Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog

Knit Me A Brain (and Don’t Forget the Corpus Callosum Zipper)

Posted by Shelley Batts on December 1, 2007
(10)
More »

While not as shockingly unusual as the knitted teratoma I reported on a while back, this knitted brain (located at the awesomely-titled ‘Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art’) is equally amazing. Regions are knitted with varying colors, and the corpus callosum is a zipper!

Here’s a view of the brain from above, and “opened-up” (the hemispeheres seperated with yarn spinal cord trailing.)

i-191d1c5e5a84f17cb50c83ff38ecbbb6-knitted brain.jpg
Artist: Karen Norberg, Location: Boston Museum of Science

“Building a brain with yarn and knitting needles turns out to follow many of the same pathways as actual brain development,” says Norberg.

Here’s a side view:

i-5199a9a7e895ac2606fec40261e82962-knitted brain 2.bmp

(10)
More »

Comments

  2. #2 Kris Verburgh
    December 1, 2007

    And the threads and wires are the axons and dendrites. Nice analogy ;-)

  3. #3 Azkyroth
    December 1, 2007

    This is impressive.

    (Although, sad to say, I’ve met a few people who seem to be equipped with them…)

  4. #4 Cuttlefish
    December 2, 2007

    I could while away a minute
    And every second in it
    In pleasure, not in pain…
    Whether wool, flax, or cotton,
    I would know it wasn’t rotten
    If I only had a brain.

    I’d be happy–even chipper–
    To know I’ve got a zipper
    Where some are cleft in twain.
    I’d be glad–that’s what I’m saying–
    If through knitting or crocheting
    I could only have a brain

    Oh, I… could tell you why…
    A fella’s brain feels full
    I could tell you it is cotton or it’s wool
    Oh, but the truth? You know it’s bull!

    I could stay here, just a-sittin’
    Pretending I was knittin’
    But what would I attain?
    As a cuttlefish, I’d rather
    Just disguise myself in blather
    And pretend I have a brain…

  5. #5 Kevin
    December 2, 2007

    I was thinking about my life and how I always seem to have more to do than I have time to actually get done. It just boggles the mind to think there are people out there with enough free time to knit a brain..KNIT A BRAIN!!!

    Then I realized if i wasn’t killing time posting meaningless comments to SciBlogs I might have time to get more done. OK, bye, I am going to go be useful now.

  6. #6 CJ
    December 2, 2007

    Impressive knitting… and poetry :) I tried to post a blog pic but perhaps the link will have to do… this was a student’s try for extra credit, she made a cookie brain… it was too nice to eat. Plus is was not chocolate chip.

    http://image24.webshots.com/665/2/7/81/2065207810102149482gdkOgp_ph.jpg

  7. #7 Tatarize
    December 3, 2007

    I’m as impressed with Cuttlefish as with the knitted brain.

  8. #8 Cuttlefish
    December 4, 2007

    Your teratoma deserves its own story…

    http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2007/12/teratoma-or-knit-me-sister.html

  9. #9 Shelley Batts
    December 4, 2007

    Wonderful cuttlefish! I did have a soft spot for the teratoma. Even tumors can have personality. :)

  10. #10 claude
    May 12, 2011

    how wonderful art is.