Tag Archives: learning and memory

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 […]

»»
February 06

Déjà Vu: Have We Been Here Before?

posted by

SEEING THE FUTURE Remember that time you were sitting in the lunch hall with your friend and they were telling you a story that you thought you’d heard before? Not only that, but you also felt like the exact experience you were having had already happened. The scene was so familiar –the room you were […]

»»
August 13

Food for Thought: Docosahexaenoic Acid

posted by

This series is dedicated to exploring nutrients that improve cognitive function. This month, we kick off with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and its effects on neuroplasticity.

»»
July 15

Brains love bone juice

posted by

Skeletons as a hormone-secreting organ In the early 2000s, researchers in Dr. Gerard Karsenty’s group were studying a protein secreted by bones named osteocalcin (OCN) to see  if it played a role in bone mineralization (i.e. how our skeleton attracts the minerals needed for its structure). Even though they found that OCN isn’t involved in […]

»»
February 03

Plants: What are they thinking about?

posted by

As fauna, we look at the floral contemporaries in our lives as little more than living scaffolding: unthinking entities more akin to the truly lifeless- like mountains -compared to us as fast paced, conscious creatures. However, if you’ve ever felt like your house plants were feeling a little neglected after the holiday travels, maybe you’re […]

»»
July 22

Shaken memory

posted by

image source: http://epilepsycongress.blogspot.com/2018/07/epilepsy-and-memory-loss.html Like any college student in his early 20’s, I had a bit of a wild streak with alcohol back in April of this year (2021), getting drunk off my a**. That lasted about half a week. As I have written in a previous article, I suffer from a condition known as posttraumatic […]

»»
June 25

Embracing The Challenge Of Change

posted by

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be an attack, but instead a learning opportunity largely pulled from my experiences and acknowledgement of my privilege. The Black Lives Matter protests happening all over the world are forcing attention to systemic racism that has too long been overlooked by those with the privilege to do so.  […]

»»
December 07

Ancient Aliens Among Us

posted by

  First contact. The prospect of intelligent extraterrestrial life has tantalized us Earthbound humans throughout our history. In relatively recent times, artists such as H.G. Wells, Ursula Le Guin, and Gene Roddenberry have created wide-eyed fantasies full of violent invasions, fraught coexistence, and delicate peace between humanity and the Other. As early as the second […]

»»
June 09

Forget About It

posted by

[En español] In the midst of studying for finals, forgetting is the enemy. You can easily remember the lyrics to your favorite 90s hit, but the names of the 12 cranial nerves elude you. We often think about forgetting as something pathological. We become frustrated by that all too familiar tip-of-your-tongue feeling and in extreme […]

»»
April 01

The plastic brain

posted by

[En español] We are born with roughly 100 billion neurons, more neurons than we’ll ever have again. It’s still a ton of neurons; they could wrap around the earth 3-4 times. Plus, each of these 100 billion neurons has a couple hundred to thousand connections with other neurons. But as we age, our brains also change. Regions of the brain key for memory […]

»»