Shelley Batts is a Neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. She studies hair cell regeneration in the cochlea, and is just embarking on that quixotic quest called 'thesis.' She lies awake at night pondering how science intersects with politics, culture, policy, money, medicine, and religion in an attempt to be more than just a niche scientist sitting in the oh-so-lovely ivory tower. Follow me and my parrot on the quest to get funded, get a PhD, and stay sane.
Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life. ~Rachel Carson
I love constructive comments! However, I reserve the right to delete comments that abuse this forum. Voicing your opinions is great, just be respectful. :D
Retrospectacle has been a wonderful hobby and outlet for my writing for almost three years. I started writing at Blogspot for a few reasons- to critically report science news, to convert the tomes of science to layperson-speak, to attempt to educate and entertain myself as well as my audience (hopefully). I think that it has been a terrific success. As of this posting, which will be my last here, there are 837 entries and 6912 comments which marks at least *some* kind of contribution to the "conversation about science" we're all trying to have here at ScienceBlogs. I sincerely thank all of you for participating in that discussion. It has been the readers here that made it worthwhile and exciting to write here.
But wait, there's more! Tomorrow, Steve Higgins and I are starting a new conversation at our new joint blog Of Two Minds. We launch tomorrow, and hope you will join us there. Content will be up tomorrow 9am Eastern.
All comments will be closed on this blog as of today, although my contact info (tab at top) will be the same and I welcome comments via email. Thanks again for showing up. Best of luck to you all.
Ok, ok, I know I'm supposed to be on hiatus here. But how could I resist posting this adorable plush neuron? Waaaaay better than a teddy bear, in my opinion.
I must resist the urge to make cuddly neural nets out of dozens of them...
As you all know, Steve and I are merging blogs into the aptly-named 'Of Two Minds' blog. We're going live on March 1st, and since we have a lot of work to do to get it ready and pretty (new banners in the works!) I decided to go on blogging hiatus here a few weeks early. Plus, I'm heading to Phoenix next week to present research at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology meeting and will be there a week. So, the timing seemed right. Don't worry, I'll be posting a reminder as March 1st gets close so you can all update your links and join me at the new digs with Steve.
Until then, check out my friend's new music blog here. I've been encouraging him for months to start a blog because, well, I trust his music taste more than most music critics. I'm always on the look out for new bands and interesting music, and he consistently has wowed me with his mix CDs and recommendations. Check it out!
Sound can have very powerful effects on people, but can it really get you high? Thats what makers of the application I-Doser would have you believe---or specifically, that different 'biaural beats' can mimic the effects of alcohol, cocaine, heroin and other drugs (although, legally and harmlessly.) Obviously, I had to test this.
The makers of I-Doser allow free downloads of the program plus the 'alcohol' beat, and charge for the other intoxicating tunes. I downloaded the program. The 10 best sellers, according to the above page, are: Peyote, Ecstasy, Trip, Marijuana, Orgasm,, Lucid Dream, LSD, Cocaine.
I downloaded the program, which included the free 'alcohol' simulation and had the following description:
Alcohol
Recreational (Moderate)
35 Minutes
Liquor. Spirits. Beer. Wine. Alcohol is one of the most common strong psychoactives used by humans. It has a long history of use and its intoxicating effects are well studied and documented: relaxation, mood lift, happiness, giddiness, talkativeness, lowered inhibitions, reduced social anxiety, and analgesia. Our alcohol dose is like shot gunning five glasses of gin, in force. The effects come on strong, but mellow fast, and ease into a condition of relaxation flightiness and overexcitement. Some have even experienced pure drunkenness from a single dose. Best of all, no hangover.
