On pain, the nervous system, and the courage to be yourself I was only thirty when I was diagnosed with rheumatism. I was considered “lucky” because my pain threshold was high. Even though my blood tests showed worrying results, I didn’t feel much pain, so I didn’t need medication. Regular check-ups were enough, with the possibility of preventing flare-ups before they began. For 8–10 years, I managed with occasional mild episodes and short-term treatments—until the inflammati

Perception, the Nervous System, and Our Everyday Experiences "What we focus our attention on tends to grow." In recent weeks, this sentence has been appearing in different contexts and sources around me. I encounter it while studying how the nervous system works in my course notes. I hear it as a line in a film. I recently became curious about quantum physics, and it appears there as well. While working on my master’s thesis—where I explore the physiological, psychological, a

Last week, two themes kept appearing on my social media feed: the Penguin documentary and the Tarkan concerts. Both touched my heart and stirred many emotions within me. A scene from the Penguin documentary began circulating again: a large penguin colony splits into two, yet one penguin turns away from both groups and walks alone toward the mountains. A movement that contradicts what we “know” about colony-bound penguins. Almost every video asks, “Why did the penguin do this?