Campaign

csm_AdobeStock_109274335_bearb_02_low_700_700_2d025b85aa.jpg — So near and yet so far: The number of stars in the Milky Way is estimated to be around 100 billion. That’s surprisingly close to the number of neurons found in the human brain. This image taken from the Hubble Telescope shows the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion constellation surrounded by thousands of bright stars. The image paints a picture of humankind’s fascination with the unknown. It also powerfully illustrates the complexity with which neurologists are faced in their mission to understand the intricate interactions of approximately 86 billion neurons.

csm_Chalbi-Desert_Kenya_aerial_bearb_low_700_700_4cba68eecc.jpg — Looks like a polymicrogyria brain slice? Yes, to some. But it’s an aerial image of the very hot and dry Chalbi Desert in Kenia. The white spots are salt pans, dried up remains of the last rainfall. A nomad tribe called Gabra survives in this area. Beware of entering this desert in the dry season alone as a stranger, you won’t survive! This photograph is a metaphor for the hot and stony path neuroscience has to follow – it never is a solo expedition. Groundbreaking science needs team work. Team work needs functioning networks. EAN helps you to build these relationships.

csm_HuttLagoon_Australia_aerial_bearb_low_700_700_7274ae6ad5.jpg — This image of the salt lake Hutt Lagoon in Western Australia looks like the innervation of a muscle (red) with branching motorneurons. Insights into how degenerating motorneurons could be kept alive or how they could regenerate would help patients with ALS or paraplegia. Communication in neurology also means interacting with patients to achieve the correct diagnosis, as well as for therapeutic success. Good patient communication is an art form. No physician would deny that.

csm_Kirr_Deutschland_aerial_bearb_low_700_700_b83f3bd0ab.jpg — At first glance, you can see a green cortex floating in a brownish liquid. It turns out to be a rugged island in the wilderness of the Baltic sea on the shores of the peninsula Kirr in north eastern Germany. The resemblance is astonishing. In fact, this is an aerial photograph of a salt marsh regularly flooded by the tide.

csm_Lake_Mackay_Australia_aerial_bearb_low_700_700_476f151258.jpg — If you have ever seen an electron microscopy of a sensory receptor, this aerial image of Lake Ruth in Australia will remind you of it. Perception is important for professional neurological anamnesis and diagnosis. It takes a lot of experience and criminalistic investigations for neurologists to recognize the little signs they need to find the needle in the haystack, the cause of an illness or malfunction. Seeing it this way, perception is key for neurologists.

csm_Sidujoekull_Iceland_aerial_bearb_low_700_700_a743be7160.jpg — What might look like a strange image of a cortex structure or an electron microscopy of cell organs, in fact shows formations of volcanic ash in the ice at Sidujökull, a glacier in south Iceland. Iceland’s glaciers are often covered with black lines and lattice structures. These monochrome patterns are the result of a powerful interaction between the volcanos and the snow, sun and wind. Eruptions from the many volcanic islands bring dark ash, which is blown across the ice by the wind. Snowfall then coats this black carpet. Repeatedly, a white layer forms on a black one, countless times. As the ice melts, the layers are twisted, compressed and stretched. Lastly, sun and wind attack the glacier’s surface. As the multi-layered strata is worn away, the individual layers are revealed.

Magnificent earth, neurological reading

Inspired by the spectacular depths of the cosmos captured in images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the evocative visions created by Bernhard Edmaier’s highly unconventional landscape photography, we let our imaginations go on their own journey. Our aim was to visually make the association between the uncharted corners of our planet – and beyond – and those unexplored realms inside ourselves that are still waiting to be discovered.

Is that a close-up of a carotid artery? No! It’s a confluence of acidic swamp-water at Landeyjar Sander in Iceland. Are those motor neurons innervating a muscle? No, it’s a salt lake called Hutt Lagoon in Western Australia. With Bernhard Edmaier’s seemingly abstract images of earthly wonders you might easily be mistaken for thinking you were in the physical world of the human body.
Sometimes things simply aren’t what they seem.

Because neurologists are explorers.

Neurology advances into unknown territories just as Vasco da Gama, Alexander von Humboldt, Gertrude Bell, or even Yuri Gagarin once did. The difference is that we neurologists don’t literally step into a new world. Beyond the physical reality of the human body, we also examine the truth behind the obvious and try to navigate our way through the universe of about 86 billion neurons that is found inside our own heads.

In recent years, we have made incredible leaps forward in the fields of neuroscience and neuromedicine, both in our knowledge and with new therapies, making our discipline a real success story in the medical world. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of potential for us to make new discoveries. Just as in the vast expanse of outer space and the deepest oceans of our planet, we have so much yet to explore.

The EAN is searching for like-minded people who share our vision and passion for exploring neurology.

As an international community, we strive to discover, understand and conquer these inner worlds. For the good of our patients, and ultimately for humankind.

As we contribute to one of humankind’s most ambitious projects to uncover the functioning of the nervous system, the more “regions” we can chart, the more powerfully the discipline of neurology will be able to position itself to solve the health challenges of the future. Finding cures, providing the right therapies for all kinds of neurological diseases and keeping our brains healthy.
Achieving this is EAN’s highest objective.

Let’s inspire excellence. Together.

Images of the Earth by Bernhard Edmaier

From Geology to Photography … to Neurology

BERNHARD EDMAIER studied civil engineering and was employed as a geologist before he made photography his career and set new standards in landscape photography; reproducing impressive views of the Earth with his aerial photographs. He aims to present the manifold colours, forms and structures which the Earth has created without man’s interference. His images, which unite high quality photography and science, have caused international sensation and been received with great excitement by international audiences. His work is exhibited internationally and published in magazines. He is author of the bestselling books Earthsong, Earth on Fire and EarthArt.

“I view my work as a continuous expedition to explore the surface of our planet, especially in places where it was formed by the external forces of nature such as water, wind or ice or by its internal forces such as tectonic movements, volcanic or orogenetic activity.”

Bernhard Edmaier

Find out more about Bernhard Edmaier and his work.

Because neurologists are explorers.

The EAN is searching for like-minded people who share our vision and passion for exploring neurology.

From Geology to Photography … to Neurology

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