Introduction If you look at today’s $50 Mexican peso (left), you won’t see the image of a past president or monument. Instead, you’ll see a lone salamander with outstretched arms and gills in the middle of a lake. For centuries, this small creature, known as the axolotl (ax-oh-lot-al), was well known to the people that […]
Category Archives: Development
December
02
Breastmilk for baby brains
posted by JC Gorman
For such a natural part of being a human, breastfeeding has had a controversial past whether in private or in public- in fact, it only became legal to breastfeed in public in all 50 states in 2018, when Utah and Idaho were the last to legalize it. While this trend of normalizing breastfeeding seems recent, […]
October
01
Stem cells and their applications in Neurobiology
posted by Jorge Urresti
You have probably heard about neurons and blood cells, but have you ever wondered where they come from? Their ‘mother’ cells are called stem cells, and not only are the ‘parents’ of all the other cells in our bodies, but they are also a very important tool for all kinds of research! What are stem […]
August
06
Racism and Birth Inequities, From Biology to Society
posted by Laura Beebe
Image Credit: UNICEF Black mothers in the US are 3-4x more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white mothers (NPR/ProPublica). In addition, 40.6% of Black births are preterm, compared to 33.1% of white births (CDC). Compounding evidence suggests that the lived experience of racism in the US, rather than genetics, health behaviors (e.g. smoking), […]
February
06
What’s my (brain) age again?
posted by Seraphina Solders
What does it mean to age? Is it a purely time-based process, with each passing moment bringing our bodies along an invariant trajectory of decline? Or is it a function of our behavior, dependent on our daily activities and the damage inflicted upon ourselves over time? Clearly, there is a bit of truth in each […]
January
09
Can we inherit family trauma?
posted by Nicole Mlynaryk
The epigenetics behind “generational trauma” [En español] The 23 and Me craze has officially reached my family. Both of my parents were born in Poland so the results weren’t a complete surprise, but as we watched the site track generations of family history from a single spit sample, new questions came up. When my sisters […]
October
10
Why do neuroscientists study weird animals?: A primer on neuroethology
posted by Jess Haley
Why do neuroscientists study weird animals? And I don’t mean borderline weird; I mean the kind of extraordinary animals that can create electric fields and lift 100 times their body weight. The sort of animals that can camouflage despite being colorblind and can capture flying prey in fractions of a second. The kind of creatures […]
December
13
Astrocytes, the Underrated Stars
posted by Elena Blanco-Suarez, Ph.D.
[En español] You usually hear the term “brain cell” referring to neurons, like they’re the only cell type present in the brain. But that’s far from the case. Neurons can be considered the main cellular unit in our nervous system, as they are the cells that transfer the information by means of electrical and chemical signals. […]
August
02
Snake Eyes: The Fear That Built Your Brain
posted by James R. Howe VI
Indiana Jones is a quintessential American hero, his fedora, satchel, and whip instantly recognizable around the world. He lives a double life, a scholarly professor of anthropology in public and a globetrotting treasure hunter in private. He defeats the Nazis and always gets the girl, displaying daring and fearlessness, with one notable exception. He has […]
July
05
Where does Alzheimer’s disease begin?
posted by Seraphina Solders
Sometimes I forget what day of the week it is, where I put my keys, or when a friend’s birthday is- but I never stop to wonder if these brief moments of forgetfulness are normal or a sign of something more serious. For many, occasional short-term memory loss is a normal part of getting older, […]
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