“Brilliant Mind” is published in Consilience Journal!

The Science

The human mind is a truly beautiful and elusive concept. Despite considerable progress in neuroscience research, we still cannot quite explain where our mind is and what it looks like. I created the “Brilliant Mind” by taking schematic images of the human brain from the Allen Brain Atlas and portraying them as beaded histological sections, on 6 sheets of plexiglass. Such sections of human tissue are typically used to study anatomy in healthy and diseased states. The sections can be assembled into a sculpture or you can hang them individually.

The Artist

Yana Zorina, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist with a lifelong passion for the arts. In her scientific career, Yana has always been attracted to microscopy as a means to take a closer look at the beautiful structures that compose our brain. In her artwork, she uses her neuroscientist training to accurately recreate scientific images into 3D-beaded renderings of cellular structures to bring the beauty of scientific research to a wider audience. Beyond being passionate about the breathtaking beauty of microscopy images, Yana uses them to communicate science to the general public and initiate conversations on difficult topics, such as neurological conditions. You can connect with her on her website, on Twitter @YZorina or on Instagram @neurobead_boutique.

Original publication can be found here.

And here’s a bonus! I took a video of it in its full glory!

The “Brilliant Mind” sculpture is available for sale.

Please contact me at yzorina@gmail for pricing information.

You can read more about it here.