Issue 30 The Adverse Effects Current Day Drug Policy in America has on Scientific Advancement Within the Field of Neuroscience, POC, and Addiction Rehabilitation All of us, at least once in our lives, have been misguided in our beliefs surrounding the nature of drugs. This occurrence is further exacerbated by the laws and regulatory policies created by the American government.
Issue 30 Can't Trust This: Racism in Research Medical research has a dark past, especially for Black Americans. Embedded in this history contains withholding information, biases, and racism towards Black Americans.
Issue 30 Unraveling the Mysteries of Myasthenia Gravis Ensor's story reflects the wider reality of myasthenia gravis. In this chronic autoimmune disorder, the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys muscle-nerve communication pathways in the neuromuscular junction, the connection site between a muscle and nerve.
Issue 30 Introduction to Organoids Enter organoids, the cost-efficient game-changers of modern research. Organoids are three-dimensional cell cultures that are designed to mimic the structure and function of specific organs.
Article Glass Patterns Research Technique Whether it’s choosing which coffee shop to visit, deciding between job offers, or considering whether or not to accelerate to catch a yellow light, you are constantly making decisions. But how do these decisions go hand in hand with visual processing?
Issue 30 A Brain Spine Interface We are all familiar with the futuristic scenario where humans become one with machines to push beyond our biological limitations. Whether this idea excites or frightens you, it is currently becoming our reality.
Article Angelman syndrome–insights into a rare genetic disorder In 1965, Dr. Harry Angelman documented cases of three children exhibiting sudden and uncontrollable laughter, intellectual impairment, abnormal facial features, jerky movements, and a protruding tongue, which was then collectively defined as Angelman syndrome (AS) [2].
Issue 30 Call of Duty: Are Videogames our Friend or Foe? Around the mid-1980s, video games began to rise as a form of popular entertainment, and within the last twenty years, they have catapulted even further through the development of mobile games for the casual gamer.
Article Somnambulism: So, you're a sleepwalker? When thinking of sleepwalking, the image that most often springs to mind is that of a person rising from their bed and walking around like a zombie. But the potential implications are a lot larger than this.
genetics The Neurobiological Mechanisms of a Suicidal Brain Many of us live our lives day to day, excited to see tomorrow’s adventures or indulge in its captivating events. Others live their lives simply wishing it would end.
Issue 28 Effects of Alcohol on the Neuroimmune System Imagine you’re at a college party: The music’s loud, people are dancing, and you’re surrounded by bottles of whiskey, beer, vodka, and rum. You take a shot, and someone hands you another drink.
Issue 29 Sleep and the Glymphatic System We have all experienced sleepless nights and know what it is like to suffer the consequences: inability to focus, decreased productivity, and feeling lethargic. Sleep is a process that is
Issue 29 Clinician Burnout: Effects on the Brain and the Healthcare Industry Dr. Tammie Chang has just gotten off a busy day of work as a pediatric oncologist. As she drives on the road that leads to home, she feels her exhaustion
Issue 29 Beyond the Pill: Utility of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression Imagine a world where depression's relentless grip is broken, where hope can finally shine through the clouds of despair. That was, unfortunately, not something Ms. T could afford to imagine.
Issue 29 From Genes to Behavior: Unraveling Psychopathy with Neuroscience Psychopathy is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the absence of emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavior control, resulting in antisocial behavior and participation in criminal acts. Researchers suggest
Issue 29 The Brain is Alive with the Sound of Music While everyone has their own music preferences, there are some songs that almost everyone knows the words to. Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” is basically the Fourth of July national anthem, and we only need to hear the first few bell chimes to identify Mariah Carey
Issue 29 Mirror, Mirror Have you ever flinched when watching a character get hurt on TV? Yawned when someone near you yawned? These reactions may be due to unique brain cells known as mirror neurons.
Issue 29 Microglia: Little Giants in the Brain Imagine the brain as an epic house party with various cell types acting as partygoers, each contributing to the chaotic buzz. Amid the lively crowd, the neurons are the center
Issue 28 The Mechanisms of General Anesthesia For many, the thought of undergoing surgery can be a terrifying fear. Operations in the United States often come with an exorbitant price tag and without any guarantee of success. At the extreme end, there is even a risk of death.
Issue 28 Is Free Will an Illusion? Neurobiological Basis of Human Agency and Volition Invariably, few can deny the integral roles of conscious free will and volition in our identities, beliefs, choices, interactions, and everyday lives. Introduction: Let’s get started with the main
Issue 28 Special K: The Emergence of Psychedelic Healthcare Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, is notorious for its street reputation as an abused substance. Known by the general public as an illicit club drug, recreational users inhale, ingest, or inject
Issue 28 Antidepressants: The magic pill? Disclaimer: This is a comprehensive overview of the public’s understanding on the chemical theories of depression, the marketing of antidepressants, and the importance of transparency in the pharmacotherapy and
Issue 28 A Review of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Imagine a tingling sensation, starting at the top of the scalp and traveling down your spine, inducing a state of relaxation and deep breathing [1]. You feel an increased desire
Issue 28 The Hunt for a Cure: Promising New Developments in Huntington’s Disease Research When discussing her grandmother’s and father’s diagnoses with Huntington’s Disease (HD), Kimberly Pryce described the testing process as “a flip of a coin. Heads, you’re facing
Issue 26 Audition for Audition: Could Regenerative Therapy Be The Lead Role for Hearing Restoration? For a large proportion of the population, hearing is a passive process easily taken for granted despite the complex mechanisms required for its function. Due to the intricate structures responsible for hearing, there are myriad ways that hearing loss can occur.
Issue 27 Coffee or Conditioning? Coffee, café, 咖啡, قهوة, コーヒー, КоΦέ, Kahvi. No matter what you call it, that bitter, dark brown drink is universally recognized as a crisp beacon that cuts through mental fog.
Issue 27 CNS Regeneration in the Spiny Mouse What is the Spiny Mouse? How amazing would it be to possess the ability to regenerate lost body parts? It would be effortless to easily produce new limbs, organs, or
Issue 27 The Cholinergic Hypothesis: Acetylcholine & Alzheimer’s Disease Imagine a world where cherished memories vanish like whispers in the wind, leaving behind only fragments of a once vibrant existence. Alzheimer's disease, a relentless force that steals away our
Issue 27 Spice Spice Baby: How Eating Spices Benefits the Brain Imagine you’re out at dinner with a friend, excitedly awaiting your dish. Your food comes, and you take a big bite.
Issue 27 The Choreography of Spinal Cord Regeneration: Stem Cells, Supramolecular Polymers, & “Dancing Molecules” Superman: Man or Myth? On an unforgettable spring day in 1995, esteemed Superman actor Christopher Reeve redefined the meaning of his role as the “man of steel.” Once recognized as
Issue 27 Love on the Brain: The Neuroscience of Love and Love Addiction Today, the intersection of psychological and neuro-scientific disciplines offer substantial insight into the positive and negative implications of human love. With advancements in fMRI technology, scientists have began exploring the
Issue 27 All You Need to Know About Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography Have you ever thought about going to a professional when something about your body did not feel right? “Jerry,” a 73-year-old man, was in the same situation.
Issue 26 Gene Therapy: Treating the Untreatable If you asked researchers for a list of the last decade’s most important discoveries, most would include CRISPR-Cas9, a system that has the ability to find a sequence within a strand of DNA, cut it out, and replace it with a new sequence.
