Category Archives: Uncategorized

September 30

What Does Music Have to Do with Gender, Anyway?

There has been a lot of debate regarding gender stereotypes in music, but is there actually any inherent quality of music that makes it gendered?

May 25

The Brain’s Self

What are you to your brain?

April 13

Your Brain on Stories

The brain is wired for stories, but what exactly happens to it when we hear and tell stories?

March 02

Mindfulness as a treatment for anxiety

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) may be similarly effective as medication for treating anxiety disorders

February 02

The Neuroscience of Cute Aggression

The first thing I do when I get home from work each day is make a beeline for my cat Callie. As I hold her against my shoulder while she nuzzles my neck and purrs to greet me, I am overwhelmed with the urge to squeeze her so tightly that she pops like a baloon. […]

December 22

Fatal Attraction: What is Sex and Love Addiction?

Have you ever been in love? Has it made you do crazy things? Whether it was sending your lover bundles of flowers, stalking their social media (or stalking them in person), or boiling a rabbit in a pot of water, we’ve all been there. We know that love is enthralling. It is potent enough in […]

October 13

The Wandering Nerve

What do epilepsy, depression, and anxiety all have in common? No, this is not some one-liner joke, there is an actual answer to this question. Could it be that they all could be targeted by a single treatment? To understand how this could be, let’s look into what these disorders are, first. Epilepsy is a […]

June 23

A Genetic Identity Crisis: Mosaicism in the Brain

We carry with us every day trillions of copies of one of the best stories ever written: the human genome. Carefully drafted and edited over 4 billion years, our genome contains all the information necessary, and then some, for making a human being from scratch. Often we think of this recipe book as a monolith: […]

January 27

Genetics of Sasquatch: making cryptozoology scientific?

Growing up in Oregon meant I spent lots of time hearing about Sasquatch. Now working in a lab studying monkeys, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how different primates are related. While it is undeniable that little evidence has been found to prove Bigfoot roams the wild forests of the Pacific Northwest, perhaps […]

December 09

Mal de Débarquement: The Science of Land Sickness

Recently I was lucky to spend seven days on a catamaran out at sea with a small group of (COVID-vaccinated) friends. We traveled around the Gulf of California, witnessing truly amazing sights like manta rays jumping out of the water, sea birds diving into the water, and turtles floating along in the swell. This was […]