‘Smart’ cephalopods adapt by editing genetic code, but sacrifice ability to evolve

The Arts, Science & Culture Initiative project titled 'net(work)' is a music and neurobiology collaboration, in which a musical composition interprets and represents images of neurons sending electrical signals. When UChicago's Arts, Science & Culture Initiative  began in 2010, program director and curator Julie Marie Lemon had a vision of artists and scientists working together, sharing approaches and deep knowledge of individual disciplines to unearth new findings. The results have ranged from using birds to track the history of industrial pollution to visualizing the structure of the universe through textiles. 'The thinking was to provide a platform of exchange between students who don't usually have contact with each other,' Lemon said. 'There is a wide variety of results, but there are real discoveries that happen.' This year's collection of projects is no less ambitious, with students researching topics from neurobiology to the supernatural. They will present their findings at a public display on May 10 at 5 p.m. in the Logan Center's Performance Penthouse. The projects include 'Dissecting Enchantment: Between Gods and Ghosts' by anthropology PhD students Hilary Leathem and Agnes Mondragón Celis-Ochoa and visual arts MFA candidate Adrienne Elyse Meyers.