"This book is only for people who like joy, absurdity, passion, genius, dry wit, youthful folly, amusing historical arcana, or telescopes." —Rivka Galchen, author of Little Labors and American Innovations In 1666, an astronomer makes a prediction shared by no one else in the world: at the stroke of noon on June 30 of that year, a solar eclipse will cast all of Europe into total darkness for four seconds. This astronomer is rumored to be using the longest telescope ever built, but he is also known to be blind—and not only blind, but incapable of sight, both his eyes having been plucked out some time before under mysterious circumstances. Is he mad? Or does he, despite this impairment, have an insight denied the other scholars of his day? These questions intrigue the young Gottfried Leibniz—not yet the world-renowned polymath who would go on to discover calculus, but a nineteen-year-old whose faith in reason is shaky at best. Leibniz sets off to investigate the astronomer’s claim, and over the three hours remaining before the eclipse occurs—or fails to occur—the astronomer tells the scholar the haunting and hilarious story behind his strange prediction: a tale that ends up encompassing kings and princes, family squabbles, obsessive pursuits, insanity, philosophy, art, loss, and the horrors of war. Written with a tip of the hat to the works of Thomas Bernhard and Franz Kafka, The Organs of Sense stands as a towering comic fable: a story about the nature of perception, and the ways the heart of a loved one can prove as unfathomable as the stars.
The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, Second Edition, Seven Volume Set is a comprehensive reference work covering the range of topics that constitute current knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying the different senses. This important work provides the most up-to-date, cutting-edge, comprehensive reference combining volumes on all major sensory modalities in one set. Offering 264 chapters from a distinguished team of international experts, The Senses lays out current knowledge on the anatomy, physiology, and molecular biology of sensory organs, in a collection of comprehensive chapters spanning 4 volumes. Topics covered include the perception, psychophysics, and higher order processing of sensory information, as well as disorders and new diagnostic and treatment methods. Written for a wide audience, this reference work provides students, scholars, medical doctors, as well as anyone interested in neuroscience, a comprehensive overview of the knowledge accumulated on the function of sense organs, sensory systems, and how the brain processes sensory input. As with the first edition, contributions from leading scholars from around the world will ensure The Senses offers a truly international portrait of sensory physiology. The set is the definitive reference on sensory neuroscience and provides the ultimate entry point into the review and original literature in Sensory Neuroscience enabling students and scientists to delve into the subject and deepen their knowledge. All-inclusive coverage of topics: updated edition offers readers the only current reference available covering neurobiology, physiology, anatomy, and molecular biology of sense organs and the processing of sensory information in the brain Authoritative content: world-leading contributors provide readers with a reputable, dynamic and authoritative account of the topics under discussion Comprehensive-style content: in-depth, complex coverage of topics offers students at upper undergraduate level and above full insight into topics under discussion
This book offers an important study of Aristotle's theory of the sense-organs. It aims to answer two questions central to Aristotle's psychology and biology: why does Aristotle think we have sense-organs, and why does he describe the sense-organs in the way he does? The author looks at all the Aristotelian evidence for the five senses and shows how pervasively Aristotle's accounts of the sense-organs are motivated by his interest in form and function. The book also engages with the celebrated problem of whether perception for Aristotle requires material changes in the perceiver. It argues that, surprisingly to the modern philosopher, nothing in Aristotle's description of the sense-organs requires us to believe in such changes.
Many advances have been made in the last decade in the understanding of the computational principles underlying olfactory system functioning. Neuromorphic Olfaction is a collaboration among European researchers who, through NEUROCHEM (Fp7-Grant Agreement Number 216916)-a challenging and innovative European-funded project-introduce novel computing p
JOHN G. HILDEBRAND Research on insect olfaction is important for at least two reasons. First, the olfactory systems of insects and their arthropod kin are experi mentally favourable models for studies aimed at learning about general principles of olfaction that apply to vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Detailed comparisons between the olfactory pathways in vertebrates and insects have revealed striking similarities of functional organisation, physiol ogy, and development, suggesting that olfactory information is processed through neural mechanisms more similar than different in these evolution arily remote creatures. Second, insect olfaction itself is important because of the economic and medical impact of insects that are agricultural pests and disease vectors, as well as positive impact of beneficial species, such as the bees and moths responsible for pollination and production of honey. The harm or benefit attributable to an insect is a function of what it does - that is, of its behaviour - which is shaped by sensory information. Often olfaction is the key modality for control of basic insect behaviour, such as ori entation and movement toward, and interactions with, potential mates, appro priate sites for oviposition, and sources of food. Not surprisingly, therefore, much work on insect olfaction has been motivated by long-term hopes of using knowledge of this pivotal sensory system to design strategies for mon itoring and managing harmful species and fostering the welfare of beneficial ones.
