Science and Philosophy in Madeira

After a short and only slightly delayed flight, we arrived in Madeira. It's just as green and lush as people (may) have told you it is. People certainly told me that it was. I was immediately aware of the stepped agriculture. It reminds me of the rice patties you see throughout asia and so I'm curious if there is a connection. The farming here appears to be bananas, passion fruit, some hybrid fruits and, of course, wine.

After a relatively uneventful flight here, we did get lost on the way to lunch. Three times. With a native driving the lead car. Now, in his defense, there was massive flooding with land slides that had created detours on some of the roads we were trying to take. Yet, somehow we didn't quit manage to ask any natives how to overcome this obstacle until after we'd been up the correct side of the gorge twice and the incorrect side ones.

In the end, we had very good grilled meet at a nice restaurant, then made our way to the hotel (only got lost once this time) and finally settled in. We managed some fun social games (theatre exercises) and then dived into a long discussion of the use of models in neuroscience. We ended the evening with a lovely dinner and a continuation of the conversation that focused on theories of the brain how you could use models to test them.

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Location:Madeira, Portugal