Visit to NIMHANS

Date: 26^th March 2019

Venue: NIMHANS, Bangalore

On the 26th day of March 2019 Centre of Media studies, Presidency college curated an field trip with the psychology department to NIMHANS, neurobiology research centre. A total of 20 students exclusively of the first year accompanied by the faculty in charge started on their way early and reached the venue @ 10:00am, as soon as soon the registration and sign in process were done, we were guided into the brain museum by one of their staff member.

The day was divided into 3 sessions, the first session involved the overview of the brain and its parts where students were encouraged in a question & answer session and a walk through of the major parts of the brain, in the second session, students were given a chance to have a firsthand experience of the brain with a touch and feel session and finally the last session included a very interesting discussion of various specimens of brains, specimens that showed different brain disorders, traumas and ailments. With its display of 400 human brains in see-through plastic jars, Collected over the past 35 years, the museum exhibits brains affected by various head injuries, cerebrovascular diseases, brain infections, neurodegenerative disorders, brain tumors, and brains of a few species of animals as well. The most interesting part about this museum is that visitors are allowed to touch and feel the real human brain on request. Some of the highlights of the collection are a brain with worms in it, brains affected by Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, smoker’s lungs, and electro-micrographs showing the complexity of the nervous system.the day came to an end @2:00 in the afternoon and the students headed back home learning something new about the lump of fat in their head!