Return to Normal

It has been about a week and half since I returned to Seattle from Bylakuppe.  Finally, my sleep patterns have returned to normal and I can sleep through the night.  For the first few days after my return, I could not keep my eyes open past 8 pm and woke up at about 4 am unable to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, back in Bylakuppe at the Namdroling Monastery, the Cosmology and Consciousness Conference "Quantum Mechanics and Buddhist Emptiness" started today and will continue until October 9.  [Conference Program]

Bylakuppe Photo Album

Returned to Seattle safe and sound!

Photos from Bylakuppe (click here)

Bangalore to Dubai

No trouble on the road to the Bangalore airport.  On the way to the airport, I did notice cars lining up for gas because the gas stations were all closed from dawn to dusk because of the strike.

Sitting in the Dubai airport right now (12:30 am) waiting for the return flight to Seattle.  The airport here is very nice -- high ceilings, gleaming floors, high end shopping.  There is even a large indoor waterfall.

Goodbyes

Last night I had to pack quickly to get back to Bangalore before a statewide strike began.  This changed the entire schedule for my last day in Bylakuppe.

Like me, the monks found out that I had to leave town at dinner on Friday night.  We all met in front of the guest house at about 8 pm before my 4.5 hour drive back to Bangalore.  The monks said that they had prepared special cakes for me that we were supposed to have the next day.  They were also disappointed that I did not get to deliver my final presentations, but because I left some things undone, it is expected that I will be back to India to finish these final lessons.

The monks also presented me with some scarves and the Science for Monks program gave me some presents to take home.  I told the monks how much I appreciated their attention to my lessons and I also mentioned that I learned many things from them.  I told them that as I walked around Bylakuppe that I met many of the monks who were in my classes from previous years and how we stopped to chat.  I said that I expected them to say "Hello" to me when I see them on the street in the future.  I also encouraged them to stay in contact with me via email.

Below is a photo of a photo that the monks took and printed earlier this week; they gave me the picture as we said our goodbyes last night.  The picture was taken as we posed on top of the building where we had class.  The structure in the background is the Golden Temple.

Early Morning at Namdroling Monastery

In my opinion, the best time to visit the Golden Temple is in the morning.  The gates open at 7 am and the grounds are fairly empty because the tourists have not arrived yet.  In addition to the main structure (Golden Temple), there are living quarters for the monks and several buildings that are used for other activities.

More Two Point Discrimination Testing

Catching up on some video editing; this one from earlier in the week when the monks used two point discrimination testers (also see earlier blog post below on this activity).

Don't Forget

Golden Temple

Before the start of the lesson about learning and memory, I took another walk around the grounds of the Namdroling Monastery.  The monastery is very beautiful with its temple buildings and well kept gardens.

The lesson about learning and memory began with a discussion of the different types of memory (sensory memory, short term memory, long term memory; declarative memory, procedural memory).  I also mentioned the famous case of HM who had portions of his temporal lobe and hippocampus removed.  The monks had heard me talk about Alzheimer’s disease earlier in the week so we compared the behavior of people with different types of memory problems.

We also did experiments to test their memory.  For example, I had the translator read a list of 20 words and asked the monks to remember as many as possible.  We created a word position curve to see what words they remembered.  I expected to see earlier words on the list and later words on the list remembered better than the other words, but there were quite a few words in the middle of the list that they remembered well.  One of these words was butterfly.  I asked them why they remembered butterfly and they said because I had mentioned earlier in the week how butterflies taste with their feet.

Outside Golden Temple

We also compared memory for concrete, abstract and nonsense words.  All of the monks had trouble remembering nonsense words such as “jibma” and “rovtib”.  Most people remember concrete words (e.g., house, pencil, car) between than abstract words (e.g., trust, faith, honesty), but the monks found that the two lists were equal in their difficulty to remember.  They also asked about the language of the nonsense words.  They all laughed when I said it was not Tibetan or English; rather it was “Eric Language.”

