Day 2

Today, began by taking data of how sensitive our personal body parts are, we would take two points and adjust the distance in between them, and close our eyes and decide if it felt like one point or a distinguishable two points. We used this data to create a 'homunculus' which is basically an avatar. The data changed the visuals of the homunculus by making our most sensitive body parts the largest on the avatar, mine being my hands and feet.

After that, we went to a medical center to witness a surgery firsthand. I will not mention anything other than the fact that it was an implantation of an electrode into the brain for a Parkinson's patient, because I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to. Alongside that, we went into a technical area of the medical center where they demonstrated many different technologies that they are utilizing or will soon begin to utilize to treat patients. The most exciting piece of equipment was the Oculus Rift, which is a virtual reality headset, and we could all experience different scenarios like skiing down a mountain and riding rollercoasters.

After we were finished up at the medical center, we returned to the gathering place in a lecture hall where we were lectured for about an hour by Dr. DeVries and Dr. Bishop, who are also the camp's supervisors. Briefly after they finished, we proceeded to have lunch and then all of the fourty-something students were broken up into 4 groups and we all went to different laboratories that are researching evolving areas of the neuroscience field.

We visited a laboratory that is lead by Dr. Zhou and a band of partners, graduate students, and undergraduate students. They were researching something very unique and unknown, a brain cell called an astrocyte. There are two types of brain cells: one being the neuron, and the other being glia cells. Astrocytes are one of several types of glia. We were the first people to hear and see some of their groundbreaking work. I will not mention any specifics because I don't know if I can. They all seemed very passionate about the work they were doing and I aspire to someday find something that makes me feel the way astrocytes make Dr. Zhou and his peers feel.

Once we returned, we were lectured by the neuroscience department chair, who is also a prominent professor, Randy J. Nelson, PhD. He told us about his project on the topic of blue light and how it negatively affects humans when we are exposed to it at nighttime. He linked blue light to the likes of the increasing obesity and depression rates, as well as much more. This was a very interesting lecture because my mom has always told me how my computer and phone screen are screwing up my eyes, but today I learned that it's even worse than she thinks, so maybe I should listen to her and do something about it.