November 10

Say Cheese: The neuroscience of our devotion to dairy

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You might be the kind of person that can’t wait for the “cheese pull” when grabbing a hot slice of pizza, or perhaps you’re the first at the table to suggest a cheese-filled charcuterie board for your appetizer (both of these examples are stemming from personal experience, of course). If you are a fellow cheese […]

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October 27

The Language and Psychology of Modern “Cults”

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We use the term “cult” loosely in today’s colloquial language. Ask around, and you might hear the opinion that people who religiously attend expensive spin classes or CrossFit are in a cult. MLM’s (multi-level marketing schemes) are a cult. Academia is a cult! As a member of the cult of academia, I promise I am […]

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October 13

The Wandering Nerve

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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 […]

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October 06

Fighting COVID might leave you with a bad taste in your mouth

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It’s never a good feeling to find yourself gazing at two strong, dark purple lines on your at-home COVID test. Not only are you staring down at least five days of isolation, but you likely don’t feel physically great either. During a recent bout of COVID, I had the usual symptoms – severe sore throat, […]

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September 29

How model organisms are chosen

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Intro Mice, fruit flies, worms, and monkeys. These are just some of the many animal species that are commonly used by scientists to learn about the nervous system, often with the goal of uncovering something about the human nervous system. If that’s the case, then the species being used is said to be a model […]

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September 08

Shocking the brain to protect your memories

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by JC Gorman Have you tried turning it on and off again? You may be *shocked* to hear it, but recent studies have shown that administering small electric currents to the brain could protect older people from memory loss. A research paper that came out this month showed an even more acute way to prevent […]

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August 25

An Appetite for Epilepsy

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Have you ever wondered what really makes up your body? Well, even if you haven’t, you’ll be surprised to know that there are trillions of microorganisms living inside you, so many that they outnumber your actual body cells 10 to 1: for every one of your cells, there are 10 microorganisms. That’s right, you’ve got […]

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August 18

The Fear of Missing Out

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There is no shortage of slang to be found on the internet. In recent years, a piece of slang in the form of an acronym has piqued my interest – FOMO. This acronym stands for “fear of missing out,” and is something I am certain most people can relate to. Despite its prolific use in […]

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August 04

Shiver me muscles: why do you shake when you’re cold?

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As a proud mid-Atlantic East Coaster, I thought I was relatively well adapted to colder winter climates. After being in sunny San Diego for a few years, however, I have realized that this is NOT so when a slight breeze invokes a shiver in my spine, or sitting outside on a 55 degree day can […]

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July 28

Sharks-Sensing the Body Electric

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One of the greatest fears people have about going into the ocean is the fear of being attacked by a shark. Although this fear is not truly warranted, as cows kill more people annually than sharks do [4]. But what is it about sharks that makes us so afraid of them? One major factor is […]

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