a mathematician who has been almost anonymous for over a decade for a theory that explains so many other theories in physics. Einstein also described her as the most significant and creative female of all time. She invented a theory that unites two very common theories in physics, which include the Theory of symmetry in nature and that of the Universal laws of conservation. Noethers’s theory has been classified as important as that of by Einstein (Theory of relativity). Despite the significance of her works, she has remained unknown to the people. A physicist in Drexel University has carried a research and written about her works. He did a poll that he noted many people have no idea who this particular scientist was. A small number of students and people could explain who exactly this scientist is. A few other people could recall the name but could not say exactly what she did in physics or in science as a whole (Oerter 87). Noether was born about a hundred and thirty years ago in a town called Erlangen in Germany. During this time, no female professors were being hired or even female students being enrolled in any university. The article was written to celebrate the life of this renowned mathematician and also bring her to the limelight as well as show how excellent her work was to the public. Noethers’s theories according to some physicists formed a backbone to some important theories and explanations to modern physics. Emmy was the name she was known by her entire life, she started by learning English, piano and French but eventually her interests in mathematics manifested themselves. It is important to note that Emmy came from a mathematical family; her father was a math’s professor in the Heidelberg and Erlangen University. She studied the subjects she did but audited in some math units in the university. In the end, she passed her exams and went to Gottingen. Later, she came back and joined Erlangen, where she met many more mathematicians like herself. She taught mathematics in Gottingen where she pursued mathematical invariance; where one studies the characteristics of numbers that vary when manipulated but still remain constant. When Einstein published the theory of relativity, Noether applied some of her invariance works in the complexities of his work. The findings of this study finally brought what is today known as the Noethers’s theory; which is the relationship between the underlying geometry of the universe and mass and energy. What the theory states in simple terms would mean that if there is any form of homogeneity in parts or predictability or symmetry there is some sort of conservation in the background of a corresponding energy, charge or momentum. Noethers’s theory surprisingly links time and energy, which makes the theory unique in its own way. Lisa Randall in Harvard states that we ignore the importance of some quantities yet they play an important function especially when it comes to symmetry of these quantities for instance energy and momentum. Lisa recalls when she knew the author of the Noethers's theory was a female; she was shocked but found it inspirational for her apart from it being exciting. Lisa explained that Emmy left very little record of herself yet she had made such a huge impact in a field that was originally male dominated; physics. She was never married, and her private affairs if there were any were really hidden that no one has ever recorded any of that information about her. In 1930 after meeting the young Czech mathematician Taussky, Noether was glad that women were finally getting some recognition in the field; she had been secretive about writing very good papers that she even used male names as pen names for the papers she wrote before this time. Noether cared less about her appearance or even housework like the rest of the women. Noether was amongst the first Jewish researchers to be discharged from her position and compelled to run to Germany. Einstein helped her to get a job at Bryn Mawr College in 1933; here she was more appreciated by students than she had ever been in Germany. About eighteen months after her arrival in the United States, Noether was diagnosed with ovarian cyst and she died of it within days of her operation to remove them (Dwight 220). Both the articles were opinion articles that were published in the New York Times. They highlighted various scientific theories and their effects on certain life situations. The first article was intended to bring about the effect of books or written to human behavior especially socially and emotionally. The other article was intended to bring out the theory by an infamous scientist who brought out a very important theory that acted as the backbone to modern physics. The articles brought out different opinions on different issues on science. In the first, the information that was evident was that of how the brain was also stimulated by written data that has been described by the author by use of metaphors or any other figures of speech that have been used sparingly to explain experiences in life. In my opinion, the publishing of these articles was meant to enlighten people on scientific facts that they may have taken for granted. For example, in the case where Noether was spoken about, the celebration of her life was prime as the scientist had not been given so much limelight in her time; since it was an abomination for a woman to engage in what was well known as a male dominated field; mathematics. The other article explained to people that it is not only through real life experience that one would learn or have knowledge of something , but also through reading a book that has certain description that can fit a certain experience. The difference between the two articles, is that one dwelled mostly on scientific facts that entailed the regions of the brain that were responsible for stimulation for bodily functions such as smelling, touching, hearing and other body movements like walking or even jumping. The second article mainly spoke about the works of a scientist whose work was very popular but many a time she went unmentioned for her math prowess and her proficiency in explaining certain physics quantities like energy and momentum The strength of this essay is the fact that it is informative; the various articles that have been mentioned in this essay have informed us of the different scientific ideologies that are essential in understanding day-to-day life situations. This has been important in expounding on the scientific knowledge that has been highlighted in the articles (Dwight 34). Works cited "A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings." By Stephen Wilhoit. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. http:// www.powells.com/ biblio/72-9780205674596-0. Dwight E. Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2011. Print Oerter, Robert. The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics . New York: Pi, 2006. Print "The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of." New York Times. 26 Mar. 2012. Retrieved on Web. 9 Apr. 2012. http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/ science/Emmy-Noether-the- most-significant- mathematician-you’ve-never- heard-of.html "Your Brain on Fiction." New York Times (blog). 17 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/ opinion/Sunday/the- neuroscience-of-your-brain-on- fiction.html. Read More