Tastes Like Neuroscience
retrospectacle | December 7, 2006 Ok this one literally "tastes like neuroscience." (Oh ho ho, I kill me.)
Seriously though, this discovery that it may be possible to diagnose depression through altered taste may one day result in a clinically useful (if unconventional) 'depression test.' A group at the University of Bristol, who have published the study in the recent edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, found that the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and noradrenaline affect how a person perceives taste. These two neurotransmitters are also implicated in depression, and are potential pharmacological targets in…
retrospectacle | November 2, 2006Better preventive care, innovative surgical techniques, improved nutrition, and accessible pharmaceuticals have all had a hand in increasing the lifespan of Americans. Recently, research on caloric restriction and Resveratrol has provided science with additional tools to increase longevity. But what guarantee do we have as to the quality of that longer existence? Do we really want to live long, only to end up in cognitive decline in a rest home or mental facility? A study published in this month's PLoS Medicine examines the incidence of dementia at the end of life.
From Yahoo news:
It's…
retrospectacle | October 30, 2006The "split-brain studies," done by Gazzaniga, Sperry, and others, long ago confirmed the lateralization of language and handedness. New research at the University of Michigan suggests that certain senses may be tied to handedness as well. In right-handed people, the dominant hand is more dependent on vision for guidance while the non-dominant (left) hand is more attuned to the sense of proprioception and touch from muscles, joints, and skin.
In the first task, which assessed visual control over movement, subjects were shown a lighted target to their left or right for less than a second. Then…
retrospectacle | October 25, 2006Two little gems from Bob Abu this morning (thanks!):
First is the Allen Brain Atlas, so named after the Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, whose goal is to create...
...a detailed cellular-resolution, genome-wide map of gene expression in the mouse brain. The completion of the sequencing of the mouse brain and the availability of techniques to probe gene expression amenable to scale-up and automation have made this an achievable, albeit ambitious, goal. The Allen Brain Atlas has created an automated platform for high-throughput in situ hybridization (ISH) that allows a highly systematic approach…
retrospectacle | October 20, 2006A talk I saw at SFN received a news release which was emailed to me by a reader (thanks!). I didn't take notes during the talk, so this was a nice piece of serendipity.
The title of the talk was "Role of Sleep in Human Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation" (Sunday, Oct 15 2006 9:15 AM - 9:35 AM) by Matthew Walker of Harvard, which was part of a symposia on "The Dynamic Nature of Memory."
In a nutshell, the talk detailed the effects of all-nighters on the hippocampuses (hippocampi?) of college students. Dr. Walker paid 10 undergrads to stay up all night, and then to undertake a memory…
retrospectacle | October 17, 2006Monday afternoon at SFN there was a very interesting symposia on oxytocin and vasopressin as mediators of stress and aggression called "Oxytocin and Vasopressin: Central Regulators of Emotion". 51 years ago, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Vincent du Vigneaud for the structure of the oxytocin peptide, and research as to what it does has come a long way. A very intersting talk was by Craig Ferris (of U Mass Medical School), described under the fold. But first a little bit about oxytocin and vasopresin.
Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter which is involved in a variety of behaviors:…
retrospectacle | October 17, 2006Ever want to digitize everything in your life? (If you are a blogger, you may already be doing this....) Microsoft has a project in development called "MyLifeBits," which has been around for about 5 years and is headed up by computer engineer Gordon Bell. MyLifeBits would record all papers, faxes, phone calls, photographs, and home movies in a digital form----as well as create a searchable database of all your memories.
"The quest is to essentially build a surrogate memory. Something that's as good as my own memory, that I can use it as a supplement, and will remember everything that I should…
retrospectacle | October 16, 2006Saturday night here in Atlanta, worlds collided. Jake of Pure Pedantry, Evil Monkey of Neurotopia, Nick of the Neurocontrarian, a high school friend from South Carolina, and six of my fellow UM Neurokids all went out for tapas at Fuego (excellent mojitos!) and then danced the night away at Sutra next door. We shut the club down at 3am and then went back to our condo to drink a couple more hours. For the sake of retaining the last shred of dignity of all parties involved, I'll leave the details fuzzy (although I got free Hennessey, Nick got to first, and Evil Monkey was molested). But I will…
retrospectacle | October 15, 2006Perhaps the only person more confused by the SFN keynote lecture than I was, by renowned architech Frank Gehry, was Frank Gehry himself. Following in the footstep of the Dalai Lama (last years' speaker in this series), Gehry was this year's speaker in the "Neuroscience and Society" addresses; specifically, his talk was to explore how architecture and neuroscience mesh and reflect each other.
From the program:
Gehry will discuss the ideas and assumptions about how people perceive and interact with architectural spaces that inform his work....he will also discuss architectural elements such…
retrospectacle | October 12, 2006I'm headed to Atlanta, for the Society for Neuroscience meeting. I don't have a poster (just presented one in France!) so I'll just be a tourist. And, hoping to run into a few neuro-bloggers like Evil Monkey, Jake of Pure Pedantry, and the Neurocontrarian.
Here's how the UM Neuroscience PhD students are representing, though. If you're going, check them out.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Talks
1:00 pm - 4:30 pm Slide 14. Sleep Georgia World Congress Center: Room C301
1:00 pm - 1:15 pm 14.1. Sleep and fatigue during chronic viral infection M. D. OLIVADOTI, M. R. OPP
Posters
2:00 pm - 3:…
retrospectacle | October 11, 2006A recent (and IMHO, fascinating) study published in the journal Neurology suggests that heavier people score lower on cognitive tests and have a higher risk of dementia later in life than their thinner counterparts.
