Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Opening and Welcomes:

President Heidi opened the meeting so exactly on time at 600pm that you could set your watch to Rotary Standard Time. Of course, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and that part about one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, always gets me. We welcomed our speaker Dr. Pawan Sinha, Vince, Jim Whitehouse who is a potential new member, and Sue Ellen who is sometimes affectionately known as Peter’s better half.

Prayer:

Dan invited us to think about Memorial Day with gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy that comes along with our civic responsibility. We ask for blessings of the souls of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for freedom.

Did You Know:

As Heidi only has four more Did You Know times and so many choices, we were treated to a double header. A live cat was turned into a telephone to develop cochlear implants, the details of which troubled your humble writer who is a cat lover. The oldest attraction in NH, after many guesses, was revealed to be the Lost River Gorge, where there is lots to do, especially between May and October, and it was carved out of land 300 million years ago.

Announcements:

Next week is our last week at Harts with the Robotics team presenting—it should be very exciting. After next week, we will switch over to the Grange for the summer.

Winnipesaukee Wellness, a prior speaker, sent us a letter that they are now running seven days a week.

Presentation:

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world, and many of us have either experienced or will soon experience the trauma, anxiety, and subsequent relief of having your vision restored through the surgical removal of the opaque lens. Vision restoration, however, is not always automatic. In children born with blinding cataracts, vision must first be “learned” by the brain after the opaque lens is removed.

Peter invited Dr. Pawan Sinha, a Professor at MIT with expertise in elucidating how the brain “learns vision” to come to Meredith to introduce us to Project Prakash, a program that he has personally initiated in India to not only restore vision in young orphan children but also elucidate the mechanisms of “vision learning” that are required to restore vision to these children.

Dr. Sinha has hiked Everest, was inducted in the Guinness Book with the world’s smallest reproduction of a printed book, survived a plane crash, and awarded a Presidential medal.  He has plenty of experiences to certainly win the next Two Truths and a Lie icebreaker. He is guided by the dual goals of advancing knowledge and helping humanity.

The human brain contains 100 million neurons in the most complex structure known. Vision occupies fully one-third of the brain’s function, the largest of all senses. The brain somehow transforms a chaotic cacophony of inputs into meaning. Visual development is very quick; babies develop vision processing in six months.

While polio has been almost eradicated by the worldwide efforts of Rotary, little progress in reducing the onset of cataract blindness has been made. It remains a large worldwide problem that especially affects the developing countries. One in every 160 Indians is blind, the incidence of childhood blindness is three times that of the rest of the world, caused by rubella and other factors that are preventable and treatable, but families are not aware of don’t have access to treatment. Outreach + Treatment + Research is where Project Prakash comes in, especially focused on early intervention. Specifics areas of study include the plasticity of learning to see after surgery and the linkage between sight and touch. Broader impacts are emerging in the field of autism. It was very moving to see Prakash children riding a bike and creating artwork, yet the challenge of scale remains both in India and globally.

“Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act.”- Albert Einstein

Happy Dollars and 50/50:

Fitz for Tiffany starting a new job. Ron for winning the 50/50 last week and donating food pantry. Jim for watching the 7^th game. Gary for experiencing Meredith’s energy during the Memorial Day parade. Paul and Chuck for an excellent program.

Gary won the 50/50.