Lucy is a 2014 English-language French science fiction action film written and directed by Luc Besson, which stars Scarlett Johansson. Johansson portrays the titular character, a woman who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream. At the time the film received positive, but also polarizing, critical reviews. Although praise was given for its themes, visuals, and Johansson’s performance, a number of critics found the plot nonsensical, especially its focus on the ‘ten percent of the brain myth’ and resulting abilities. This is a widely perpetuated urban legend that most or all humans only use 10 percent (or some other small percentage) of their brains. It has been misattributed to many people, including Albert Einstein. By extrapolation, it is suggested that a person may harness this unused potential and increase intelligence. However, the popular notion that large parts of the brain remain unused, and could subsequently be “activated”, rests in folklore and not science. Though specific mechanisms regarding brain function remain to be fully described e.g. memory, consciousness etc. the physiology of brain mapping suggests that all areas of the brain have a function.
American Mythic
19 May
When we think of mythology we tend to think of the old world – European fairytales, folklore of the Far East and tales from the dark continent of Africa. Even when the new world is mentioned, in mythic terms it is the Native American folklore of the tribes and nations that first settled the lands of North and South America that comes to mind. Whilst all of this world mythology represents a rich and varied tradition of fairytales, folklore and legends, this is also to ignore the unusual and fascinating modern mythology of the United States. There are lots of interesting directions that this ‘American Mythic’ takes. There are larger than life stories of the birth of the nation, its founding fathers and the Revolutionary War; there is an entire mythology surrounding the Civil War that almost ripped apart the nascent union, when brother fought brother and fire and blood threatened to consume all the land from sea to shining sea; and up to the present day the Cold War and many other conflicts that have shaped the postwar nation also contributed to the character and myths of the modern United States. Anyone who takes the time and trouble to investigate American Mythic might be surprised at what they find.
The OTHER Da Vinci Code
19 FebOkay, apologies in advance, I promise that this is the one and only time that I will ever mention Dan Brown on this website (probably). You’ve all, unless you’ve been in outer space for the past ten years, heard of a little novel called The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s cash cow has made him millions of dollars, hit the silver screen and annoyed almost as many people as it has entertained. If you found it hard to believe that the Renaissance artist and all-round genius Leonardo Da Vinci passed on the secret history of the offspring of Christ through cryptograms (or backwards crossword puzzle word searches or whatever), the suggestion that he actually embedded a secret soundtrack into The Last Supper may just be a step too far for some people. Let’s look at the evidence. Continue reading