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by Karen Rommelfanger I recently sat on a panel discussion for an early screening of the movie Self/less . I'm quoted (mostly correctly) with my name (mostly) spelled correctly here . In Self/less , an aging business tycoon with a terminal illess (played by Ben Kingsley ) pays to "shed" his skin for a new, younger, fitter body (played by Ryan Reynolds ). See trailer above. The film, despite the futuristic theme, revisits mundane themes of the Faustian tradeoff or a deal with a devil, ultimately conveying the message that the costs, even for the rich, are too high when trying to cheat death. The title of the movie implies that for the greater good the selfless thing to do is to just die as nature intended. While the film would surely be categorized as science fiction, there are entrepreneurs quite dedicated to making such a possibility a reality. For example, the 2045 Initiative promises, for the starting price tag of $3 million, that your brain can be downloaded and that

by Krish Sathian, MD, PhD Dr. Sathian is Professor of Neurology, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Psychology at Emory University, and directs the  Neurorehabilitation Program in the Department of Neurology . The recipient of Emory’s 2001 Albert Levy senior faculty award for excellence in scientific research, h e is Executive Director of the Atlanta VAMC Rehabilitation R&D Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and immediate Past President of the  American Society of Neurorehabilitation . Editor's note: T he following post is the second of a pair of essays about interdisciplinary teaching we will feature on the blog. Please see its companion piece from last week, Dr. Laura Otis's " Why I teach with a neurologist ."  It is often said that academic fields are becoming increasingly siloed as specializations become more and more detailed and jargon-filled with each new peer-reviewed paper. The classes co-taught by Professors Otis and Sathian were unique int

by Laura Otis, PhD Dr. Otis is a Professor of English at Emory University. Although she ultimately obtain ed a PhD in Comparative Literature and now teaches English literature, she holds a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and an MA in Neuroscience, and she worked in research labs for years. She was awarded a MacArthur fellowship for creativity in 2000 and is currently working as a visiting scholar at the  Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Editor's note: T he following post is the first of a pair of short essays about interdisciplinary teaching that will be featured on the blog. Stay tuned next week for Dr. Krish Sathian's "Why I teach with an English professor." It is often said that academic fields are becoming increasingly segregated as specializations develop more jargon and become more detailed with each new peer-reviewed paper. However, the classes co-taught by Professors Otis and Sathian are unique interdisciplinary spaces

by Frans de Waal Editor's note:  Frans de Waal, PhD , is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University and the Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center . He is also a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and a member of the AJOB Neuroscience editorial board. His research focuses on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequality aversion, and food-sharing. de Waal, a leading primatologist, makes an argument here for thinking seriously about the captivity of certain animals such as orcas. Of course, the orca also has a sophisticated mammalian brain. Is the defining criterion of our responsibility to other animals their ecological needs, as de Waal suggests, or is it their cognitive function? What do you think? There is so much to-do about orcas (killer whales) in captivity, with a drumbeat of voices against human