Excited to get started here with an #introduction!
I'm currently a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Graduate Group (NGG) at the University of Pennsylvania. My work sits at the intersection of systems and computational neuroscience, exploring how environmental volatility affects decision-making behavior and its neural correlates.
In addition to collecting and exploring data, I love #writing, #sciencecommunication, and #teaching. Finding ways to build a common understanding of concepts brings me so much joy.
Outside of work, I love #hiking, #biking, #yoga, and absolutely anything involving my dog, Moe.
I'm looking forward to engaging on here!
@Kara_McGaughey
That sounds like a very interesting area of study. Welcome to Mastodon.
Finding common understanding is vital at this point in human development I believe (as well as joyful). The stories/narratives we have so often colour opinions in a way that doesn't serve truth, merely serving the narratives themselves, our small tribes, or simply self-serving.
I often try to dig deeper using etymology and the history of language as a tool for unearthing a little wisdom.
@Irreverent_B, thanks for the thoughts. I totally agree.
Years ago, a friend and I listened to The History of English Podcast. It was an absolutely fascinating exploration of language and its roots (although, inevitably, much of it has since been forgotten).
@Kara_McGaughey
English is an interesting language as there are so many others that have influenced it: Latin, Greek, Germanic languages, and then all of the adopted words from countries colonised by the English. I haven't heard that podcast, I'll look it up.
What interests me is the way political words are manipulated, even poisoned, to dilute or reverse their meaning.