neurophilosophy | April 12, 2008Please be aware that I do not endorse any of the products being advertised by Proximic at the bottom of the side bar on the right. I am responsible for the content of the side bar on the left and, of course, for all of the written material on this blog, but I have no control over the products that appear in the "Related Ads", or, for that matter, anything in the column on the right.
If I had my way, the Proximic ads would be removed altogether, because they look very tacky and, more importantly, they advertise rubbish such as the Neurology & Psychology of Masculinity audio cassette, by…
neurophilosophy | April 7, 2008
A 58-year-old man from Cumbria has had electrodes implanted his brain in order to treat his compulsive gambling.
Raymond Mandale (right), who suffers from Parkinson's, claims that his gambling habit was caused by a prescribed drug he had been taking to alleviate the symptoms of his condition, and is now seeking compensation from the manufacturers of the drug.
Mandale's case is not unprecedented. In the past few months, several Parkinson's patients who began gambling compulsively after taking the dopamine agonist Mirapex have brought lawsuits against the pharmaceuticals companies involved.…
neurophilosophy | April 6, 2008What with the current debate about the use of "smart" drugs by academics, I thought it pertinent to republish this old piece from January of last year, about a bacterial toxin which has been shown to enhance fear conditioning and spatial memory in mice.
In the late nineteenth century, the great Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal suggested that memories might be formed by the strengthening of connections between nerve cells:
Cerebral gymnastics are not capable of improving the organization of the brain by increasing the number of cells, because it is known that the nerve cells…
neurophilosophy | April 3, 2008From my inbox:
First Interdisciplinary NeuroSchool of the European Neuroscience and Society Network,
EMBL, Monterotondo (Rome)
Sept. 28th-Oct. 5th
We are pleased to invite applications to the first interdisciplinary 'NeuroSchool' of the European Neuroscience and Society Network, a five year programme involving leading neuroscientists and social scientists from eleven European countries in collaborative research and debate. The aim of the school is to foster learning in a interdisciplinary symmetrical environment. It is intended for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows…
neurophilosophy | April 2, 2008It now seems clear that we have grossly underestimated the cognitive abilities of other animals. In recent years, research has shown, for example, that African cichlids use simple logic to infer their social status, and that rodents can think abstractly and learn to use tools.
Birds also display quite remarkable intelligence: the ability of crows to make and use tools is at least as sophisticated, if not more so, than that of chimpanzees. (See the film clips in my post on intelligence in birds.) And now, a study published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that rooks…
neurophilosophy | April 2, 2008
Bora Zivkovic is coming to London on Wednesday April 9th, and several events have been organized for his visit, which I'll be going to. First, there'll be a behind-the-scenes tour of the Natural History Museum, starting at 4.30pm, followed by a few drinks at The Queen's Arms.
If you're in London and would like to join us on the NHM tour, you should email Karen via the link above. Or you might like to meet us at the pub; we'll be there from about 6.30 onwards.
Incidentally, Bora has written about the new NIH initiative to crack down on the use of neuroenhancing drugs by academics…
neurophilosophy | April 1, 2008My broadband connection was down for the whole day yesterday, so I was unable to link to the latest edition of Encephalon, which is now up at Of Two Minds and is, apparently, hosted by none other than Paris Hilton.
As usual, this edition includes some fantastic entries from some of the best neuroscience and psychology blogs on the web. I especially like the Neurocritic's short discussion about the practice in eastern countries of using the odour of smelly shoes to control epileptic seizures, and Jennifer's post about Rita Levi-Montalchini's discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) and the role…
neurophilosophy | March 30, 2008
I took this photo about two years ago, when the French mechanical marionette street theatre company Royal de Luxe came to London. It's one of several pics from my photostream that have been favorited by other Flickr users.
neurophilosophy | March 30, 2008That impoverished student would be me, and I feel like I'm begging, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm studying part-time for my M.Sc., and working three days a week to support my family and pay the mortgage, bills and my tuition fees. (Actually, my meagre income has been further reduced these past few weeks, as I've been on paternity leave.)
If you enjoy reading my blog, please consider showing me some love by donating a few dollars. You can do so by clicking on the orange "PayPal - Donate" button that I've placed near the bottom of the sidebar on the left (and which is…
neurophilosophy | March 30, 2008This track, called Design Coding by The Poetic Prophet, has just been uploaded on YouTube. I thought it was hilarious the first time I saw it, and it's still very amusing on the fourth viewing. I'm not an expert on search engine optimization, but the advice provided here is, as far as I know, accurate.
Here's a transcript of the lyrics:
Your site design is the first thing people see,
It should be reflective of you and the industry,
Easy to look at with a nice navigation,
When they can't find what they want it causes frustration,
A clear call to action to increase the…
neurophilosophy | March 28, 2008
Jennifer Ouellette reports from a month-long program on the anatomy, development and evolution of the brain, at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, with a fantastic post called Tools of the brain trade.