Issue 26 Improving Memory through Slow Wave Sleep In the ocean, the form water will take at any given time may seem unpredictable to someone not paying attention, though there are patterns that can be identified and relied upon with some certainty.
Issue 26 Navigating the Cosmos of Whole-Brain Imaging Mapping the (B)rainforest Neurons, with their long axons and countless branching dendrites, are often colloquially spoken of in the language of trees. To extend the metaphor likens the brain
Issue 26 Fatal Familial Insomnia: What Happens When You Can't Sleep Introduction Memory loss, paranoia, double vision, disorientation, confusion, and an abnormal sleep pattern: these were the irregular symptoms of a 57-year-old man in the Netherlands. During the day, he would
Issue 26 CBD: New Player on the Pain Block Everyone knows what pain is…right? While most people have a comfortable understanding of what pain means to them, pain as a clinical symptom is nebulous: difficult to describe and even more difficult to treat [1].
Issue 26 Bilingualism and the Brain Introduction Shaina Shetty, a woman born in Detroit, spoke Tulu (an Indian language with only 1.7 million speakers) up until she started elementary school in Detroit: “[My parents] had
Issue 25 Your Brain on Aromatherapy Introduction Jasmine, rose, and sandalwood; these are the scents that permeate my childhood memories. From the burning of incense sticks to the steady stream of fragrances coming from my essential
Issue 25 Invisible String The language of love is so complex and multifaceted that the researcher and the poet alike are left bewildered at its hands.
Issue 25 An Introduction to Neuroeconomics Introduction Behavioral neuroscience and economics are two distinct academic disciplines which at first glance would not seem to have much in common. However, a deeper dive into the specifics of
Issue 25 The Richest Palace is in Your Brain Imagine you are given 60 seconds to memorize 52 cards, with only one chance to look at the deck and no room for errors. That may seem like a lot to memorize in a short amount of time—a feeling shared by...
Issue 25 Stereotyping Disability Introduction Living with a physical disability can be incredibly challenging — having to alter common tools to make them usable, wondering if the places that you plan to visit have accessible
Issue 25 Hacking Consciousness: Mindfulness Meditation, Ego Death, and Enlightenment Engineering Drift away from the daily thoughts and settle into a new mindset, at least for the moment. Let your inborn ego drop the loudspeaker it holds over your internal monologue and detach from the emotions occupying your mind; losing that sense of self-importance being carried through each day.
Issue 25 Harnessing Your Inner Bear: The Neuroscience Behind Hibernation You’ve just woken up from a deep sleep. As you slowly regain your senses, you find you have a renewed sense of vigor. The birds are chirping outside, and the sun’s rays neatly drape themselves on your wall.
Issue 25 Chronic Stress: Living in a World of Worry Chronic stress affects many Americans. Most recently, a major cause of stress in the United States has been the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly eight in ten Americans reporting that the
Issue 25 Embodiment and the Working Mind Introduction Nineteen months after suffering a stroke, Patient “AC” was interviewed about how his limbs felt. He said about his right hand, “I can’t control it. It doesn’t
issue 24 Branching into the World of Ethnobotany Introduction Have your parents ever told you to drink lavender tea to help you destress? Or maybe you’ve looked up cures for a stomach ache and found websites telling
issue 24 CADASIL: How a Rare Disease Could Help Cure Dementia In 1976, French neuroscientist Marie-Germaine Bousser recruited hundreds of Parisians for an experiment to determine whether aspirin could prevent subsequent strokes in patients who had already had strokes...
issue 24 Sharing Memories through Epigenetics Try to recall your tenth birthday party. Specific details such as the color of the cake or the theme of your party are probably resurfacing in your mind right now. These pieces of information are stored as long-term memories and are readily available for recall...
issue 24 Tachyphylaxis: Antidepressants' Greatest Challenge Imagine sitting down with a doctor to discuss several distressing symptoms you’ve been experiencing recently. Slowly you confess that you’ve been experiencing a sense of numbness, and your hobbies don’t interest you. In fact, nothing interests you anymore...
issue 24 The Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa For most of us, sitting down to at least three meals a day is so normal that intentionally refusing to eat seems unthinkable. Yet for some, the experience of eating is fraught with anxiety...
issue 24 Prions: How Can Proteins be Infectious? And what that tells us about other neurodegenerative diseases What makes cows go mad? The deceptively short answer: prions. Most of the human population has encountered pathogenic viruses and bacteria at some point in their lives, but very few have experienced an illness related to prions, which are misfolded proteins...
issue 24 Sleep Karate: How a Neurological Disorder Can Make You Act Out Your Dreams Most of us can probably recall the last vivid dream or nightmare that we’ve had. Maybe it was trekking through a futuristic city worlds away, maybe it was running from a monster with a seemingly familiar presence...
issue 24 Bridging the Gap Between Neuroscience and the General Public There has long been a sizable gap in communication between the scientific community and the general public. For many, the sciences are often intimidating and difficult to grasp...
issue 24 Computational Neuroethology: A Machine Vision of the Future the rise of computational neuroethology, or the computational modeling or analysis of the neural basis of behavior...
issue 24 Hive Mind When you were younger, did you ever sit and watch the movement of a beehive or anthill? It’s like watching the ocean’s currents or leaves floating in the wind. But in insect colonies, the motion is purposeful, every little movement adding up to the rhythmic motion of the whole...
Issue 21 Nootropics: How Online Communities Foster Misinformation and Pseudoscience On a sunny July day in Paris, 189 cyclists breathe a sigh of relief. Some are celebrating, some are disappointed, and some are just grateful that they can get some rest.
Issue 23 Locating Creativity Let’s take a short quiz: look at an object and close one eye. Which eye is left open – your right or your left? Next, put one hand on your head. Which hand did you use?
Issue 23 Of Mice and Men: Rodent Models in Neuroscience Research In Denmark, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have identified specific genetic predispositions in mice that eventually impair the development of oligodendrocytes, crucial cells that produce the myelin sheath.
Issue 23 The Neuroscience of ADHD In both public and medical understanding, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often thought of as a simple attention deficit. However, continuing research has found that it is a far more complex disorder.
Issue 23 Kinesiology of Balance: Understanding Implications of Targeted Dance Therapy on Proprioception For some, balancing on one leg is easy. However, take away a person’s sight and this task becomes more challenging. Strip away a person’s sense of hearing as well, and the task that used to be “easy” is now quite difficult. How do dancers make the act of balancing seem so effortless?
Issue 23 Fever Dreams When the world first entered lockdown at the end of March 2020, our lives were turned upside down. Days bled into nights spent inside the same walls, with no separation between work and home. If we went out, it was to a masked, nightmarish world full of empty streets and dark storefront windows.
Issue 23 Virtual Reality Treatments for Psychosis Macbeth, Black Swan, and the centuries of art in between serve as a testimony: humanity’s fascination with psychosis is a long-lasting one. Behind the craft, however, lies a wildly misunderstood and misrepresented mental disorder.
Issue 23 The Neuroscience of Inequality One of the fundamental mysteries in neuroscience is how the brain develops and adapts to its experiences regardless of genetics. It has become a hot topic in media from documentaries like Three Identical Strangers...
