I just found out something which is downright trippy. This medical student was visiting the Sistene Chapel when he discovered something unusual about the layout, and assumed it was common knowledge. At some later point, he studied photos of the chapel, researched it further and found out nobody had ever made the same connection as he had. What he had realised is that the painting on the cieling of the Sistene Chapel resembles a cross section of the human brain.
Quote:
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quote:Until I looked through the transparency I didn't realise that one of the angel's backs was the pons, that the legs and hips were the spinal cord... The knee of the flexed right leg of the angel with the bifid foot represents the transected optic chiasm, the thigh the optic nerve and the leg itself the optic tract...
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Some facts:
- Michelangelo had a passionate interest in human anatomy, and was said to dissect dead bodies to learn from them
- The original design for the painting in the Sistene Chapel was supposed to have the 12 apostles, but Michelangelo told the pope it would be a waste of space
Obviously neuroscience didn't exist back then, but there is one detail that I find especially cool. God is imposed on the limbic system, which is the emotional center of the brain. On its own, I like that because it's like I'm always saying to atheists, religion is an emotional process, not a rational one. But even cooler is that Gods right hand is sweeping an angel in the part of the brain that is activated when someone experiences sadness. Whether you want to interpret that as the link between suffering and finding god, or that searching for god causes misery, it's pretty cool.
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