Response To "Blazing Trails in Brain Science"

“Blazing Trails in Brain Science” was a really interesting article about a brain/ mental health scientist, Dr. Thomas R. Insel, and all the obstacles he has had to face throughout his career. Some of these many obstacles include animal right marchers who crowded the street outside of his house because they absolutely are against the animal testing he has had to do to learn more about the brain.

When I first approached this article I wasn’t exactly sure of what I was supposed to get out of it (besides all the fancy scientific information on mental illnesses). Is the point of the article that Dr. Insel has faced so many challenges throughout his career, or that he has stuck to his beliefs and ideas throughout everything and has stayed determined throughout his whole career despite the obstacles. And then I thought- is the point of the article just to show all the reasons of why he has been faced with many people who disapprove of his ideas? I read the article as closely as I could, and I really think that as readers we are supposed to get interesting scientific views and ideas on brain science- but also realize how sticking to your beliefs and values is so important if you want to be able to achieve really important, great things! Who knew you could get that out of a non-fiction article about mental health!

The author of this article, Benedict Carey, formatted this article so that the intro was a story, and then from that point on, a timeline of all the things Dr. Insel has gone through for his career. From the way it was written, it seemed clear that the author was trying t make all the sides of the many arguments in the article clear to readers. Besides this though, I did feel like he was leaning a little bit towards the arguments and doings of Dr. Insel, because Benedict Carey included so much information to back up all the arguments of Dr. Insel. He quoted many other scientists that support(ed) Dr. Insel.

Carey does a great job of convincing the reader that although faced with so many obstacles and challenges throughout his career, Dr. Insel has had so much perseverance, and determination to get to where he is today. “Two previous directors resigned in the wake of inflammatory statements (one on marijuana laws, one comparing urban neighborhoods to jungles), and another stepped down after repeatedly objecting to White House decisions.” This line from the article really made it clear to me that the job Dr. Insel has is tough, because two previous directors resigned.

I really had no personal opinion or view on the many aspects of mental health and brain science before this article- in fact I had never really thought about it. Now I would have to say that I think it is important for so many people that mental illnesses be researched further into/on, no matter who else disapproves.