Category Archives: Uncategorized

May 15

Making a mom: hormones and maternal behavior

posted by

It was Mother’s Day this weekend… have you called your mom yet? Maternal bonds are essential for the survival of the infant, as well as to encourage the mother to make sacrifices and engage in parental behaviors to care for her young. This is something that your mom probably felt as soon as she met […]

»»
April 24

This brainless blob might outsmart you 

posted by

In the spring of 2017, Hampshire College welcomed a new faculty member, one without a brain or even a nervous system. Physarum polycephalum, a species of slime mold, joined the campus not just as a scientific curiosity but as a non-human thinker. As the college put it, this organism “researches important problems from a non-human […]

»»

Learning and Concussions: a Brain Renovation

posted by

What a Wonderful World Being human, with the brains we have, is wonderful. Our brains give us an amazing ability to learn that sets us apart from other animals. We aren’t the fastest, strongest, or biggest. But we sit at the top of the food chain, enjoying a wonderful world, because of our ability to […]

»»
November 07

A Biological Time Machine

posted by

Time is a paradox; it’s both simple and complex. On the one hand—in its most literal form—time is linear, methodical, unidirectional, and can be measured in well-defined units. On the other hand, or hands, it is warped—circular even—multidimensional, and scalar, among many other properties that constitute a sometimes exciting, sometimes saddening, and sometimes maddening concept, […]

»»
September 19

Solving the Puzzle of Addiction

posted by

According to the United Nations’s World Drug Report of 2024, the number of people who use drugs worldwide had risen to 292 million in 2022, a 20 percent increase over the past 10 years (1). Further more, an estimated 64 million of those people suffer from a substance use disorder (addiction). The study of addiction […]

»»
August 01

Glued to Your Bed

posted by

As we know, sleep is essential for the proper functioning of our brain. Although sleep deprivation has never been found to be fatal in humans, a lack of sleep has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, as well as delirium and hallucinations (1). This is why a lot of research delves into how […]

»»
July 18

Operation PTSD

posted by

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine that started in 2021 has had devastating impacts on the daily lives of those in Ukraine, and this includes a dramatic increase in those suffering from PTSD in this war-torn country. Although 2021 was not the beginning of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine (1), as the war rages on, […]

»»
June 20

When Illusions Help

posted by

What can pushing the limits of reality do for you? There has been a lot of interest recently in using the mind-altering properties of a class of drugs known as psychedelics in the treatment of many psychiatric and neurological disorders. Currently, psychedelics are being explored as a novel treatment for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, […]

»»
April 25

Soothing Towel Sounds

posted by

There is more to the new fad of ASMR than you think.

»»
October 12

Ten Years in the Making

posted by

10 years ago, I was in a medically induced coma. On life support, my life rested in the hands of the incredible staff at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego (RCHSD). On October 8th, 2013, I suffered a severe traumatic brain injury due to a suicide attempt: I had jumped 3 stories from the parking garage […]

»»