Issue 23 Understanding the LGBTQIA+ Experience One of the most astounding things about the brain is that it contains our entire mind. All of our memories, thoughts, feelings, and preferences are contained within this mass of flesh that is, well, just meat.
Issue 22 Light it Up: Optogenetics Neuroscience can only go as far as its research tools will take it. All science relies on experimentation and observation, which are difficult to accomplish when studying complex biological systems such as the brain.
Issue 22 Feeling the Beat: The Neuropsychology of Music and Empathy While we wait in elevator rides or drive to the grocery store, the majority of us don’t sit in silence: we go about our day-to-day lives accompanied by songs and soundtracks.
Issue 22 Don't Forget Your Fats If you’ve gone grocery shopping recently, you’ve likely come across the word “keto-friendly” labeled on many foods. These foods are all marketed as low-carbohydrate and accompany the ketogenic diet (KD).
Issue 22 Don't Rain on my Parade Look outside, what do you see? What you see outside varies greatly depending on where you live and what time of the year it is. If it’s summertime, you might look outside and see bright skies and sunlight.
Issue 22 COVID on the Brain A sore throat. A cough. Difficulty breathing. In the post-2020 era, these symptoms are readily identifiable and directly related to an infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has taken the world by storm.
Issue 22 Love, Sex, and Brains Between different individuals and cultures, the spectrum of human wants, needs, actions, and responses varies almost infinitely. But despite these differences, one phenomenon seems to persist across the branching history
Issue 22 Lean, Mean, Psychoactive Machine We Have Lean On the Beat Over the last thirty years, hip-hop music has risen from its humble beginnings in inner-city neighborhoods to the center of the mainstream music stage.
Issue 22 Parallel Processors: Comparing the Brain and the Computer Introduction With billions of computations per second, our brains are the most complex and intelligent entities the world has ever known. So intelligent, in fact, that we’ve been able
Issue 21 Quarantine Isolation I remember March 11th, 2020 vividly: schools in my area announced they would go online for the next three weeks. I was relieved that things slowed down. I could finally catch up on my sleep, schoolwork, and responsibilities.
Issue 21 Missing a Mind’s Eye: The Metacognition of Aphantasia What is your favorite memory? Is it sitting in front of the fireplace, burrowing yourself under a blanket with a visibly steaming cup of hot cocoa between your hands?
Issue 21 Something to Crow About In mythology, corvids, the family of birds that includes crows and ravens, are often depicted as clever and mischievous. Native Americans tell stories of ravens as wise and practical jokesters who created the world.
Issue 21 An Area of Exception: Is the Brain Immune-privileged? In the human body, the immune system plays a crucial role in protecting us from foreign substances. For example, when you contract the flu, the immune system is responsible for fighting against the virus and keeping you healthy.
Issue 21 Alzheimer's Environmental Factors The denizens of modern-day, developed countries have living standards that have not been available ever before in human history: a permanent food surplus, technologies that were unthinkable just decades ago, and healthcare that allows us to live for more than a hundred years.
Issue 21 Out on a Limb: Phantom Limb Syndrome In September 1863, George Dedlow awoke in an army hospital tent [1]. As he regained his bearings, he felt a sharp cramp in his left leg. Dedlow tried to reach to rub it but was still too weak to move. Instead, he called for an attendant.
Issue 21 Diversity in Neuroscience The field of neuroscience is not diverse or inclusive for underrepresented groups, which consist primarily of women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Issue 21 The Placebo Effect in Depression Treatment Medications have long been one of mankind's best ways of treating diseases. Imagine you are feeling nauseous, so you go to a doctor and they prescribe you some medication. You take it, and within hours you start feeling better.
Issue 21 Nutritional Therapy for Fibromyalgia Most people are familiar with the concept of eating better to feel better. You are what you eat after all. This takes on new meaning when considering the integral connection of gut health and brain health. What you eat affects your gut health, which affects your brain function.
Issue 21 Awake Under the Knife: Conscious Brain Surgery Imagine, for a moment, that you are undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumor. While the surgeons operate on you, you remain deeply sedated and unconscious -- but before they finish, you begin to wake up.
Issue 21 Eau de Pheromone It isn’t uncommon to see marketing for fragrances and deodorants that do not show the product or its features.
Issue 20 How a Signal is AMPA'fied Find out the role of the NMDA-AMPA receptor system in our ability to associate the occurrence of two events, allowing our brains to learn and form memories.
Issue 20 Criminal Minded To most, the act of killing another human is unthinkable. And yet, for the victims of the thousands of homicides and millions of violent assaults that occur every year, this criminal behavior is all too real. But what would motivate someone to commit such vicious acts of harm?
Issue 20 Return of the Retina Vision is a sensory system that we rely on heavily, and yet many people face visual impairments. The National Eye Institute recently reported that there were over 4 million people with visual impairments in the United States, mostly due to disease.
Issue 20 Screaming into the Void: Evolved and Learned Echolocation Hunters of the night, unseen during the day, bats are some of the most interesting creatures on the planet. Making up roughly a quarter of all mammal species, they are remarkably similar to humans.
Issue 20 Old Brain, New Tricks With the increase in computer performance and accessibility of personal computing, most jobs require computer skills as part of their work.
Issue 20 That's Cringe: The Neuroscience Behind Embarrassment Have you ever been on the brink of sleep when you get hit with a memory of something embarrassing that you did in the past? Maybe even just remembering the moment makes you cringe and fully wake up.
Issue 20 How Pollution Affects the Brain Take a deep breath in. Exhale out. Take another deep breath in. Exhale out. Take deep breaths to center and calm yourself. This is a common strategy to rid the body of stressful and angry emotions. But what if deep breathing actually creates stressors instead of reducing them?
Issue 20 Just Dance, It'll be Okay It starts with the hand lift – the body moves with the melody while the mind thinks about a feeling that has yet to be worked and the lungs breathe as they travel through space. Calmness, happiness, release.
Issue 20 A Trip to Your Happy Place Naturally occurring hallucinogens have been around for centuries and are used for a myriad of reasons from recreational to spiritual. The first synthetically-made hallucinogen was created in 1938 by a
Issue 20 Treating Glioblastoma Getting a cancer diagnosis is a life-altering event, but few diagnoses are as grim as being told you have a glioblastoma. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a very aggressive form of
Issue 19 Harnessing the Power of Sleep Many college students discount the importance of sleep; whether it is to stay up cramming for a test, or to play a new game that was just released, students simply
Issue 19 Holy Molly: Treating PTSD with MDMA Our ever-changing socio-political landscape creates many feelings of uneasiness, and individual experiences of war, terrorism, or sexual abuse only corroborate these feelings.
Issue 19 Decoding Neuroblastoma Late stage neuroblastoma is one of the most difficult childhood cancers to handle because of its poorly understood genetic markers, erratic tumor growth, and difficulty to remove. The primary treatment
Issue 19 Getting a Grip on Dystonia Hold out your hand, make a fist, and squeeze as hard as you can. If you squeeze long enough, you’ll experience some pain. This is a pain that individuals
Issue 19 To See or Not to See The year was 1998 and a blind woman had done the seemingly impossible: she had managed to accurately post a letter in a constantly rotating mail slot. By all accounts,
Issue 19 Brain Cartography: How Mammals Memorize Spatial Maps Let’s say someone asked you to memorize a random list of twenty animals. Your first thought, aside from “Why?”, would probably be, “How can I manage to memorize all of these creatures?”
