FEBRUARY 2019 ISSUE - Digital Edition

events
Maiden neuroscience session unfolds
secrets of consciousness
Kerala Literature Festival 2019 opens an era of science debates starting from this year
DIVYA CHOYIKUTTY
The first-ever session on
neuroscience at Kerala Literature
Festival (KLF) unfolded the hidden
capabilities of the human brain at the
fourth edition of the annual literary
event.
The session highlighted the scope
and relevance of a deep understanding
of neuroscience, and its possibilities in
modern healthcare.
Thus began an era of science
debates at Asia’s second-largest
literature festival that saw an illustrious
gathering of eminent authors, artists,
philosophers and activists discussing
and sharing insights with a vibrant
audience.
The session ‘Locating consciousness
in the brain’ marked its importance
at the event as the speakers
Dr K Rajasekharan Nair, an eminent
neurologist and science author,
Dr Vishwanathan Chathoth, a well-known
rationalist, and Dr Ethiran Kathiravan, a
genetic scientist and author, explored
the deep and complex neuronal network
in the brain. The session was moderated
by CH Unnikrishnan, founder & editor,
Future Medicine, India’s premium
medical science news magazine.
“Who we are is determined by the
activity that happens within our brain,
based on what we see, touch or hear,”
said Dr K Rajasekharan Nair. That is
how our external stimuli makes us.
The activities within the hundreds of
billions of neurons that make up the
complex neuronal network in our brain
“IF A DOCTOR KNOWS THE
STORY OF A PATIENT, HE
SURELY CAN BE A GREAT
DOCTOR AND A WRITER.”
— DR B EKBAL
determines all our actions, he says.
“We become materialistic when we
realise that consciousness is a process.
It does not have individuality,” said Dr
Vishwanathan, explaining that it is never
an entity. He explains consciousness as
a process that happens within the brain,
and that it can never be independent
of it.
He also described the hyper-normal
activity of the brain in autism, which
unlocks a special ability to perceive
things more intensely, inhibited in the
normal brain.
Exploring the scientific location of
consciousness, Dr Kathiravan explained
that it happens where the complex
neuronal network works together at
the same time. “Neuronal network is
very complex. When it works together
at the same time, there [it] creates our
consciousness.” he said.
Another key scientific session
— ‘Medicine and Literature’ — was
addressed by Dr M V Pillai, an eminent
physician specialised in Internal Medicine,
Hematology and Medical Oncology,
Dr Khadija Mumtaz, a well-known
Malayalam author and a physician,
and Dr B. Ekbal, a public health activist
and a neurosurgeon. It closely analysed
the relationship between literature
and medicine and criticised the
malpractices happening around the field
of medicine.
Connecting literature and medicine,
Dr Ekbal said, “If a doctor knows the
story of a patient, he surely can be a
great doctor and a writer.”
The four day event, which had 500
speakers and 180 sessions on topics
spanning from literature, media, politics,
religion, films to socio-economic issues,
was attended by 2.7 lakh audience.
90 / FUTURE MEDICINE / FEBRUARY 2019