Inspired by a talk given by Winifred Denk, about reconstructing brain circuitry using serial electron microscopy, Jennifer's post covers the discovery by Camillo Golgi of the silver chromate method for impregnating samples of brain tissue, and the refinement of the technique by Santiago Ramon y Cajal. It concludes with a brief mention of modern imaging techniques, such as two-photon…
neurophilosophy | March 26, 2008Traditionally, the use of tools was believed to be restricted to humans and several other primate species, and, like language, was argued to be a major driving force behind the evolution of the human brain. However, this view is now being challenged. For example, in recent years it has become clear that birds have sophisticated tool-using abilities. Now, a group of researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have demonstrated for the first time that rats degus* can be trained to use simple tools.
The new study, by Okanoya et al, is published online today in the open access…
neurophilosophy | March 25, 2008A comparative neuroimaging study performed by researchers from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Oxford, provides clues to how human language evolved.
In the past, it was believed that the increase in brain size during human evolution occured mainly to accomodate our complex linguistic abilities. But the findings of this new study suggest that the emergence of language also required major modifications in how the brain is wired.
Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI, a type of functional magnetic resonance imaging which I described in…
neurophilosophy | March 22, 2008
Isis was born at 12:12pm yesterday, weighing in at a very healthy 8lb 5oz. Mummy is exhausted after her second Caesarian section, but both are otherwise well, and will be coming home in a couple of days.
Needless to say, I'm going to be very busy over the next few days, and I'm unlikely to be spending any time at the computer. In fact, I'll probably be blogging lightly for about the next 2 months, because I've also got exams coming up in May, and still have quite a bit of studying to do before then.
neurophilosophy | March 19, 2008
Image: Phisick Antique Medical Collection
This highly detailed papier mache model of the human brain, which can be pulled apart to reveal labelled and numbered structures within, was created by the French physician Louis Thomas Jerome Auzoux (1797-1880).
In the early 19th century, human cadavers for the study of anatomy were in short supply. The dissection of human corpses was difficult, due to the fast rate of decomposition, and also illegal. And the wax anatomical models available at the time were both fragile and expensive.
Taking his inspiration from the childrens' toys sold on the…
neurophilosophy | March 17, 2008
The Sunday Times has an incredible story about Henry Marsh, a consultant neurosurgeon at St. George's Hospital in South London, who travels to a hospital in Kiev twice a year in his spare time to perform free operations using only the most rudimentary instruments:
The young man lies back on the hospital trolley and waits patiently as his head is secured in place with a vice.
Marian Dolishny's nervous smile and worried, flicking eyes, betray the certain knowledge that what he is about to undergo will be anything but pleasant. But he also knows that time is short: if the enormous tumour…
neurophilosophy | March 15, 2008For the benefit of new readers, I've selected what I think are the best posts from this blog.
Wilder Penfield, Neural Cartographer: The patient lies on the operating table, with the right side of his body raised slightly. The anaesthetist sterilizes his scalp and injects it with Nupercaine to produce analgesia - the patient will remain fully conscious throughout the procedure. Behind the surgical drapes, three large incisions are made in his scalp. A large flap of bone is then cut from his skull, and turned downward to expose the surface of his brain. The ultraviolet lights which illuminate…
neurophilosophy | March 13, 2008
The Visible Body is a small application created by the Massachussets-based company Argosy Publishing. The software can be downloaded for free, and includes computer graphic models of more than 1,700 anatomical structures, which can be rotated in a three-dimensional 360 degree view:
The Visible Body consists of highly detailed, anatomically accurate, 3D models of all human body systems. The models were developed by an extensively trained team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization. All anatomical content has been reviewed for accuracy by our panel of…
neurophilosophy | March 13, 2008Best-selling fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, who announced in December that he has a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, has pledged $1million for research into the disease.
In a speech given ealier today at the Alzheimer's Research Trust Netowrk Conference in Bristol, Pratchett said that he compliments his conventional treatment with various unspecified alternative remedies, in the hope that he can slow the progression of the illness:
The NHS kindly allows me to buy my own Aricept because I'm too young to have Alzheimer's for free...But, on the whole, you try to be your own doctor. Teh…
neurophilosophy | March 12, 2008
(AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry, HO)
This skeleton, exacavated recently in the town of Veria, some 75km west of Thessalonika, provides evidence that the ancient Greeks performed sophisticated neurosurgery.
The remains, dated to the 3rd century A.D., belong to a woman aged around 25, who appears to have died as a result of a failed craniotomy which was performed to treat a severe blow to the crown of the head.
The large hole above the eyes is precisely cut, suggesting that the skull was perforated with specialized instruments and not a sharp stone.