Sounds intriguing, at the least. So I began to listen to the 35 minute track, which began as a type of static-y white noise. Although it did cause me to 'tune-out' (I listen to white noise to fall asleep, so I might be primed for this), I found it so distracting and monotonous that I had to turn it off after a six or seven minutes. I certainly was not feeling drunken, though. So perhaps the testimonials of those who did experience the effects of the corresponding drug might be benefitting from a healthy placebo effect, although since I was unable to experience the other 'doses' I cannot give my opinion about their effects. Safe to say that the brain chemistry resultant from cocaine or alcohol differs markedly from ones that could be induced by listening to a manufactured tone, but its a fun (and free) little experiment nevertheless.
As you all know by now, Steve and I are merging blogs (starting March 1) and asked all of your to come up with some most excellent ideas for names.
Well, after much gnashing of teeth we finally settled on "Of Two Minds" as our final answer. A close second was "Viva Las Vagus" but as PZ correctly pointed out, it sounded like we thought of it while inebriated, and Greg Laden mentioned that it reminded him of those creepy Viagra commercials (Viva Viagraaaaa!). Anyway, hope you all like the new name as much as we do.
The winner is 'speedwell' and s/he will be contacted shortly for their address best suited for showering a multitude of sciencey awesomeness on. There will be loads of Scienceblogs stickers, great books (some not even available to the public yet!), a SEED subscription, and much more.
Along with Shelley, I am a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program at UM. The last three years my friends and I have made a trilogy of satirical neuroscience posters (see the first one here) poking mild fun at the mystical art of brain science. Also in any spare time remaining I have punished myself with some rather difficult neural engineering experiments.
Year 1, on the Stock Market and Rat Neurons, is already posted on Shelley's blog here. Year 2, on "How many Neurons Must One Man Have, before You Call Him a Man" will be posted shortly, as the story is unfinished on that bit of business. Year 3: The Pièce de résistance: the Attack on Brain Mapping
The Cingular Theory of Unification: The Cingulate Cortex does Everything
My first thesis project in graduate school investigated alternative neocortical implantation sites for neuroprosthetics. I surveyed all the rat literature I could find on rat parietal and frontal cortex function, and I converged on the cingulate cortex as a compelling implantation site due to the cingulate's role in reward-based motor planning
Well, I implanted the cingulate cortex in a number of animals, and true enough the experiment worked. After awhile, the work was published and all that normal stuff, true believers, we are all familiar with (ugh... I just described three years in four sentences). But, during this whole process of manuscript preparation, as more and more papers on the cingulate cortex came out during the 2000's, I felt more at odds with my work. The early literature suggesting the cingulate cortex was involved in reward-based motor planning and error detection was all good and fine, but with the newest fMRI and PET studies showing the cingulate cortex to be involved in optimism, religious experience, loneliness, pain perception, the placebo effect, political persuasion and so on, I wondered, "Gee, it really wasn't a high risk implanting the cingulate cortex to investigate neuroprosthetic signals; it seems to be involved in so many things. Maybe it just does everything."
Oh. my. goodness. This ode to the PCR ("When you need to find out who's your daddy") is just about the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. Ever. Kudos BioRad, I salute you! (Hat tip John PIBS)
Alvaro at SharpBrains has a new newsletter out, summarizing brain fitness in the news and other neurosciency links.
Wanna write for the Darwin Awards? There's a call for good science writing here. (Hat tip Charlie)
This blog is way too good for Livejournal (scoff scoff). Check out the Fengi Newsletter. Is it a bad sign that I thought it had to do with Star Trek at first? (Hat tip Chris, who is going to wow us with his new music blog very soon).
There's a great new parrot conservation website I recently found, I was particular happy to see them taking up the cause of smuggled African Grey parrots. Visit them! Donate! Make birds (and Pepper) happy!
Speaking of Pepper, he saw this birdy hot tub that Charlie sent me, and I haven't heard the end of it. He thinks it would be great for entertaining the 'ladies.' I keep telling him he's the only African Grey in Michigan....
In the epic battle of beard vs. mustache, which would win? Post-traumatic shaving syndrome ensues. Think badgerbadgerbadger but slightly less melodic and a lot more facial hair.
