A few months ago, I spent three and a half anxious hours on a rickety motorboat on western Tanzania’s Lake Tanganyika. The cause of my anxiety was not the fact that we were floating over the second deepest freshwater lake in the world in a boat that had already begun to take in some water […]
Category Archives: Pharmacology
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, […]
April
12
Titrating your trip: Microdosing and mental health
posted by Marley Rossa
DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to promote or condone the purchase, possession, sale, or consumption of any illicit substances. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Your alarm goes off, you hit snooze a few times, then roll over and drag yourself out of bed to make some coffee. It’s just another […]
April
06
THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC: A SOBERING VULNERABILITY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
posted by landonmklein
Opioids are a class of powerful psychoactive drugs that are often prescribed for pain relief, but can produce an intense euphoria that has proven remarkably addictive. Opioid use disorder, a diagnosis characterized by compulsive opioid use and withdrawal, affects or has affected approximately 3 million Americans and 16 million people worldwide. According to the Centers […]
January
25
Instant Gratification: Weighing the Psychological Benefits and Costs of MDMA Use
posted by Christian Cazares
Can a pill exist that brings instant happiness without any negative side effects? Probably not.
January
28
Dawn of the DREADD
posted by Drew Schreiner
[En Español] There are few things I find more satisfying than a good acronym, and DREADD or Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by a Designer Drug has got to be my favorite. The name is just so evocative. Whenever I think about DREADDs, I find myself picturing some sort of Star Wars villain; maybe due to […]
October
16
Lithium: Wonder Drug? Part II
posted by kkiritah
Note from the author: This post is dedicated to my biology nerds out there. If you follow my Gene-of-the-Week posts (and you should because they’re the weirdest), you know that I often get lost in the cellular and molecular details of life, and it’s totally overwhelming. I wrote this post specifically to discuss the mechanisms […]
October
02
Lithium: Wonder Drug? Part I
posted by Melissa Troyer
I’m so happy ’cause today I’ve found my friends They’re in my head What comes to mind when you hear the word lithium? A drug used to manage life-threatening mood disorders? A potentially deadly toxin? A chemical found in trace amounts in many compounds in nature? (Or maybe just the Nirvana song?) Any of these […]
August
28
Creativity and mood: the ups and downs of bipolar disorder
posted by Melissa Troyer
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. –Edgar Allen Poe [1] If the emotions are sometimes so strong that one works without knowing one works, when sometimes the strokes come with a continuity and a coherence like words in a speech or a letter, […]
February
27
Buried Alive
posted by erikkaestner
You wake up. It’s pitch black, the air is stale, and your body is pressed by wooden planks on all sides. You try to reach up but your hand hits wooden planks above you. Seized by terror, you try to thrash about but there is no room to move and it’s getting harder to breathe. […]
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