What are you watching for World Television Day? #tv #brain

As they say, "A picture is worth 1,000 words".

In my brain drawing here, I have a television set embedded in the back of the brain which is where our visual cortex resides.

So, what will you be watching today?

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
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Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
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A #brain #drawing for Universal Childen's Day

On December 14th 1954, Universal Children's Day was born through the United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday Did you know that? What a great concept that is to dedicate a day to honor the world's children.

In keeping with my artwork on the brain, I wanted to find some information on how children's brains developed and came across these two articles.


- "How Children's Brains Develop" http://school.familyeducation.com/cognitive-development/biochemistry/38471.html
- "Children's Brains Change As They Learn To Think About Others" http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248867.php

(C) Michelle Hunter www.hunterart.com

The articles mentions that the brain 'grows' as one learned new things like how to interact with others as well as experiencing 'growth spurts'. Myelin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin helps secures what the brain is absorbing. In the first article, it is suggested that at ages 1, 4, 7, 11 and 15, is when neuron connectors are denser resulting in a greater ability to learn. That concept is illustrated in the above drawing.

Here's a close-up in progress as well to share with you:

Know of other resources that explore the brain of a child? Feel free to let me know.

Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html 
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com 
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart 
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
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Here's quick #drawing of the #brain for International Men's Day!

Happy International Men's Day! It falls on November 19th.

You can read more about how it began and how it it now celebrated in over 60 countries in this Wikipedia post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Men's_Day

Using the Mars symbol for Men, I did a quick sketch of what scientists believe are some key differences in the male brain versus the female brain. The sketch mostly focuses on the differences in grey and white matter but there's more being discovered!

(c) Michelle Hunter www.hunterart.com

A couple of the sources I used to get more information about these differences include:
- http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ
- http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

Do you know of other articles I should check out that also address what may be different between the female and male brain?

Or do you have different ideas of how to represent the male brain? Let me know :)

Michelle Hunter 
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings or drawings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034)
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html 
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com 
Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hunterart 
Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/artcoholic
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It's World #Philosophy Day! Here's a Rodin inspired #drawing

Hi there,

What comes to mind for you when the word "Philosophy" is mentioned? Well to celebrate World Philosophy day, here is a "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin inspired drawing where instead of the body, I used the brain :)

I have a bit more activity happening at the prefrontal cortex of the brain as that's where our decision making happens.

Read more about Rodin's sculpture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
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High Blood Sugar and the #Brain for World #Diabetes Day

Hello there,

Here is a drawing I've done for World Diabetes Day which is November 14th. The image represents how the imbalance of sugar effects of the brain of one with normal blood sugar (brain on the left) and one with high blood sugar (brain on the right).

For the brain on the right, the scale contains more sugar which is putting pressure on the brain. The results of that additional weight shrinks the amygdala and hippocampus areas of the brain housed in the limbic system.

According to this article by ABC News "High Blood Sugar Levels Linked to Brain Shrinkage", the amygdala (emotions) and hippocampus (memory) areas of the brain that shrinked for those with high blood sugar.

The study was conducted by the Neuroimaging and Brain Lab at Australian National University and would help refine the definition of diabetes.

There are multiple forms of diabetes which is defined as a disease where one has high blood sugar either because they cannot produce enough insulin or the insulin produced can't be absorbed by the cells. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus 

For World Diabetes Day, find out more information on the disease on the American Diabetes Association website:  www.diabetes.org 


Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
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Your memories could be LOST if not for this protein #Brain #Memory

This was a little unsettling when I read an article recently posted by ScienceDaily.

You may already be familiar with the 2 different types of memory we have: short- and long-term. Do you find it difficult to sustain a memory for a long time? That's the case for me which I represented in a painting for my brain series called "Don't You Remember?".

Don't You Remember? (c) Michelle Hunter
http://hunterart.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-painting-dont-you-remember.html

Now there was a study done recently of Drosophila melanogaster flies and their formation of long-term memory cells. Exhibited were specific proteins that were produced in the nerve cells which then become synthasized. Securing the bond between existing neuron connections and forming new ones are necessary for the formation of long-term memories. It's speculated that those proteins are CPEB which is an abbreviation for cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein.

This is pretty neat! This research can lead to other large discoveries which can impact our we as humans coup with involuntary memory loss.

Read more about Dr. Krystyna Keleman's research here: http://www.imp.ac.at/research/research-groups/keleman-group/research/

Want to dig a little further into this research? Check out this article in the issue of Neuron (http://download.cell.com/neuron/pdf/PIIS0896627312007659.pdf) titled "Drosophila CPEB Orb2A Mediates Memory Independent of Its RNA-Binding Domain". It was written by a lead member of Dr. Keleman's team.**
To read the article posted by ScienceDaily, you can click here: The Fabric for Weaving Memory: To Establish Long-Term Memory, Neurons Have to Synthesize New Proteins
 

In my painting used in this post, it represents the brain as wire. Details like people, venues, activites, scents can be triggers for recalling a memory. I show that connection as a person trying to connect the wires to create a spark. Interested in purchasing a print? Visit  http://www.imagekind.com/Dont-You-Remember_art?IMID=30f3b25b-ee91-49f4-b9f0-af15f50b83b2

Michelle Hunter
Contemporary Artist
Tel: (646) 504-5034
www.hunterart.com
info@hunterart.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Brain Series of Paintings, so far: http://hunterart.blogspot.com/p/brain-paintings.html
Purchase prints to fit your space here: http://www.hunterart.imagekind.com
Contact me if you would like to purchase original paintings (info@hunterart.com / 646-504-5034).
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** Sebastian Krüttner, Barbara Stepien, Jasprina N. Noordermeer, Mieke A. Mommaas, Karl Mechtler, Barry J. Dickson, Krystyna Keleman

Neuron - 18 October 2012 (Vol. 76, Issue 2, pp. 383-395)