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Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that investigates chemical and cellular foundations for perception, emotion, and memory. At Kenyon College, these concepts are reinforced through class sessions at The Gund, Kenyon’s teaching art museum, in both lower- and upper-level courses within the Department of Neuroscience. Students explore the neurological basis of visual processing through analysis of abstract works in The Gund’s permanent collection. Using guided inquiry, students explore color’s nonobjective properties, the variability of these properties based on context (color consilience), how color and color combinations imply or express textures and surfaces, and why color is often used as a metaphor for emotion. Our class sessions, refined over several semesters, reinforce principles discussed in didactic neuroscience lectures and elicit productive intersections between art and science. By upholding the rigors of scientific inquiry within the gallery, we have centered the art museum as a place for interdisciplinary study. 

Abstract Vertebrate nervous system function requires glial cells, including myelinating glia that insulate axons and provide trophic support that allows for efficient signal propagation by neurons. In vertebrate peripheral nervous systems, neural crest‐derived glial cells known as Schwann cells (SCs) generate myelin by encompassing and iteratively wrapping membrane around single axon segments. SC gliogenesis and neurogenesis are intimately linked and governed by a complex molecular environment that shapes their developmental trajectory. Changes in this external milieu drive developing SCs through a series of distinct morphological and transcriptional stages from the neural crest to a variety of glial derivatives, including the myelinating sublineage. Cues originate from the extracellular matrix, adjacent axons, and the developing SC basal lamina to trigger intracellular signaling cascades and gene expression changes that specify stages and transitions in SC development. Here, we integrate the findings fromin vitroneuron–glia co‐culture experiments within vivostudies investigating SC development, particularly in zebrafish and mouse, to highlight critical factors that specify SC fate. Ultimately, we connect classic biochemical and mutant studies with modern genetic and visualization tools that have elucidated the dynamics of SC development. This article is categorized under:Signaling Pathways > Cell Fate SignalingNervous System Development > Vertebrates: Regional Development