Reply to comment

I was also really surprised the approaches and directions that our nbs seminar wound up taking. I'm used to the idea that progress in science happens as the result of findings from a series of experiments and studies based on testable hypotheses. I think that we took a totally different approach in our seminar and it definitely required me to step outside of my comfort zone.

That said, I think that it was a really good experience for me to step outside of my comfort zone to think about some familiar (and some unfamiliar!) neural and behavioral science topics in a very different way. I think our seminar probably even promoted my "mental diversity" by approaching the various topics in a novel way. I've taken philosophy and sociology classes before, but it had never occurred to me that I could think about science topics (especially from the "hard sciences" like neurobiology and neuroscience) in the same manner that I've thought about sociology and philosophy topics.

I would also have to agree that I was really surprised with what I learned even within the topic that my group presented (or especially within our topic). What started out as an interesting news article about hippy drugs for PTSD turned into an overwhelming amount of information concerning an inappropriate relationship between politics and research, as well as inappropriate use of scientific findings. It was really dismaying that we've taken such a conservative approach to medical research in a country that prides itself for being on the cutting-edge of experimentation of all sorts.

I think that the biggest change for me coming out of this class is my increased skepticism towards the process of research. But then again, it's always good to question our research practices and think critically about if there's some way that we could be doing things better. I definitely think we could be approaching some of the medical research issues better, as well as the practices with animal experimentation. (Why has no one put together a data base of all the chemicals and pharmaceuticals that have been tested on animals and the results, even the negative ones? or the experiments that had null results? if PETA really wants to reduce the number of animals used annually this would be a great way for them to invest the money and energy that the government just doesn't seem to have to address the issue of needless experiment repetition...) I also think that while it may be inconvenient or even impossible to define some of the broad topics that came up in class, like diversity, love, and consciousness, breaking those terms into smaller definable parts may be the only way to actually make progress- or at least it seemed that way in our class.

So to sum up, I really think that this seminar has given me some new ways of thinking about things as well as a lot of information on some interesting topics. Thanks for everything everyone!

Liz