Issue 19 Mental Mechanics: How Humans Reason Through a Physical World Picture yourself sitting in a coffee shop. When the barista sets a drink down on the counter, you probably don’t expect the drink to fall through the counter’s surface or bounce off the counter into the air.
Issue 19 Jogging Your Memory: Exercise and Alzheimer's Disease It can be difficult to fit exercise into busy schedules, especially for college students who always seem to have exams and deadlines approaching. However, exercise provides many neurological benefits, such
Issue 18 Stimulating Developments in Parkinson’s Treatment Imagine you’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The symptoms start as a small shake in one of your hands, which gradually spreads and worsens [1]. You attribute it
Issue 18 Searching for the Self For centuries, many have wrestled with what the “self” really is. As a species, we have come to the conclusion that a fundamental part of being human is having a
Issue 18 Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: Not Just an Illusion To some people, the world just doesn’t feel right. They may feel their bodies growing unnaturally large till they fill up the room. They sense that their bodies are
Issue 18 Take a Breath: The Effects of Respiration on Brain Activity Imagine a square. Breathe in deeply for four seconds while ascending one side of the square. Hold your breath for four seconds across the top edge, then breathe out for
Issue 18 Cerebellum Models and Disease Treatments Look at a fixed point. Now turn your head left, then right. What do you notice? Well, as your head moves in one direction, your eyes move the same number
Issue 18 Great Minds Built Alike Giftedness. The term itself carries a sense of ambiguity, as the potential of human ability and the depth of biological, social, psychological, and physical effects of what we call “giftedness”
Issue 18 Misophonia: Symptom or Disorder? A coworker slurps chicken-noodle soup. A classmate refuses to stop coughing. A friend gulps down their coffee as if it were the last cup on earth. Many people find these
Issue 18 Locating Loneliness A lone person stands amid a bustling crowd of familiar faces. A glance around at the wide, inviting smiles on the faces of their family and friends should spark the
Issue 18 Livin’ the Dream For most of us, dreaming is a normal and unremarkable facet of life. But, what if this didn’t have to be the case? What if instead of waking up
Issue 18 An Immune Attacker: T-Cells Gone Wrong Our immune system is perhaps one of the most important evolutionary benefits granted to us; our body’s ability to defend against infection and disease is one of the reasons
Neuroscience Stay Woke: Caffeine and Parkinson’s The adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” has possibly become a reality in the form of the most popularly consumed psychoactive drug, caffeine, in relation to Parkinson’
Issue 17 The Radical Role of Nitric Oxide in Learning It was the summer of 1799. World famous chemist Sir Humphry Davy switched on his mercurial breathing machine, filling two bags with pure nitric oxide gas. He exhaled deeply and brought one bag to his lips. Today was going to be a tremendous day for science.
Neuroscience Melody and Memory: The Potential of Music Therapy for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease As modern medicine advances, the average life expectancy has been increasing, leading to the discovery of a plethora of diseases in the newest generation of the longest-living humans. Among these diseases is dementia.
Issue 17 Weeding Out Misconceptions: Neurological Effects of Marijuana Due to marijuana’s supposed low addiction potential, a perceived lack of long-term irreversible side effects, and various social dynamics normalizing it after the War on Drugs changed to a
Issue 17 Masochism Sub-Saharan African tribes use scarification as a rite of passage for milestones such as transitioning into adulthood [1]. Along with scarification, many cultures around the world incorporate pain into deeply
Issue 17 Saturday Night Football, Losing More Than A Game Across the country, the lights are warming up for college game night. One freshman is getting his first starting spot as kick-returner. Looking over the crowded stadium, he sees his
Issue 17 A Gut Feeling Bacteria have a historically well-deserved bad rap. After all, they make us sick and spoil our food. Therefore, a natural reaction to hearing that around a hundred trillion bacteria inhabit
Issue 17 Taken In Context It is freshman year and you stand in the middle of a crowded Chi Upsilon Eta fraternity party. Music is pounding in your ears and drunken yells fill the air.
Issue 17 How the Nose Knows Imagine walking into a house and smelling warm cookies. First, you know that you smell something . Then, you recognize the scent as freshly baked cookies. Immediately, your brain begins making
Issue 17 The Neuroaesthetics of Dance Neuroaesthetics—an emerging discipline of neuroscience—focuses on the biological bases of aesthetic experiences. One branch of neuroaesthetics focuses on the neurological processes that occur while participating in dance, whether
Featured Article Mind Your Language One of the most fundamental things separating humans from all other species on Earth is our ability to use language. While other living things may be able to communicate brief
Featured Article Code of Conduct: Bayesian Predictive Coding To correctly interpret sensory data, the brain is faced with solving an inverse problem: one where the causes need to be inferred from the perceived outcomes [1]. There are many
Featured Article Mind and Matter It is impossible to ignore the association that exists in the modern era between meditation and the calming of one’s mind and emotions––the image of a lackadaisical hippie
Issue 16 Treating Pediatric Chronic Pain A painful feeling starts in your fingertips and spreads through your hand, radiating up your arm until it reaches your brain, prompting an “Ouch!” Pain is most commonly defined as
Issue 16 Stand Up For Your Brain To sit or to stand—a debate many rarely think about due to the prominence of sedentary lifestyles. Many of our daily activities involve sitting, such as being in front of a computer for hours or attending lectures.
Issue 16 Eye Opening Epilepsy Epilepsies include a variety of disorders, characterized primarily by a disturbance in neuronal activity known as a seizure.
Issue 16 Changing Focus: ADHD in Women Picture a twelve-year-old girl. She’s always losing her homework. Whenever she starts a project she ends up with a half-cleaned room, an almost-done math assignment, only the first part
Issue 16 Express Before You Test Anyone who has written an essay for a class knows that writing is a difficult yet necessary task. From grocery lists to PhD dissertations, writing is a vital method of
Cover Article With a Grain of Salt: The MSG “Menace” “No MSG”—two simple words plastered across food packaging and restaurant windows have consumers feeling relieved. MSG has long been criticized by consumers; some charge it as guilty for causing
Issue 15 Models of Memory Imagine waking up one day without any memory. You can probably picture yourself in a state of extreme confusion, not knowing who you are, where you are, or how you
Issue 15 Motor Conversion Disorder Motor conversion disorder is a subset of conversion disorder, which is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in neurology; it accounts for at least four percent of all general
Issue 15 Swell! Expansion Microscopy Companies boasting about their diapers’ comfort, mobility, and, most importantly, absorbency, represent the hallmark of any respected diaper brand. If you have ever seen a diaper commercial, you have seen
Issue 15 How the Brain Learns Addiction A quick Google search for “addiction” gives over 800 million results in less than a second. This vast cyberspace includes hotline numbers, treatment facilities, and heartbreaking statistics. According to the
Issue 15 Orchestrating Healing: Conducting Polymers and Neural Interfaces The ability to help treat blindness and restore mobility to those with paralysis is approaching reality as neuroscientists develop neural interfaces to study and aid damaged neural systems [1]. At
Issue 15 Like, Comment, Subscribe The boom of the digital age and social media revolution has been a significant phenomenon in human history. As digital communication continues to become more ubiquitous, social media networks are
Issue 15 FOXO Transcription Factors and Neurodegenerative Diseases Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are tragic conditions that cause the loss of memory and motor control. As these diseases progress, patients eventually forget everything, including
Issue 15 The Spoken Bird With about 10,000 species, birds make up one of the most diverse classes in the animal kingdom.
