May 02, 2008
Man, controller of the neuroverse:
The medical journal Neurosurgery is celebrating its 30 year anniversary and I've just noticed that their February edition had this wonderful cover.
It's the detail from a painting by Mexican artist Diego Rivera called Man, Controller of the Universe. A beautiful image, although never let it be said that our neurosurgical friends miss an opportunity to express their grandiosity.
Nevertheless, the edition contains a large number of wonderful Rivera prints in between article such as 'Ballistics for the Neurosurgeon', 'A New Multipurpose Ventriculoscope' and 'Enchanced Tumor Growth Elicited by L-Type Amino Acid Transporter 1 in Human Malignant Glioma Cells'.
It makes for slightly surreal but completely delightful read.
The journal has a tradition of having an article by a neurosurgeon commenting on the cover image, which is often a great article in itself and is usually has nothing directly to do with neuroscience.
Sadly, the journal is closed access, but their free sample issue has an excellent 'Cover Comment' article [pdf] on Herman Melville and his classic novel Moby Dick.
Link to image of entire painting.
pdf of Neurosurgery article on Moby Dick.
