NEW BRAIN FLOWS ARE BEAUTIFUL NOW

Today we are exploring some Beautiful Flows through the brain. From a cool new Glass Brain visualization tool to insights of creative flow, to flow arts, check it out below.

FLOW THROUGH A BRAIN!

Now, we can see an idea as it flows through the brain! Thanks to this anatomically-correct 3D brain visualization that depicts real-time flows from EEG (electroencephalographic) signals. Each color represents source power and connectivity in a different frequency band (alpha, beta, gamma, theta,). Golden lines represent white matter anatomical fiber tracts.

 

Watch as information transfers between different brain regions, as pulses of light flow along the fiber tracts that connect them. Each pulse of light in this video represents information transmitted from one part of the brain to another in a real person, captured in real time.

A team of scientists from Gazzaley Lab / Neuroscape lab, University of California San Francisco, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, and University of California San Diego developed the modeling set which effectively creates a “glass” brain.

Tools included MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain scanning to generate a high-resolution 3D model of an individual's brain, skull, and scalp tissue, DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) for reconstructing white matter tracts, as well as BCILAB / SIFT and a 64-channel "wet" mobile system by Cognionics/BrainVision.

The final visualization is rendered by Unity, which allows the user to fly around and through the brain with a gamepad as they see real-time live brain activity from someone wearing an EEG cap.

BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE FLOW

If you want to improve the flow of ideas in your own brain, check out this fascinating essay, The Psychology of Writing and the Cognitive Science of the Perfect Daily Routine, by Maria Popova, of Brain Pickings.

She tells us how to “sculpt an environment that optimizes creative flow and summons relevant knowledge from your long-term memory through the right retrieval cues.”

Popova investigates the work of cognitive psychologist Ronald T. Kellogg and considers the writing styles of Proust, Carlyle, Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg, among others -- all with the quest of achieving a state of creative flow. And, as always, she delivers some fascinating insights.

FLOW ARTS

The rapidly emerging field of flow arts is considered by many of those who practice to be, at its deepest core, a form of yoga, a path of inquiry. It is a transformative and healing somatic practice, which is reported to help restore and retrain the flow of the nervous system.

Check out Bella Retreats’ BEAUTY THAT TRANSFORMS: A Transformational Yoga, Dance, And Flow Arts Retreat held next month (April) at the Kalani Oceanside Retreat Center in Hawaii.

The retreat will offer the first transformational flow arts program of its kind. Immerse yourself in a unique program weaving the science and soul of yoga, dance, and the flow arts as revolutionary paths for somatic healing, transformation, and grace.

Read more about Beautiful Flow, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Books Featuring Beautiful River Flows,  10 Beautiful Waterfalls Are Flowing Now, The Sweet Flow of Sweet Maple Sap Now, Artist & Works Flow Beautifully Now and Flowmotion City Cameo Films Are Beautiful Trips Now.

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Do you have amazing photos of Beautiful Flow? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week!

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Gazzaleylab / SCCN / Neuroscapelab. The Glass Brain.
2. Image: by The Neuroscape Lab. The Glass Brain.
3. Video: by neuroscapelab. Glass brain flythrough - Gazzaleylab / SCCN / Neuroscapelab.
4. Image: by The Neuroscape Lab. The Glass Brain.
5. Image: by The Neuroscape Lab. The Glass Brain.
6. Image: by The Neuroscape Lab. The Glass Brain.
7. Photo: by Ray Dumas. Journal Entry.
8. Photo: by Nathalie Martin. Untitled.
9. Photo: by Frederic Guillory. Writing Tools.
10. Photo: by Jessica Repko. Courtesy of The Temple News. Temple Flow Arts.
11. Image: Courtesy of Bella Retreats. Beauty that Transforms Retreat.
12. Image: Courtesy of Hiptronic Arts.
13. Image: Courtesy of Revise Diet. Fire Poi - Flow Art.
14. Image: by The Neuroscape Lab. The Glass Brain.