Ask a Scientist

(photo by "http://flickr.com/photos/coreyann/":c0reyann) I've been wanting to go to this event for years. And I still can't go on this night. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you go, I'll promise I'll go next month. Each month they bring in a scientist to talk about a certain subject, the lineup for the rest of the year sounds interesting: planets around other stars, big waves and synesthesia (don't just hear music -- taste it!). November is about Synesthesia: "Synesthesia is a perceptual condition in which there is an involuntary blending of one or more of the senses. The most common form is chromagraphemia, the associating of colors with numbers and letters -- but the sense-mingling can get a lot weirder. A synesthete might see moving blobs of color when tasting foods, or taste specific flavors upon hearing certain words. Some savants with computer-like math skills describe being able to see the shapes and colors of the numbers they're calculating! Once dismissed as a product of an overly active imagination, artistic fancy, drug use or even just craziness, synesthesia is finally being recognized as having a biological basis. UC Berkeley's Lynn Robertson will tell us about the current research on this intriguing condition." You can find out more about the event, location, and past guests at **the ask a scientist website**