He shared the larger context of life and its origins and the astounding speed of activity in both the astronomical, microscopic and atomic scales. He reminded that we have far more microbes in our bodies than we have human cells... and that we are perhaps living colonies. He then reviewed the questions raised and contribution provided by Neuroscience in general and the research done in the department of Neurophysiology, NIMHANS over the past few decades.
Next, he focused on the challenges and benefits of research, how easy it is to get things wrong, but to take solace that errors will be uncovered and knowledge being cumulative, will grow even though uncertainty might well remain.
He ended the seminar with the video of Carl Sagan's timeless wisdom on the pale blue dot and followed it with the takeaways from the seminar.
A good discussion ensued and we felt good that the seminar series had thus begun.