The formation of large-scale brain networks, and their continual refinement, represent crucial developmental processes that can drive individual differences in cognition and which are associated with multiple neurodevelopmental conditions. But how does this organization arise, and what mechanisms drive diversity in organization? We use generative network modeling to provide a computational framework for understanding neurodevelopmental diversity. Within this framework macroscopic brain organization, complete with spatial embedding of its organization, is an emergent property of a generative wiring equation that optimizes its connectivity by renegotiating its biological costs and topological values continuously over time. The rules that govern these iterative wiring properties are controlled by a set of tightly framed parameters, with subtle differences in these parameters steering network growth towards different neurodiverse outcomes. Regional expression of genes associated with the simulations converge on biological processes and cellular components predominantly involved in synaptic signaling, neuronal projection, catabolic intracellular processes and protein transport. Together, this provides a unifying computational framework for conceptualizing the mechanisms and diversity in neurodevelopment, capable of integrating different levels of analysis—from genes to cognition.

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This essay examines Moving Memories, the 9/11 Memorial in Tucson, Arizona, as an instance of resistance to dominant ideologies regarding the public memory of national tragedy. Though Moving Memories was designed to reveal the conflicting viewpoints embodied by those affected by 9/11, area residents and government representatives argue that it fails to capture the “true” sentiment of Arizonans. This analysis provides a theoretical interrogation of the memorial’s unveiling and later contestation, illustrates the political value of unity over dissention, and theorizes the implications of spatiality in memorialization by way of a detailed review of one of Moving Memories’ particularly divisive features.

Perceptions of attractiveness of newborns with unrepaired clefts were investigated by using a range of photographs with clefts of differing severity as ordered by a rule of thumb system commonly adopted by surgeons. The investigation involved a combination of factors such as completeness, unilaterality or bilaterality, and palate involvement. Orderings of attractiveness by surgeons, nursing staff, and adult groups unfamiliar with clefts were remarkably consistent. In addition, the responses reflected the rule of thumb system with ranked preferences of the raters being significantly related to the severity of cleft impairment. The scale devised could be used for comparative treatment outcome studies requiring assessments of initial infant attractiveness.