Multiple senses, like multiple intelligences, are a key to brain variability and therefore human evolution. Besides the traditional five senses (vision, olfaction, gustation, audition, and somatosensory), humans can also perceive the body’s own position (the sense of proprioception) and movement (the vestibular sense). Interoception is the feeling one has about the internal physiological conditions of the entire body. Additionally there is a sense of intuition, also known as the sixth sense. Despite their best efforts, researchers are still unable to concur in specifying the nature of the sixth sense; some consider the sense of proprioception as the sixth sense, whereas others prefer to consider that as a part of interoception. This book will provide a scientific system for the human sixth sense using relevant biophysical and neurophysiological evidence. The power of “sixth sense” seems to be underestimated, due to difficulties in defining the concept clearly. According to socioeconomics and neural physics, the sixth sense is that which permits humans to create perception or to enhance the quality of their perception of events. Roughly speaking, the sixth sense engages a metacognitive process through which prior knowledge and the information received from other sensory modalities are synergized. It is not restricted to specific arrow of time and type of mind or to the observer’s body, but it considers all arrows of time (past, present, future), types of mind (conscious and unconscious), and physical bodies (self and other). However it is expected that the observer has specific biases towards what happens now or would happen in the future and its relation to himself. Particularly, humans appeal to the sixth sense on the road to achieving success in social competitions and to reduce uncertainty in complex decision making processes. In addition to evidence linking genetic components to the sixth sense submodalities, there have been developed strategies for increasing the quality of perceptions provided by the sixth sense. Meditation, through which individuals try to be detached from the world, increases gamma-band activity and that increased gamma-band activity is found following top-down processing. Therefore it can be inferred that the detachment from the environment may enhance synchronization of the wave functions in favor of strengthening the sixth sense. It can serve as the mechanism of enhancement of the sixth sense in those whose sensory systems are intact, it can also serve as the mechanism of compensation in those who have sensory deficiencies. In the latter case, it in fact encourages creativity in the use of relatively strong senses. This justifies Beethoven's deafness and his great musical creativity or Bramblitt's blindness and his enormous capability to paint and many other similar examples. In summary, the present book is divided into five parts. Part 1 (chapters 1-6) provides information about the system of proprioception and its neurophysiology and biophysics. Part 2 (chapters 7-10) examines the system of interoception. The information provided in these two parts would enable us to move towards the next three parts of the story, aimed at developing a scientific system of the sixth sense. The first chapter of part 3 begins with concepts and uses them to arrive at reasonable conclusion that there must be a sense that requires multistep information processing and that is separate from the sense of proprioception and the sense of interoception. Such sense is commonly known as the sixth sense. However it should be re-numbered because the sense of proprioception is already known as the sixth sense. The second chapter of this part is to draw neurocircuitry that innervates the sixth sense in the mind of a man, while the third chapter would address the questions whether the sixth sense system requires an optimal competence or consciousness of mind to function properly and if so which is the optimal state: conscious or unconscious and competence or incompetence. In the fourth chapter of this part, we will focus on the self-other mergence as a pivotal step of the sixth sense system. The next chapter would be of great interest to neurobiologists. It talks about that the human sixth sense of the unseen world, either the unseen arrow of time or the unseen events, requires creativity and therefore the human sixth sense should be considered a source of creativity, variability and thus evolution. In the sixth chapter, the sixth sense is viewed as an economic activity stimulated by social environments. This chapter arisen from the fact that humans are full of enthusiasm to heighten their sixth sense and its accuracy and that they owe their enthusiasm largely to achieving the best possible profit and in other words to wining intense competitions in their life holds mainly on the concept of elasticity. Finally this part is finished by an amazing discussion on the art of the sixth sense. The first chapter of part 4 discusses physical theories that support the existence of sixth sense in the universe. The next chapter is to apply the Bayes’ theory to the sixth sense, leading to the conclusion that the sixth sense improves multisensory integration through optimizing uncertainty of information received from other sensory modalities. Chapter three in this part would address whether relative timing is applicable to the sixth sense like other senses. The last part of book aimed at directly discussing the sixth sense into the context of human health and behavior is organized into four chapters. The first chapter is to discuss neurodevelopmental changes in the sixth sense, while the second and third ones will discuss that in relation to psychiatric and neurological disorders. The most striking question how much power the sixth sense the sixth sense have over human health and behavior is addressed in the fourth chapter of this part and final chapter of book, which will be prepared using neural network models and sophisticated portraits possible for the system of sixth sense.
With 474 beautiful and painstakingly detailed illustrations of normal human skin, this atlas is indispensable for the clinician and the resident in dermatology as well as for any physician or scientist who is fascinated by the pattern, order, and beauty of the largest human organ, the skin.
Since the publication of earlier editions, there has been The new edition has a number of new contributors, a considerable increase in research activity ina number who have written on the nervous system, sense organs, of areas, with each succeeding edition including new muscle, endocrines, reproduction, digestion and immu chapters and an expansion of knowledge in older chap nophysiology. Contributors from previous editions ters. have expanded their offerings considerably. The fourth edition contains two new chapters, on The authors are indebted to various investigators, muscle and immunophysiology, the latter an area journals and books for the many illustrations used. Indi where research on Aves has contributed significantly vidual acknowledgement is made in the legends and to our general knowledge of the subject. references. Preface to the 'Third Edition Since the publication of the first and second editions, pathways of birds and mammals. New contributors in there has been a considerable increase of research activ clude M. R. Fedde and T. B. Bolton, who have com ity in avian physiology in a number of areas, including pletely revised and expanded the chapters on respira endocrinology and reproduction, heart and circulation, tion and the nervous system, respectively, and J. G. respiration, temperature regulation, and to a lesser ex Rogers, Jr. , W. J. Mueller, H. Opel, and D. e. Meyer, who have made contributions to Chapters 2,16, 17, tent in some other areas. There appeared in 1972-1974 a four volume treatise and 19, respectively.
