projected

Trip to the Zeiss Planetarium for a talk on brain simulation and digital twins. The talk was very impressive. The images (all animated brain simulations) were projected onto the hemisphere of the planetarium. I hadn't realised that deep brain stimulation is helpful for certain diseases such as Parkinson. The simulations help with placing the electrode and determining the stimulation pattern. I am a lot less convinced by using apps to enhance particular brain states (relaxation, concentration). There are plenty ways that can be used to do so naturally. Personally, I like going for walks. In the end these simulations are a mere model that are orders of magnitude less complex but use orders of magnitude more energy than the real thing. The speaker is one of our users. I do have some technical questions for her: the simulations need data. The EEGs (electroencephalogram) is a measurement of the electric activity of the brain on the surface of the head. The brain is a 3D structure and the signal is generated somewhere within the brain. I would expect that there is a non-unique mapping of the 2D signal to the 3D source. A problem faced by geophysical measurements. So my question is, how much of a problem is this and how are they dealing with that.

I do want to visit the planetarium for a regular show. Although the new projector (in the extra) is a little less impressive than the old one of the main blip.

Otherwise, day 2 of our training was also excellent although we failed to avoid talking about politics. Our trainer was a happy man. I struggle to understand the world in which the election is seen as positive result. Maybe one outcome is that Europe will become less dependent on American big tech. My early adult years were characterised by a world cooperating closely. This cooperation is sadly disappearing. 

Closer to home (a few kilometres away), the German government is unravelling. The FDP have consistently torpedoed the efforts of their coalition partners. It is a huge shame that their demise is also taking down the government when stability is very much needed.