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The trials, tribulations, and joys of a Neuroscience gradute student writing her thesis in the postmodern, post-Y2K world.
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
Cochlear Hair Cell Regeneration
Interview With Dr. Irene Pepperberg
On Religion and Taking the 'Red Pill'
Neuroscience of Cocaine Addiction
Parrots Have Object Permanance
Retrospectacle is now Of Two Minds!
January 31, 2007
Category: Pepper
In the comments of the Gene Jeans post, Robster from Wonkabout made me this cool picture, which I think deserved a post. Thanks Robster!...
Posted by Shelley Batts at 2:09 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience
Two brain regions are involved in processing how tickling feels. The somatosensory cortex processes touch and the anterior cingulate cortex processes pleasant information........
Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:19 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 30, 2007
Category: Things I Wish I Could Afford
Small price to pay for a double-helix on your butt, I say
Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:46 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Weird Science
Long nights, sitting at the microscope, slide after slide.......don't you just wish you had a beer? Slurp slurp. Ahhhh, thats better. Wait, I wonder what *beer* would look like under the microscope! Let's try it! I think thats what someone...
Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:37 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: US Politics
Nancy Pelosi apparently had a Q&A session with a few dozen bloggers after being sworn in as House Speaker, and has hired a full-time staff member who's job is blogger outreach!! This is big--the Speaker of the House is conferring...
Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:32 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 29, 2007
Category: Behavior
A law and economics professor at Vanderbilt, Dr. Joni Hersch, has recently published an interesting paper comparing the incomes of 2,084 legal immigants to the USA to their skin tone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, persons with lighter skintones were found to make...
Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:23 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Other
A firework, fiery pieces streaming away from the place where they had been part of a whole, a thing with a mission. Smoke set the backdrop, an ominous cloud, a dark nasty spot in the blue and white sky. No longer pointed skyward, but made suddenly heavy like a popped balloon deprived of helium's buoyancy.
Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:35 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience
If you won a million dollars, what would you do? While being wealthy reduces feelings of dependence on others, participants in their tests developed selfish attitudes when presented with wealth that carried over into other aspects of their lives. The authors attribute this to a "self-sufficiency hypothesis," and designed their experiments to prime people to think about money and then observe changes in their behavior.
Posted by Shelley Batts at 11:51 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 26, 2007
Category: Blather
This weekend at UM Neuro, we're getting our first group of interviewees to the PhD program. I usually volunteer to host a "recruit" because, not only do you get to meet interesting people, you get a slew of fancy dinners...
Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:45 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Weird Science
"Will it have 'Come to New York' written on it?"
Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:15 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
