Semir Zeki recently shared his vision of the future of neuroesthetics and how he hopes that it will help tackle humanity's most complex issues like the neural basis of religious belief and the relation between morality, jurisprudence and brain function. "Like art, these play a critical role in our lives and are also subject to the quality of variability that is at the heart of our civilization."

Closer to home, neuroesthetics will impact fields such as architecture where concepts like the golden section, which is common in classical architectures, might have a deep neurobiological basis that could help us design environments and buildings that soothe the mind.

As Virginia Postrel pointed out recently, hospitals don't have to be ugly. Perhaps we could even make movies more entertaining.