Each year, approximately 30,000 neuroscientists descend on one U.S. city for 5 days, flying in from all over the world to attend the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference. Some come to present posters, while some have been selected to give talks (which range in length from 10 minutes to an hour, and range in attendance […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
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 […]
October
03
A critical point about the brain
posted by Haylie Romero
Neuroscience is one of the most fascinating fields of study, spanning science, art and philosophy. Okay, I may be biased here, but if you really think about it, we are trying to understand emotion, motivation, intelligence, and consciousness. We are trying to discover what sets humans apart, what unifies animals, what causes neurological disease, all […]
August
08
Sharing the Stories of Women in Neuroscience
posted by megkirch
One year ago, Dr. Nancy Padilla was reviewing a list of speaker names for a seminar series organized by postdoctoral fellows in her department. She saw nothing wrong with the list as it was full of prominent and excellent neuroscientists – that is, until her colleague pointed out that the list did not include a […]
July
18
Our Sensitive Stomach: The Enteric Nervous System
posted by Nicholas A. Nelson
There is a lot more to the gut than will be covered here – hormone signals, the microbiome, and gut contributions to nervous system diseases will be topics for later articles. Worry not – these functions are not forgotten, but for the ease of digestion (sorry) and clarity of each topic, will be segmented into […]
June
13
BrainEx: Restoring Brain Circulation After Death
posted by Seraphina Solders
[En español] In May of 2018, headlines across the internet warned of a creepy new “brain in a bucket” experiment, in which scientists had “reanimated” the disembodied brains of pigs from slaughterhouses, and surely promised a “living hell” for humans. Very little was known about this study at the time, as the lead scientist, Nenad […]
April
18
BRINGING JOY BACK TO CHILDBIRTH
posted by Elena Blanco-Suarez, Ph.D.
[En español] In the US alone, 3 million new moms suffer from postpartum depression, or PPD. Most moms agree that, despite the discomfort during pregnancy and the pain during labor, childbirth is a joyful experience. And I imagine that must be true as many women around the world have more than one child. However, postpartum […]
March
21
Ketamine: A New Hope
posted by Catie Profaci
You may know ketamine as “Special K,” a party drug with a niche in the Burning Man and rave scenes. It’s known for its dissociative effects–its ability to make its users feel as if they are floating, detached from their bodies and surroundings. It’s a quick trip; the main dissociative effects of ketamine only last […]
March
07
The “miracle” of eye movements: EMDR and PTSD
posted by megkirch
“Hold that image in your mind,” I say, “and follow my finger”. I proceed to wave my finger in front of your face, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth… Believe it or not, I’m not performing hypnosis in this hypothetical scenario. Instead, I’m describing one of the most successful behavioral treatments for […]
February
28
The Scientific Adventures of Ben Barres Part II: Superstar of the Star Cells
posted by Catie Profaci
This post is the second half of a two-part series on the work of Dr. Ben Barres. Did you miss the first half of our adventure? No problem. Click here to start from the beginning! Welcome back! Last week the adventure through Ben Barres’ lab’s discoveries wound through their exciting advances in cell culture, their […]
