As the National Football League (NFL) approaches its most prestigious game of the year, the Superbowl, fans are often treated to video montages of the big plays and hard hits that either led their teams to victory or contributed to the end of their season. While these clips serve to instill a sense of excitement […]
Tag Archives: neuroscience
August
30
Defining Cognitive Adulthood: When Neuroscience Influences Law
posted by Catie Profaci
In 2006, a grand jury convicted Evan Miller in a homicide case, sentencing him to mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility for parole. At the time of his crime, Evan was 14-years-old. Years later, after a series of appeals, Evan’s case–Miller vs. Alabama–made it to the Supreme Court, which ruled that a sentence of life […]
May
03
The Neurogenesis Saga: Are new neurons born in the adult human brain?
posted by Seraphina Solders
One of neuroscience’s most heated debates during the past 50 years has been whether or not new neurons are born (a process called neurogenesis) in the adult mammalian brain. Before the late 1990s, we believed that we were born with all the neurons we would have throughout our lives. However, evidence of adult neurogenesis from […]
April
26
Lymph, glymph, sleep, & sickness
posted by Catie Profaci
Consider the word “lymph.” What comes to mind? To me, “lymph” sounds like a viscous liquid that might ooze out of the orifices of some terrifying wounded creature. Or perhaps your mind jumps to the term “lymph nodes”, conjuring images of little knobs in your neck bulging with infection, sometimes growing so large that […]
February
22
Conscious in Dreamland: The Neuroscience of Lucid Dreaming
posted by Barbara Spencer
I do a lot of weird things while sleeping. I talk, walk, and experience vivid dreams, all without conscious awareness. Despite the fact that my dreams are often absurd, I don’t question their content while I’m in them. (Oh, I’ve been hired to make a documentary about Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz and his […]
June
22
Psychopathy, qu’est-ce que c’est
posted by Catie Profaci
Psychopathy, qu’est-ce que c’est A thought experiment Imagine that you are a respected scientist trying to better understand psychopathy. What might be different in the brain of a psychopath? As you look through brain scan after brain scan of psychopathic individuals—many of them convicted killers—you see a pattern. In brain regions important for impulse control, […]
January
19
Through the Looking-Glass, and What the Brain Sees There
posted by Barbara Spencer
She complained of recurrent attacks during which she feels that her body is growing larger and larger until it seems to occupy the whole room. “I feel,” she said, “that I have got so big that if I put out my hand I could touch the far wall.’ Less frequently, she feels that she […]
October
31
Work Alone (A Work from Home Parody)
posted by Catie Profaci
The UCSD neuro grad program made another parody music video! Watch and share! If you’re coming to SD for SfN, join us Monday 11/14 at Parq
September
22
Left Brain, Right Brain, Red Brain, Blue Brain
posted by Barbara Spencer
[En español] With the first presidential debate of 2016 quickly approaching, it’s a good time to consider whether your brain has already cast its vote. There is no shortage of articles that imply your political leanings are reflected in your brain’s structure and function (e.g. Is your brain liberal or conservative?—Fox News, Experts say liberal […]
September
15
I’m not crying; it’s just been raining on my face
posted by Xi Jiang
Humans and turtles have many things in common: we both possess four limbs, two eyes, a shell around our most vulnerable secrets, and tears that are attractive to butterflies and bees [1,2]. Our salt-rich tears, it seems, are much more palatable (and nutritious) to insects than they are to ourselves. Julia butterflies drinking turtle tears […]