Issue 15 Computing a Better Diagnosis In the early 20th century, the primary purpose for mental disorder classification was to organize asylums.{[1] The process for categorizing symptoms lacked standardization and thus was inconsistent. Even so,
Issue 15 Biomaterial Scaffolds Spinal cord injury (SCI) occurs at an estimated global incidence rate of 250,000 to 500,000 every year, with causes such as car collisions, falls, and violence [1]. Currently,
Issue 15 Bug Off: The Neural Effects of Insecticides The first thing that comes to mind when people think of insects is probably not their tiny brains. However, scientists have been studying and taking advantage of the relatively simple
Issue 15 Medical Mushrooms: Psylocibin-Assisted Therapy Psychedelics face an overwhelming stigma in Western culture that has limited scientific investigation into their uses since the 1960s. This came as a result of a lack of knowledge that
Issue 14 The Gendered Effects of Neurotoxicants For the past several decades, the number of cases of mental and neurodevelopmental disorders has been steadily increasing.
Issue 14 Neural Oscillations With the new millennium, interconnectivity has undoubtedly become an integral part of society; and with it, the need to learn new information with ease and grace. Traditionally, this has meant
Issue 14 The Blood Brain Barrier Baffles Big Pharma Despite there being a large unmet need for treatments in neurological disorders, big pharma is beginning to withdraw from drug development due to the challenge of crossing the blood-brain barrier,
Issue 14 Understanding Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder that can begin in late adolescence and early adulthood with an array of severe symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions. When left untreated, these symptoms
Issue 14 Insomnia: Why Students Are Sleeping in Class It’s no secret that college students struggle to get sleep. Between juggling midterms, homework, and 8:30 a.m. classes, it isn’t just a stereotype that students are
Issue 14 A New Approach to Huntington’s Among inherited neurodegenerative disorders, Huntington’s Disease (HD) is the most common. [1] HD is a grim diagnosis, for the disease not only takes lives but also leaves the descendants
Issue 14 Up and Running While not everyone participates in endurance sports, anyone can reap the benefits of exercise. A variety of studies show that participation in both aerobic and non-aerobic exercise for as little
Issue 14 Speak Your Mind Inner speech, also known as verbal thinking or inner voice, is a common daily experience believed to be significant in the retention of short-term memory, development, self-awareness, and cognitive thought.
Issue 14 Non-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation One of the most clinically promising treatments for a wide array of neurological conditions is deep brain stimulation (DBS). As its name suggests, this treatment involves the electrical stimulation of
Cover Article In Your Dreams: Insights from Dream Research Why Do We Dream? Dreams have held cultural and religious significance throughout history, and in some cases, they have influenced history or culture themselves. James Watson, who won the Nobel
Neuro News Leadership Applications Now Open! Applications for the 2019-2020 Grey Matters leadership team are now open! Available positions include Editing Coordinator, Production Manager, Design Director, Events Coordinator, Marketing Manager, and Website Manager. Applications are due
Issue 13 Estrogen & Multiple Sclerosis In a case study by researchers at the Royal Free Hospital in London, a 26-year-old man was hospitalized due to a sudden onset of weakness and fatigue on the right
Issue 13 Reflecting on Mirror Neurons On the lush savannah stand a herd of gazelles, grazing. Behind them, men prowl, registering one another’s actions in order to work together and formulate a plan to split their spoils.
Issue 13 How Alzheimer’s Spreads An estimated 5.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [1]. In 2014, AD claimed around 100,000 lives, and this number is only expected to grow [1]
Issue 13 Puppy Love: The Role of Oxytocin in Human-Animal Relationships With the weight of exams, papers, and deadlines on students’ shoulders, it’s not unusual for colleges and universities to promote programs that assist students in managing their stress levels.
Issue 13 Rewiring the Spinal Cord The largest concern for patients and physicians regarding traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCIs) is the severity of irreversible damage. Spinal cord injuries do not heal in the same way as
Issue 13 The Floating Brain: Neuroscience of Microgravity Anyone who has ever flown across the world is aware of the exhausting journey that a 12-hour flight can hold, from headaches due to the engine’s grueling background noise
Issue 13 Fetal Effects of Opioid Abuse According to the New York Times, the opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in America, and drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans [1]. Opioids are
Issue 13 Feeding Behavior Within the human body, many conditions need to be kept within a physiologically optimal range for the system to function properly. This is highly important at the cellular and subcellular
Issue 13 Dive Into the Mind of an Octopus Humans are intelligent beings capable of complex cognitive feats such as self-awareness. There are many existing and emerging theories proposing different explanations for this exceptional intelligence. A common strategy for
Issue 13 The Mosaic Brain Recent advances in neuroscience have revealed the stunning level of diversity in the human brain: virtually every neuron is genetically unique due to hundreds of mutations present in each cell
Issue 13 Open Your Mind: Understanding Implicit Bias Although society has progressed toward equality, discrimination continues to play a role in the daily lives of minorities. At the time of the last census, non-white minorities comprised about one-fourth
Issue 12 Walking Away from Parkinson’s Transporting ourselves from one place to another can seem rather simple to the majority of individuals. We whiz from one class to the next without much conscious regard for our
Issue 12 An Exploration of Acupuncture Cultures and traditions continue to transcend borders as our world becomes more connected. With an increasing flow of novel practices, alternative medical treatments have become a popular choice for many
Issue 12 Crossing the Blood Brain Barrier Over a century ago, Paul Ehrlich injected blue dye into the bloodstream of mice to view their biological structures. After dissecting the mice, he was surprised to find that all
Issue 12 Teaching Machines Using machine learning techniques, today’s computer algorithms are capable of solving problems previously thought to be exclusively within the capabilities of human beings. Modern machine learning algorithms have shown
Issue 12 The Brain on Porn Since the advent of the internet, pornography’s involvement in the lives of the public continues to increase. 66% of men and 41% of women view pornography monthly in the
Issue 12 In Living Memory: Understanding Hyperthymesia The Curious Case of Hyperthymesia When Jill Price talks about her day, she might give a full rundown of what she ate for breakfast, what commercials she saw, and what
Issue 12 OCD and the Immune System Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which a person experiences excessive unwanted thoughts, urges, or impulses that may or may not be followed by repetitive, compulsive behaviors [1]
Issue 12 A Brain Divided A frequently misquoted myth about the brain is that scientists and researchers are “left-brained” and artists and writers are “right-brained.” But what would happen if each side actually had to