After five minutes of journal writing, I told the monks that my own memory was still good --  I had not forgotten about tea time and that they were welcome to take a break.

A Sweet Lesson

Candy ready for taste test

In past workshops in India, I have brought small, fruit flavored hard candies for experiments with smell and taste. This time, I was assured that the program could find candies in India. Sure enough, they did find fruit flavored candy, but it was in the form of a lollipop. Sometimes you have to do with what you have.

The four different flavors of lollipop were given to the five tables of monks. The monks were asked to break the candy into small pieces that they were going to eat. Some monks used a pair of scissors to break the candy, others hit the candy on their tables. Regardless of the method, each table eventually had a good supply of candy pieces.

Taste testing

The monks were instructed to taste the candy in two conditions: once with their noses open and once with their noses pinched closed. They were asked if the candy tasted any different in the two conditions. Also, they monks were asked if they could identify the flavor of the candy with their noses pinched closed. As expected, without the sense of smell, the flavor of the candy was dulled and the monks had trouble identifying the correct flavor.

Reach Out and Touch

Two Point Discrimination Test

On to the somatosensory system!  The monks and I talked about the different types of sensory receptors in the skin and how they respond to different types of stimuli.  I cut a paper plate into several small pieces for each group and asked them to use their fingers flip the pieces so that the smooth side was up.  The monks tried the experiment by moving their fingers over the plate and by just touching the plate to their fingers.  Most of the monks found that moving the plate over their fingers made it easier to identify the texture. 

Two Point Discrimination Test

We also discussed how the density of receptors in the skin is mapped to the cerebral cortex.  For example, the fingers and face have a high density of receptors and the cortex has a large amount of tissue devoted to these areas of the body.  We drew a homunculus to show what a person would look like if they were built according to how much sensory cortex was devoted to particular body parts.

Two Point Discrimination Test

Finally, the monks “mapped” each other’s skin sensitivity using two point discrimination testers.  They used rubber bands to attach two toothpicks to a ruler.  This two point discriminator tester was touched to different parts of the skin of their subject to determine when it felt like one point contacted their skin rather than two points.  The monks could see that the face and fingers required the toothpicks to be much closer together than the back or calf.

Taste and smell are up next!

Can You Hear Me Now

(Note:  some posts are out of order because I had to leave Bylakuppe unexpectedly; read the post below titled "Under the Cover of Darkness")

After tea time on Thursday, we started on hearing.  I explained how sound moves in waves through the air.  The amplitude and frequency of sound waves provides information about the loudness and pitch of the sound.  The monks played with rulers to illustrate these properties:  they strummed the rulers with different lengths over a table to hear how vibration can change the pitch of sound. We also worked with tuning forks to hear how sound can be conducted through bone.

Returning home after class

To show how sensitive our hearing is, I gave a paper cup to the monks.  I told them to hold the cup to their ear and then to drop a ball of paper into the cup.  Then they should cut the paper in half, ball it up, and then drop it into the cup again to see if they could hear it.  They were to continue cutting the paper in half until they could not longer hear it dropped into the cup.  The monks were very surprised at how small the paper could be and still hear it.  One monk found a pepper grain that could still be heard when it was dropped in the cup.

Under the Cover of Darkness

The last two days have been filled with change; that is why I have not updated this blog since Thursday.  First, a huge storm with thunder and lightning moved through Bylakuppe on Thursday night, knocking out power into Friday.

Final basketball game before dinner

Second, on Friday we found out that there was going to be a huge state-wide strike affecting transportation and other businesses.  So, I am sitting in a hotel room in Bangalore right now.  I had to leave the monastery at the last minute on Friday night because of the strike on Saturday. After dinner on Friday night, it was decided it was safest for me to get back to the city of Bangalore so I would not miss my flight back to Seattle later in the day.  I had planned to teach on Saturday, but things could turn out bad on the roads if I waited.

