I wish I had written this blog post, but sadly I did not. I attribute it to an author whose post appears on the PLOS Student Blog. “Mind and Matter: The Intersection of Poetry and Science” is a reflection on the conceptual similarities between the art form of  we know as poetry, and its seemingly opposite companion, science. Here are some opening lines of the post:

“The brain is wider than the sky,

 For, put them side by side,

The one the other will include

  With ease, and you beside

 “CXXVI” by Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson (1830-86). Complete Poems.

             Neuroscientist Gerald Edelman used these lines by poet Emily Dickinson to begin a discussion on consciousness in his book Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness. Edelman won the Nobel Prize in Medicine at the age of 43 for his work on the chemical structure of antibodies. As Edelman writes, his role as a scientist transforms into that of a poet. He strives to see the impact of the world on his spirit while teasing out the relations between the world and the brain. Poetry and science, in truth, are two sides of the same coin. They represent two manifestations of the fundamental urge to understand the natural world.”

You can read the full bog post here..

image credit: hotblack, morguefile