Issue 12 Dravet Syndrome: A Model for Autism and Epilepsy Autism and epilepsy affect millions of people worldwide and have a profound impact on the lives of patients as well as their friends and family. These disorders are challenging to
Issue 12 The Opioid Epidemic Our country is in a crisis. It dwells in our rural towns and inner cities. It resides in affluent suburbs and one-bedroom apartments. It can attack your teenage brother or
Internal The Evening with Neuroscience 2018 The Evening with Neuroscience is a celebration of that remarkable brain in your head. This event is an opportunity for the public to engage directly with brain researchers. We invite
Issue 11 Brain Machine Interfaces Not long ago, the idea that the brain could directly control external devices only existed in the world of science fiction novels. However, with the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)
Issue 11 Moving Toward Motion Introduction One of the major functions of the nervous system is to control muscles and coordinate their activity to generate movement. Most motions we execute are a product of sensory
Issue 11 Ketamine: A Novel Treatment For Major Depression Finding New Ways of Thinking About Depression Within the last decade, a new agent has appeared in the spotlight of psychiatric research: ketamine. This drug, also known as “Calypsol,” is
Issue 11 Power Play Introduction Many people are familiar with phrases like “top dog” and “alpha male,” whether in reference to a pack of wolves or a competitive workplace environment. These are colloquial portrayals
Cover Article Finding Your Way: The Neuroscience Behind Mental Maps Think back to the most memorable place you’ve been. Whether it be the alleys and roads that bisect to make up your childhood neighborhood or a distant country you
Featured Article A Royal Pain The Concussion that Caused a Commotion: A Look at King Henry II of France Clad in armor and lances at hand, two jousters mounted their steeds. The competitors aimed their
Issue 11 Rest Assured Sleep sets people back. Every night, people stop and doze off; they don’t eat, work, or learn. Evolutionarily, it should be a recessive trait—after all, non-sleepers could get
Issue 11 Issue 11 Editor’s Note The beauty of exploring the vast world of neuroscience is that there is never a shortage of topics to discuss. From studying neurons microscopically, to exploring diseases
Issue 11 Cutting for the Competition: How Dehydration Affects the Brain Modern athletes do everything in their power to improve their performance. They follow intense training regimens, adhere to strict diets, and always look for an additional edge over their competition,
Issue 11 Losing Yourself: Alzheimer’s and Identity Alzheimer’s and Identity It’s easy to take ourselves for granted. Identity is something we rely on for our entire lives, whether it is used to express and describe
Issue 11 Criminal Minds On November 7, 1974, an attractive dark-haired man in his late twenties approached a young woman in a Utah mall. He flashed a police badge and calmly informed her that
Issue 11 Motor Neuron Disease Our nervous system, generally speaking, is composed of three types of neurons: sensory, motor, and interneurons. Together, these neurons create pathways that transmit signals from all across our bodies via
Issue 10 Road To Repair The spinal cord is like a highway, sending and receiving information between the brain and the whole body. Our abilities to sense, move, and react are all transmitted as information
Issue 10 Depression Every day, millions of students experience the feeling of almost indescribable emptiness caused by major depression, also known as major depressive disorder or simply depression...
Issue 10 Distorting Perception The ability to see is often attributed to the eyes, but this is only the beginning of visual processing. It is estimated that one-third to one-half of the human brain
Issue 10 Wordplay: The Neural Networks of Word Processing As we go through our daily routines, whether they be in a bustling coffee shop packed with sleep-deprived students or in the high-ceilinged library reading room, we are surrounded by
Issue 10 The Night Shift “Rise and shine!” Or, better said, “shine and rise!” The sun provides a central cue for waking hours because the light it emits serves as a regular signal that enforces
Issue 10 Digest This: How Gut Bacteria Affects the Brain In recent years, the scientific community has increasingly been going with its gut. That is to say, scientists have been looking to the human gastrointestinal microbiota for its role in
Issue 10 Fighting Brain Cancer: CAR-T Cell Therapy A fifty-year-old man with glioblastoma – one of the most invasive and aggressive types of brain cancer – had failed to find a treatment that worked for him; radiation, anti-tumor chemotherapy, and
Issue 10 Neural Stem Cells: Completing the Puzzle “Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated” –Santiago Ramón y Cajal When neurons were first discovered, the prominent perspective on neuroanatomy was “once it’s gone, it’s gone for
Issue 10 Depression Every day, millions of students experience the feeling of almost indescribable emptiness caused by major depression, also known as major depressive disorder or simply depression. Major depression, one of the
Issue 9 Proprioception: The Sixth Sense Touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing: many believe these are the limits of the nervous system’s sensory capabilities. However, the complexity of the brain and its interaction with the
Issue 9 Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Spectrum Disorder: A New Name A concise definition is a powerful tool in medicine and medical science. As we learn more about the biomedical world, our ability to better
Issue 9 Caffeine Genes: The Genetics of a Coffee Habit Living in the city where the original Starbucks opened, Seattleites are no strangers to drinking coffee. During the hustle and bustle of everyday life, a cup of coffee can offer
Issue 9 A Changing Tolerance for Alcohol Alcohol has been a major factor in decision-making throughout history and often gives rise to our most (and sometimes least) memorable stories. With a multifaceted influence on society, health, and
Issue 9 Neuroscience and Public Health: A Look at the Zika Virus Although the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the end of the international public health emergency for the Zika virus (ZIKV), ZIKV remains a public health challenge requiring effective action
Issue 9 Through the Eyes of the Mantis Shrimp Crawling on the bottom of the Indian and Pacific Ocean are many species of colorful stomatopod crustaceans, commonly known as mantis shrimp. For a species to occupy such a bustling
Issue 9 The Immune Brain Historically, scientists believed the brain was “immune privileged,” meaning the immune system has little to no direct access to the central nervous system (CNS). The vessels necessary for immune cell
Issue 9 The Cochlear Implant Explained The cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores auditory perception in a person with partial to severe deafness. The first cochlear implants date back to the 1970s [1]. During
Issue 9 Food for Thought There’s a problem in our society of which most people are blissfully unaware: we aren’t feeding our brains. One of the most important nutrients for proper brain development
Issue 9 Astrocytes and Epilepsy In the 1800s, neuroscientist Ramon y Cajal researched the cellular composition of the brain, leading to an idea known as the “neuron doctrine.” In essence, it is the idea that
Issue 9 Brain-Ethics Neuroscience research has advanced over the last few decades at an unprecedented pace: the U.S. government even declared the 1990s to be the “Decade of the Brain,” a shout-out
Neuroscience In the Memory of Henry Molaison What H.M. lost, we now know, was a critical part of his identity. —Dr. Thomas Carew Scientists have grappled with the question of how memories are stored for quite some time. Today many technologies exist that allow for a variety of approaches to