Strikes in India can turn violent and one of the groups participating in the strike are licensed drivers (e.g., taxis, cars for hire).  Such cars can be idenified by license plates and in past strikes, some cars that have attempted to break the strike have been stopped on the road, stoned and/or burned.  I would like to avoid this.  One town along the road from the monastery in Bylakuppe to Bangalore has an especially bad reputation.

We found one driver who was willing to cross the picket lines, but we decided it was safer to leave town under the cover of darkness before the strike started.   Therefore, I packed quickly at 8 pm to get ready for the 4.5 hour drive back to Bangalore.  All of the monks gathered near the guest house to say "Goodbye."  They presented me with a few gifts and there were speeches all around.  I apologized for not being able to stay for the last day of class, but they all understood.  I hope to keep in touch with them by email.

The hotel has a private car not affected by the strike, so unless we encounter any protests on the road, we should be fine.  It should be an "interesting" day!

Moving through the Senses

We are moving very quickly through the senses:  perhaps too quickly.  I warned the monks that I am providing only an overview of neuroscience.  Each of the topics I discuss with the monks for one or two hours can be a complete separate class lasting several weeks or months.

Our journey into vision ended with depth perception.  We compared the placement of the eyes of different animals.  Predators have their eyes on the front of their faces while prey animals have their eyes on the side or top of their heads.  Having two eyes with overlapping visual fields helps animals with depth perception. 

We played a game to demonstrate this concept.  I divided the monks into three teams.  Each person on a team got a paper clip.  About three feet away, I set up a paper plate.  The monks had to toss their paper clips on to the paper plate using two eyes and then we did the game again when they used only one eye.  The game was very competitive and the data showed that two eyes were better than one. 

Back in the classroom, I mentioned that I played basketball behind the temple yesterday and that I was watching them play the paper clip game.  I said I wanted the people who landed a clip on the plate on my team the next time I played basketball. Although I was just joking about this, but the monks took me up on my offer and they all now want to play basketball!  I said I will try to arrange a time to play tomorrow before dinner.

On the Road to the Golden Temple

Today I was minding my own business and walking along the road from my room in the guest house to the classroom.  It's about a five minute walk along the main street.  I got about half way to class when a carload of Indian tourists stopped right along side of me.  The driver leaned out of the window and asked me in English:  "Where is the Golden Temple?"

I replied that the Golden Temple was just over the wall next to the road and I pointed to the Golden Temple.  The driver then asked me where he should park his car.  I told him to go a little further down the road and then to make a left hand turn into a large parking lot.

I am not sure why the driver thought I would know the answers to his questions.  I certainly cannot be confused for a local.  But after a week here in Bylakuppe, I do know my way around. 

To the Senses

On Wednesday, we started the day with another debate:  would taking a pill to make you smarter be cheating or not?  Neither group really answered the question, but instead they argued about what would happen if more people became intelligent.  One group thought that there were more evil people, not good people in the world.  They thought problems would occur if the evil people became more intelligent.  They also thought that if everyone became more intelligent, then no one would want to do jobs that did not require thinking such as cleaning bathrooms.   The other group countered that more smart people would counter any problems that evil people would make.  From the cheers and applause of the monks, it appeared to me that the winner was with the speakers who said that taking the smart pill would be cheating.

Ruler Drop

I opened the discussion about the senses with a general overview of how all of the senses provide information about what is in the environment, where it is, how much there is and how it is changing.  I tried to stress how our body has special cells (receptors) that respond to different signals like light, chemical and air pressure and showed pictures of different sensory receptors.  We then experimented with vision, hearing and touch by testing reaction time using the ruler drop.

