The Universe does not conform to our desires.

So not much today. I went a pretty interesting lecture on music and pleasure, focusing on the dopamine reward system in the brain, especially the dorsal and ventral striatum. Anyone interested should check out one of the papers discussed there, which can be found here.

It was a good talk, and there were some interesting questions about combining PET and fMRI, and some speculation about physiological effects of music. Plus Brenda Milner was there, which is always like seeing a living legend.

While I try to think of a hypothesis that can be answered using a combination of unconnected fMRI studies, here’s a video of one of my favourite segments from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

Oh, if you missed it…

I realize this is a pretty internet sort of thing to base a blog name on, but Carl Sagan has quite the turn of phrase, which lends itself well to the sort of lyrical qualities used to make this video.

I really think this is what it’s about.