Issue 6 Isolating the Brain from Sensory Input Our capacity to respond to, and communicate with, the outside world is contingent on the brain’s ability to both consciously and unconsciously process sensory information. While sensation may seem
Issue 6 Distorting the Mind's Perception of Time The way in which people perceive time depends on the situation they’re in. Imagine sitting in detention, staring at the clock—after sixty ticks of the second hand, the
Issue 6 Ethical History: A Contemporary Examination of the Little Albert Experiment In 1917, two curious researchers looking to examine the effects of fear conditioning began a study at Johns Hopkins University that would later become one of the most controversial experiments
Issue 6 Honeybee Cognition The term “worker bee” has become synonymous with a person who spends their days toiling away without thinking at all about the task at hand. However, this idea simply does
Issue 6 Sensory Substitution: The Brain's Ability to Adapt to Loss The adult brain weighs about three pounds and looks fairly unassuming. The organ’s seemingly uniform appearance does little to betray its underlying complexity. Over a period of several years,
Issue 6 A Childhood Lost: PTSD in Children of the Gaza Strip No child should grow up with the fear that the next breath they take in could be their last. Such extreme stress can affect the delicate developmental processes that take
Issue 6 CTE: The Unexpected Consequences of Recurrent Head Trauma Sports are expensive. From a new pair of cleats to multi-million dollar stadiums, people spend a lot of money on the games they love. Perhaps the biggest cost, however, is
Issue 6 Default Mode Network: Running on Default It seems intuitive that the brain is active when one is engaged in tasks like studying, and less active when taking a break. But what actually happens in the brain
Issue 6 Synthetic Telepathy: The Future of Brain Communication Telepathy is a concept usually associated with science fiction. The idea of reading an individual’s thoughts or interacting with them without words seems preposterous, and yet it captivates us
Issue 6 REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Everyone has vivid dreams from time to time, and in many of them, dreamers take actions that they wouldn’t necessarily want to replicate in real life. Thankfully, the brain
Most Popular Of Computers and Brains Earlier this summer [1] , Gary Marcus – a New York University professor of neural science and psychology – wrote a very influential piece for the New York Times called Face It, Your
Neuro News How Neurons Behave as we Form Memories One of the things that pushed me toward neuroscience was the desire to understand memory and how we learn things. I know many others who feel the same way, but
Cover Article The Pleasure of Music Introduction Ask any person to name the things in life that bring them pleasure, and chances are good that they will mention music. Music is a universal source of enjoyment
Featured Article The “Magic” Behind Magic Mushrooms Take a moment to read these quotations: “I try to judge less and forgive more. I no longer worry about money.” “I think my heart is more open to all
Issue 4 Characteristics of an Alzheimer's Brain It is hard to imagine a life without memory. Childhood memories and experiences continue to shape how one grows and develops as an adult. Everyone carves time out of their
Issue 4 Snow World For patients who have suffered traumatic burn injuries, the pain continues long after they’ve been taken to the hospital. While opioids are sufficient to manage their pain from the
Issue 4 The Cellular Basis of Neurodegenerative Disease Neurodegenerative disease is on the mind of the American public. More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and this number is expected to increase in coming
Issue 4 P300 BCI: Reading the Mind We tend to take communication for granted. Talking, laughing, smiling, and writing are integral components of our lives. And while we overlook their presence, their absence has profound impacts. For
Issue 4 The Placebo Effect: An Illusionary Treatment with Real Results Every year, over half a million Americans suffering from osteoarthritis undergo pain-reducing arthroscopic surgery of the knee [1]. Surgeons clean out loose fragments of cartilage surrounding the knee joint in
Issue 4 Spina Bifida During pregnancy, a number of routine tests are done to inspect the health of the fetus. One such test checks for spina bifida, a condition where the fetus has an
Issue 4 Bacteria and the Brain Microbiome research is taking neurobiology to an unexpected place: the gut. Recent research has demonstrated a link between the microorganisms that live in the stomach and seemingly unrelated conditions like
Issue 4 The Neural Basis of Phantom Limb Pain Physical pain is an unavoidable aspect of everyday life. Most of us have experienced the sharp pain that comes with a paper cut, the dull ache of sore muscles, and
Issue 4 Understanding the Small Things Cells first were made visible with very simple microscopes designed several centuries ago. The evolution of microscopic techniques has since allowed for highly detailed image capture at nearly 10,000,
Issue 4 The Magical Art of Manipulation Throughout history, magicians have often refused to reveal the secrets behind their trade. Veiled by centuries of occult traditions, these performers executed their tricks in front of spellbound audiences, often
Featured Article Art Neureau 2015 On a lovely Tuesday evening, a unique art event took place in the Fremont Abbey Arts Center. Art Neureau is a one-of-a-kind intersection between art and neuroscience—two disciplines which
Neuroscience Decisions, Decisions… How did you get here? Every person who is reading this article made a different set of decisions that led them to this point in time. The path of cumulative
Neuroscience Alien Hand Syndrome It’s a disorder that makes you fling your cereal away, undress yourself in public, steal merchandise, and even look dangerous to the rest of the world. For over five
Neuroscience Grey Matters’ Clothing & Food Drive Donation collection: December 1st and the 3rd-5th from noon to 3:00 p.m. in Red Square. Look for the Grey Matters table. The time of winter is fast approaching,
Neuroscience SfN 2014’s Dialogues Between Neuroscience and Society Presentation With the holidays approaching, homes will soon be filled with foods to fit the season. The smells and tastes of traditional holiday cuisines have the power to conjure up memories
Featured Article Attention: How a Possible Function of SSRIs Could Be Staring Us in the Face When TV commercials sing the famous jingle, “Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea,” Pepto Bismol fans rejoice. There’s an appreciation out there when multiple problems have a single solution.
Featured Article Food for Thought: How Your Brain Controls What You Eat One of the most frequent decisions we make is what to eat, but just because it’s a common task doesn’t mean it’s a simple one—at least
Featured Article A Bee’s Perspective: Cocaine and Reward Processing Cocaine affects reward processing in the brain resulting in feelings of well-being and euphoria. Because of such effects, the drug is helping researchers interested in how reward centers are related
Featured Article Tapeworms on the Brain For most people, the mere thought of a parasite setting up residence in their tissues is enough to induce a serious case of the creeps. There is something particularly horrifying
Neuroscience Grey Matters Welcome Meeting Grey Matters Journal is having a welcome party meeting. Come learn more about the journal, our work, and how you can get involved. We will meet Thursday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. in Allen Library . Food and prizes to accompany brain geekery.