Monks were given rulers and told to drop them so that another monk could catch it in three conditions:  1) eyes open when the ruler was dropped; 2) eyes closed but the word “drop” was said at the same time the ruler was dropped and 3) eyes closed but the foot was tapped at the same time the ruler was dropped.  For each condition, the monks had to perform the experiment three times and record their data.  They all averaged their data and wrote their numbers on the board at the front of the room.  Then we discussed are data and found that vision provided the fastest reaction time followed by sound and the touch.  A discussion about why the data looked this way followed.

In the afternoon we looked at the anatomy of the eye and followed the pathway of light through the cornea, pupil, and lens.  With a small magnifying glass, the monks drew a picture of the light projected through the lens and saw that the image is upside down and right side is reversed with the left side: this is what happens when light passes through the lens of the eye.  The monks also learned about the retina and its photoreceptors and explored the distribution of rods and cones by moving colored objects from the sides of their faces to the middle of their face.  They noticed that movement can be detected when things move toward the side, but they cannot see color or detail.  As the object is moved more toward the center of the head, the image’s color and detail can be seen because the image hits the part of the retina with cone receptors.

We ended the day with visual illusions including an afterimage of the flags of Tibet and the United States.  The monks really enjoyed the illusions and had fun arguing what they saw.  Tomorrow we will finish vision and move on to hearing and touch.  I hope we will also get to smell and taste and many other topics.  Time is getting short; I leave in three days!

Neurons, Neurons, and More Neurons

Pipe Cleaner Neuron

We started this day with a debate: if you were going to get a neurological disease in the future, would you want to know now?  Two pairs of monks came up the front of the class:  one pair wanted to know and the other pair did not want to know.  I had the translator whisper to me what was said because I did not want to interrupt the debate.  Both sides made valid points and there was no winner or loser.

Nerve cells and neurotransmission were up next.  I started with the basic structure of a neuron:  dendrites, cell body, axon and terminal.  We modeled neurons three ways.  The first way was the most simple.  We used our arms and hands (fingers = dendrites; hand = cell body; arm = axon; elbow = terminal).  The second way was with a piece of string that is pulled in a pattern to make the shape of a neuron.  The last way was by building neurons from pipe cleaners.

Pipe Cleaner Neuron

I made a strategic decision to skip how neurons generate an electrical potential and so I just mentioned that neurons send signals using an electric signal.  I also mentioned that the signal between neurons was chemical in nature.  Before I could get much further, one monk asked how a neuron could generate electricity.  So I had to backtrack and explain ions and ion concentrations, the sodium-potassium pump and ion channels.  This discussion was a bit difficult for many of the monks who have never had a chemistry class.  However, I think they understood that the inside of a neuron was more negative than the outside of a neuron and that when specific ion channel open and close you get the electrical signal (action potential).

String Neuron

We also modeled electrical and chemical signaling using a giant neuron we made out of tubing, pipe cleaners, a tube and plastic cup.  For neurotransmitters, we used orange ping pong balls.  We also used the ping pong balls to have a race:  each monk became a neuron with a neurotransmitter.  The race was to see which team could get their signal from one end of the neuron chain to the other end.  It took a few practice attempts before everyone got the hang of it.

The lessons ended with a discussion of conduction velocity (speed of electrical signals) and the importance of myelin.   

During tea break, several monks had more questions for me – the monks always have more questions for me.

Visitors

I always seem to find interesting "visitors" each time I come to India.  Here are a few who have come to say "Hello" this time.

Largest beetle I have ever seen!

Mysore Street Scene

Getting close to the city of Mysore.
(Also see post below)

Brain Hats and Reflexes

After five days in India, my internal clock is slowly making the time change.  I can stay awake until about 10:30 pm and sleep until 5:30 am.  That’s seven hour of sleep which isn’t too bad.

Today in class we finished our discussion of brain anatomy.  We were able to borrow a brain model from a neighboring monastery (Sera Mey monastery) that was a great benefit to my presentation.   Everyone in class can now easily distinguish the right from the left hemisphere and the front and back of the human brain.   The monks also know the difference between a coronal, sagittal and horizontal brain section. We also went through the locations and functions of the four lobes of the brain (frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital) and talked about other divisions of the brain such as the thalamus, cerebellum, brainstem and hypothalamus.  Everyone made a brain hat to model the different lobes and we took a photo to commemorate the occasion.

