Neuroscience and Poverty

Research presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicated that children growing up in families with low socioeconomic status experience high levels of stress hormones. These stress hormones in turn affect neural development, specifically language and memory development. What is even more compelling is that this effect is independent of the damage already done by exposure to environmental toxins and inadequate nutrition. Another research group at University of Oregon tested the effect of a training intervention that taught parents how to minimize stress at the home. Initial results found that the training results in large reductions of stress and brain imaging confirmed improvements in the children.

Poverty mars formation of infant brains by Clive Cookson, The Financial Times

"Poverty is Poison" by Paul Krugman, The New York Times

Neuroscience and Poverty, Trinifar blog

Martha J. Farah, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Pennsylvania

Jack P. Shonkoff, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Augmented Reality

This image is from the ARTHUR project (Augmented Round Table for Architecture and Urban Planning) that uses an augmented reality interface for round table design meetings.

Augmented reality (AR), or augmented vision, is the use of virtual reality technology such as virtual text or graphics superimposed on the real world. The article "Reality, Only Better" in The Economist describes the promise of AR in multiple applications including psychotherapy, entertainment, and discrepancy-checking software in the building fields.

"Reality, Only Better" - The Economist (06 December 2007)

Arakawa and Gins is at it again!

Arakawa and Gins is at it again! They recently completed their first project in the United States - a house subscribing to their Reversible Destiny philosophy. Reversible Destiny is Arakawa and Gins statement against aging and death. The concept for the spaces that have been built based on this idea, such as the Reversible Destiny Apartments, could be seen as the architectural manifestation of research done on neural plasticity and enriched environments in animal models.

But this is perhaps an extreme example of what architects/artists do when they make certain assumptions about the effect of their work. While designers have to make assumptions on a smaller scale, they are not usually basing the whole concept of a space on an unfounded idea (or at least an unfounded scientific idea in humans). Still it is incredibly fascinating to see something like this built in the US and I certainly would be one of the first to line up to do the research on one of these spaces.

Neuroscience and Courthouse Design Workshop

ANFA hosted a Neuroscience and Courthouse Design Workshop last year. ANFA has hosted several workshops over the years to bring neuroscientists, architects, and specialists together to think about problems faced by specific architectural program types. Past workshops have focused on healthcare facilities, sacred spaces, elementary schools, facilities for the aging, and laboratories.

This workshop focused on exploring different architectural interventions for reducing stress for jurors. An article about the workshop can be found here:

"Neuroscience and Courthouse Design Workshop: Understanding Cognitive Processes in the Courthouse" By Christina Noble, Assoc AIA, LEED AP