Featured Article Know Your Claustrum! Figure 1 A general schematic of the claustrum, as shown in the Crick and Koch paper “What is the function of the claustrum?” It seems like consciousness is always on
Featured Article Meditation: Mind Over [White] Matter It has long been thought that behaviors involving diet and exercise can be used to change the shape of one’s body; however, is it possible to use behavior to
Neuroscience Spring Quarter Welcome Meeting Hello Neuroscience Enthusiasts, Spring is here! Let’s celebrate the sunshine and cherry blossoms by geeking out about the brain. Grey Matters is an undergraduate neuroscience journal whose mission is to enhance public understanding, grow the neuroscience community, and develop accomplished science communicators. You
Issue 3 Mysterious Microglia In April 2013, President Barack Obama announced an initiative to fund approximately one hundred million dollars of neuroscience research, called the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative (BRAIN). By
Issue 3 Selective Visual Attention In a popular demonstration video by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, viewers are asked to count the number of times a team in white shirts passes a basketball. But as
Issue 3 Memory Distortion It is well established that some experiences, such as stress, can strongly disrupt memory formation and recall. In particular, glucocorticoids, a hormone released from the adrenal glands, have an inhibitory effect on memory recall [4]. In recent a study exploring human memory consolidation and
Issue 3 The Language of Music A new style of jazz began to emerge in New York City during the mid-1940s, dubbed “bebop” by its pioneers. With its trademark flurry of complicated melodic lines, bebop is
Issue 3 Imagination: a Container for Infinity Try to picture a scene, or think about making a movement. If you’re musically inclined, compose a brief tune in your head. These are things most people do with
Issue 3 White Matter and Early Childhood Neglect Just last month, a study was published in JAMA Pediatrics that took a new approach to studying the neurological effects of long-term early childhood neglect. Unlike previous studies conducted on
Issue 3 Building Palaces of Memories: A Glimpse at the Method of Loci In 6th century Thessaly, the poet Simonides of Ceos is leaving a nobleman’s banquet hall after a rather unfortunate lyrical poem performance. As he steps outside, a loud crash
Issue 3 How the Brain Takes Out the Garbage While You Sleep Evidence suggesting that sleep is crucial to your health continues to pile up. A recent finding published in Science has shed light on one of the mechanisms behind the restorative
Issue 3 Amusia In 1878, Professor Grant Allen reported a man who was unable to perceive differences in pitch. The subject described that attending concerts was similar to sitting in a room for
Issue 3 Testing Tumor Paint: Current Clinical Trials In 2010, Dr. Jim Olson founded the Seattle-based company Blaze Bioscience to test and develop Tumor Paint for clinical use. Tumor Paint BLZ-100, Blaze Bioescience’s first candidate, is currently
Issue 3 In the Memory of Henry Molaison Scientists have grappled with the question of how memories are stored for quite some time. Today many technologies exist that allow for a variety of approaches to answering this question,
Issue 3 Artificial Intelligence: A Look at Neural Networks The brain’s processing prowess has prompted many to wonder whether computers could become “smarter” by mimicking human brains. This might be accomplished by designing artificial neural networks, a manufactured
Issue 3 Prosopagnosia The human face is the index of the mind. We differentiate between individuals and recognize familiar faces based on one’s distinctive facial structure. You identify your mother from your
Issue 2 The History of Electrophysiology In the early eighteenth century the most noteworthy connection between electricity and nervous function was that very little was known about either. Based on the ideas of the time, there
Issue 2 The Neurophysiology of Fatherhood In recent decades, the investigation to understand the neural and hormonal correlates of motherhood has yielded important insights into the neurophysiological changes that mark maternal development. In addition to initiating
Issue 2 Fixed Neural Circuits Early work in developmental neuroscience led researchers to conclude that axonal growth in the developing and regenerating brain is a specific, targeted process, and not simply random or determined by
Issue 2 Keeping Recording Devices Inside the Brain: In the Modern Age of Neuroimplants As if from the pages of science fiction, the field of neuroprosthetics has exploded, reshaping what was thought possible. Such devices have allowed people to control the movement of robotic
Issue 2 Smooth Brain Imagine a human brain. Visualize its characteristic grooves and folds. See how they serpentine across the entirety of its mass, like a thousand rivers through a forest of grey and
Issue 2 The Hypothalamus: A Sleep Regulation Structure Until the 1950s, common theories of sleep involved the brain shutting down, or powering off, similar to a car engine. Research since then, however, has shown high levels of activity
Issue 2 Processing Perception: Visual Fields and Nervous System Specificity The first step in any research endeavor is to start with the basics. David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel were some of the pioneers of sight research who focused on the
Issue 2 Desynchronizers and the Circadian Sleep Cycle From the blaring televisions to all-in-one smartphones, it is easy to focus attention towards screens at all moments of the day. Increasing technological advancement has brought mankind into an era
Issue 2 GABA Receptors & Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder generally characterized by hindered social interactions. Hypersensitivity and motor impairments are often symptoms of the illness. The potential causes of ASDs remain
Featured Article Love Actually (it’s neuroscience) Love is an insane neurochemical flood. For those of us lucky enough to have experienced it, this comes as no surprise. A wide variety of neurochemicals have been implicated in
Neuroscience Killer Whales Are Non-Human Persons What makes humans so special? Is it their ability to use language and empathize with others? Their ingenuity? Their tool making? It has been known for some time that other
Featured Article To Sleep or Not to Sleep: That is the College Student’s Eternal Question Ironically, I am currently in Odegaard, the University of Washington’s 24-hour library, writing an article about sleep deprivation at one in the morning. As I am writing, I am
Neuroscience The Vestibular System and the “Spins”: A Proposal Humans have eyes to observe the world in three dimensions, but how do people perceive their own motion/orientation in space even when their eyes are closed? Believe it or
Neuroscience SfN Day 4 | Mechanisms of Adult Neuroplasticity Image Credit: Tamily Weissman, Harvard Those who have been reading carefully these past few days may have noticed the emergence of a theme in my reports. After starting with the way the tissue in the midbrain responds to changes in cellular and molecular signals
Featured Article SfN Day 3 | Dr. Jeff Lichtman’s Presidential Lecture on Connectomics It is clear that not all wiring in our nervous system is genetic. People are not born with the capacity to cook a soufflé, play the piano, or ride a
Featured Article SfN, Day 2 Today’s topic of interest was Learning and Memory – particularly the ways in which memories are stored. For many years it was commonly accepted that a memory was physically represented
Featured Article SfN, Day 1 How to Make a Midbrain: Today at sfn , I attended a symposium on the mechanisms guiding physiological changes in the midbrain. The midbrain begins developing very early due to the
Issue 1 A Short History of Mind Control Image Copyright 2013 R.P.N. Rao and A. Stocco Research on remotely controlling the brain has been going on for awhile now, and has recently advanced to staggering heights. In 2002, a team at State University of New York implanted stimulating electrodes into
Issue 1 More Modularity Although it does not hold true for all circumstances, the theory of a brain that exhibits modular localization of functions has been demonstrated in many studies. MRI and PET imaging techniques have been used to identify patterns in how the brain responds to behavior,
Issue 1 Mod: A History of Modular Theory of the Mind No one can say that the great scientists, anatomists, and philosophers of the past were dull in describing the brain. It can be said, however, that some were less accurate
Issue 1 The Shape of an Idea Most of us are speaking metaphorically when we describe a color as “loud”, a sound as “sharp”, or the feeling of envy as “green”. But for some, these associations are
Issue 1 Smarter, Better, Faster, Longer 700 years ago, an African goat herder named Kaldi noticed that his goats became frisky and energetic after eating from a little bush with red berries. As the myth goes,
Issue 1 Brain Computer Interfaces Over the last fifteen years, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) – computerized systems that allow the brain to control external devices – have gone from the imaginative realm of science fiction to real world
Issue 1 On Hominid Intelligence The human brain is widely viewed as one of the most complex and remarkable known objects. Indeed, after considering its intricate structure and vast functionality, it is easy to admire
Issue 1 Dreaming of Reconstruction As research in the field of perceptual experience advances, neuroscientists continue to uncover new methods to see through the eyes of human beings – almost literally. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging
Issue 1 Do Electric Rats Dream of Cheese? A group led by Dr. Henry Markram in Switzerland is working on building a computer model of the brain. Initially, the group modeled a single rat cortical column. Now, however, they are working to construct an entire rat brain using as many as 100,
Issue 1 A Fish Called Neo The brain of most animals is encased in a thick, protective skull. For this reason, neuroscientists have struggled to view activity at the level of individual neurons in real time. A recent experiment in transgenic zebrafish, however, has allowed researchers to do just that,
Issue 1 Can You Ever Really Be John Malkovich? Hailed as one of the most unique screen plays ever written, Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich tells the story of what might transpire if a portal into another man’
Issue 1 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy As more football players donate their brains for study, the alarming prevalence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the Alzheimer’s-like disease that plagues many current players and retirees, has troubled the sports community and galvanized research on this lesser known illness. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or
Neuroscience Research Brief: The Bosma Lab The Bosma Lab focuses primarily on characterizing electrical events in the developing brainstem (specifically the hindbrain and midbrain), using the mouse as a model. With help from a fluorescent dye that binds to calcium (an ion implicated in neuronal firing), spontaneous, synchronized events can