Brain Hats

The monks have been asking many questions about the differences between human brains and the brains of other animals.   One way I answered this question was by showing photos of six different brains and asking the monks to match the brain with six different animals.  The monks did a good job at matching the brain with the animals, but only one monk said he got all six correct. 

Reflex Testing

In the afternoon we moved on to the cranial nerves and spinal cord.  For the 12 cranial nerves, the monks became neurologists and tested each other’s nerve function.  For example, to test the function of the olfactory nerve, they smelled an orange skin; for the oculomotor nerve, they looked at the response of the pupil to light and dark; for the hypoglossal nerve, they moved their tongues.

We also had time to discuss spinal cord anatomy and reflexes.  I asked for a volunteer to come up to the front of the room and got a quick response.  This monk climb up a bench I set up at the front of the room and sat in a chair with his leg dangling over the edge.  With a reflex hammer, I tapped just below the knee of this monk to demonstrate the knee jerk response.  It worked perfectly and the monk’s leg kicked out.

Tomorrow it is on to neurons:  what they look like and how they work.

Scenes from Mysore

The trip to Mysore on Sunday took about 2 hours by car.  The first stop in the city was at the Mysore Palace where a royal family ruled the area from 1350 to 1950. I made the mistake of carrying my camera in my hand.  When we approached the entrance to the palace, a guard got upset and said I had to check my camera in a special room because no photographs were allowed.  I said I would put my camera away, but he would not go for this suggestion.  No cameras allowed inside!

I asked Tomdin, one of the Tibetan translators what to do.  I gave Tomdin my backpack that now had my camera inside, and stepped away.  A few minutes later, Tomdin came back with my backpack and camera still inside.  Apparently for a few rupees, the guard looked the other way.

Mysore Palace

Sign at Mysore Zoo

After lunch (see the post below), we went to the Mysore Zoo.  It cost only 60 rupees ($1) to get in, but my camera caused a problem again.  This time the guards told me that having a camera would cost another 20 rupees.  So, I paid the additional 20 rupees for my camera.  However, I noticed that people with cameras as part of the phones did not have to pay anything!  Don't get me wrong -- 20 rupees is only 33 cents, but it's the principle.  What is the difference between my camera and a phone that can take photos?

After a few hours, we got back in the car for the two hour trip back to Bylakuppe.   We got back in time for dinner...and it was still hot.

On the Menu

Sunday was my day off from teaching and the monks had the day off from class.  Two Tibetan translators, a workshop intern, one monk and I decided to head into the city of Mysore, a two hour drive from where we are staying in Bylakuppe.

For lunch, we found a restaurant in the middle of Mysore.  Take a look at the special of the day!  We did not try it!!

Collaborative Learning

None of the monks have ever studied neuroscience before.  Not only are the concepts new to them, but there are many new words to learn.  Some words do not have Tibetan translations.  So, I try to introduce new words and ideas slowly.  I also try to do several activities to break up my presentation.  The "Brain, Brain" game in the video below provides an opportunity for the monks to work together and their responses help me understand what the monks know and what they think they know about the brain.

 

Golden Temple Rush Hour

Golden Temple (early morning)

The guest house where I am staying is immediately across the street from “The Golden Temple.”  This is a working Tibetan Buddhist monastery and home to many monks. The temple is also very popular with Indian tourists.  Hundreds of people visit the temple:  they come on foot, on motorcycles, in auto-rickshaws, cars, and buses.   The stream of people from 7 am to 7 pm is non-stop.  Although the temple closes at 6 pm, it takes all of the tourists about an hour to clear out from the area.  Here is a video of what it looks and sounds like at closing time.