I go into this post with the full knowledge that perhaps:
a) people will attack me just for drawing attention to this research
b) people will attack the quality of the research
c) people will get pissed at the results
d) people will get pissed at me
e) and various other permutations of people getting their panties in a wad.
That's their right, of course.
HOWEVER, this is my blog…
retrospectacle | October 5, 2006If you've seen Joe vs. The Volcano (and if you haven't, you should), you remember that Joe is dubiously diagnosed with a "brain cloud" which is, of couse, terminal. This prompts his willingness to jump into the volcano to appease the Waponi Wu (aka, the Big Wu). I always thought that the idea of a brain cloud was rather funny, until I stumbled upon this diconcerting Yahoo news piece on the long-term effects of chemotherapy on brain metabolism and function.
Chemotherapy causes changes in the brain's metabolism and blood flow that can last as long as 10 years, a discovery that may explain the…
retrospectacle | October 4, 2006Thought I'd throw out something that was neuro-related after such a long and tedious travel hiatus!
According to Nature News, a new study helps explain the mentality of "I only smoke when I drink" and why smokers tender to drink more than non-smokers. As a short stint as a waitress, I totally noticed that the smoking section was always where the best money was, because smokers drank, which increased the bill and tip. And according to this study in rats, a heavy dose of nicotine can reduce blood alcohol levels by HALF. This leads to the logical conclusion that smokers must drink more than non-…
retrospectacle | September 21, 2006Posting will be slow for a couple days, as I hop on the Eurail tomorrow and travel to Brussels.
Yesterday I decided to go to the beach, which is a few miles to the south of Montpellier. It was a bit more of a hassle that I expected, as it involved getting on the subway, then getting on a bus. Futhermore this involved knowing exactly what stop I wanted to get off at, and I found this out while face-to-face with the bus driver. After a bit of confusion, the first stop name she said (ended up being Gau de le Roi) I just nodded emphatically and hoped it was correct. (Hopefully, it was!) The line…
retrospectacle | September 6, 2006For many years, psychiatry has relied on the pharmacological usage of lithium (Li+), alone or in combination with other anti-depressants, as a treatment for bipolar disorder, depression, mania, etc. This, despite the fact that very little is known WHY Lithium works, let alone HOW.
The actual prescribed "dose" of lithium is not a pure metal, but rather as lithium "salts": lithium carbonate, lithium oxybutyrate, lithium sulfate, among others. In 1949, Australian physician John Cade discovered that the administration of lithium salts (lithium urate) in animals resulted in a tranquilizing effect…
retrospectacle | August 30, 2006"Graduating from an Ivy League university doesn't necessarily mean you're smart."
Lakehead University in northern Ontario set up www.yaleshmale.com in a bid to attract potential new students.
It shows a picture of Yale graduate Mr Bush with the caption: "Graduating from an Ivy League university doesn't necessarily mean you're smart."
"It was literally a tongue-in-cheek way of getting attention," university president and vice-chancellor Frederick Gilbert told Reuters news agency.
The website had received more than 7,000 hits, he said on Monday, and online comments had been 95% positive.…
retrospectacle | August 28, 2006The 2006 Society for Neuroscience Meeting is approaching (in October), and I just wanted to repost this about the Dalai Lama's speech at SFN last year, from the "archives."
First, this post is a summary of online accounts from people that heard the Dalai Lama's speech at the Society for Neuroscience; I was unable to attend his talk (blame my laptop!). The Lama's speech was entitled "The Neuroscience of Meditation," it was one-hour long and was followed by a question and answer session.
A blog run by Neurodudes posted a 'blow-by-blow' account of the talk. This writeup in Science 'Dalai Lama…
retrospectacle | August 20, 2006Welcome to the 5th edition of The Synapse, ScienceBlog's home-grown carnival on all things Neuro! Glad to see this carnival, much like a precocious child or bad hair day, is growing up and gaining a life of its own. Thanks to all that submitted, we've got a smorgasbord of neural delights for your reading pleasure. Come on people, engage in long term potentiation in the brain, for the brain, about (you guessed it) the brain!
First, Jake at Pure Pedantry tackles a controversial topic, debunking the myth of a significant gender disparity in science, and in cognition.
OmniBrain provides a…
retrospectacle | August 17, 2006Scientists find "brain evolution gene" !!!
Looking at 49 areas that have changed the most between the human and chimpanzee genomes, Haussler zeroed in on an area with "a very dramatic change in a relatively short period of time."
That one gene didn't exist until 300 million years ago and is present only in mammals and BIRDS, not fish or animals without backbones. But then it didn't change much at all. There are only two differences in that one gene between a chimp and a chicken, Haussler said.
But there are 18 differences in that one gene between human and chimp and they all seemed to occur…
retrospectacle | August 15, 2006In a recent article on CNN, it was mentioned that while GPS navigation is becoming quite "the" thing to have, London cabbies want none of it. GPS systems were just allowed into cabs earlier this year, but very few drivers have opted for them; they prefer to rely on their own memory rather than any device prone to glitches. There's a good reason they should do exactly that.
Every one of London's cabbies has to take the grueling test known as "The Knowledge" in order to get a taxi license. The test consists of learning 320 routes as well as the city's many confusing streets, shortcuts, and…