Optogenetics likes to light up debate. Optogenetics is a hot technique in neuroscience research right now, involving taking a light-activited gene (called a channel rhodopsin) targeted into a single neuron type, and inserting it into the genome of, say, a mouse (yes, we can do this now)...
It’s something we feel we’ve always known: if you can’t sleep, you need to exercise more. Wear yourself out, make yourself good and tired, you’ll sleep like a baby!...
We all know that stress can impact our lives, maybe cause us headaches or stomachaches or depression or insomnia. But have you ever worried that your stress might be affecting your…gonads?...
Over at Neurotic Physiology, I’m talking about the brand new study on sugar in mice. It looked pretty toxic from some of the news coverage, but what does it mean?
There are lots of challenges when it comes to studying the brain, but one of the biggest is that it’s very hard to see. Aside from being, you know, inside your skull, the many electrical and chemical signals which the brain uses are impossible to see with the naked eye...
Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today talking about territory. Territory in humans. Specifically, beach territory. Who claims it? Who doesn’t?
…because I was blogging the whole time! I posted here on Sleep and weight gain, as well as Liking sugar and alcohol. And over at Neurotic Physiology, I posted a lot of good, bad, and weird!...
...because I was blogging the whole time! I posted here on Sleep and weight gain, as well as Liking sugar and alcohol. And over at Neurotic Physiology, I posted a lot of good, bad, and weird!Care to split a liver?...
Most current treatments for depression target the serotonin system, a chemical messenger that plays a role in mood (though it also plays a role in many, many other things).
I’ve got a terrible sweet tooth. And I am kind of proud of it, in a way. Yeah, I CAN eat that whole chocolate cake. I’d even LIKE it.
We all know we should get more sleep, we're just not very good at it. In fact, we're so BAD at it that 28.3% of us (as of 2007, anyway) got less than 6 hours of sleep per night.
A note to everyone that I am headed off to the Wild Beyond for two weeks. Where that Wild Beyond is will be revealed upon my return, when, if you are very unlucky, I may blog about it like I did my trip to Japan a few years ago...
Over at Neurotic Physiology today, I'm talking about a new study with mouse pee. Yes. Mouse pee. And it's got potential to be a really important method.
Please welcome this month's Scicurious Guest Writer, Jill Roughan!! These days, contracting HIV isn’t the death sentence it once was. Research within the last 30 years since its discovery has led to the development of anti-viral medications that allow someone who is infected with the virus to live a long, healthy life...
It seems like the worst sort of cycle. The less sleep you get, the less effective you are. Then you have more to do, get more stressed, and stay up trying to get it all done (or lie awake stressing about it)...
Friday I wrote a piece for DoubleXScience, about the importance of neuronuance. First there was neurohype, then there was neuroskepticism. Now, we need neuronuance.
Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today, asking "why cunnilingus"? I ask because, well, some other people asked. They did a study, in fact, trying to uncover the evolutionary reason behind cunnilingus...
Several studies now have shown that exercise can reduce feelings of anxiety...but how does that work? This study helps get at the answer. Sci is at Neurotic Physiology today to talk about exercise and anxiety, head over and check it out!...
When you are singing together in a group, you can really get in sync. Not like this: (Remember that?)Instead, when you're all together and singing something really powerful, you kind of get the feeling that you're in sync with each other...
Sci has a piece over at Slate today! I hear a lot of "dopamine is love", "dopamine is lust", "dopamine is addiction", "dopamine is...". The reality? Dopamine is FAR more complex, and more wonderful than that...
