ddart Synesthete Refer to this video below for the artist's interpretation of their piece, or continue scrolling for a text version. My piece is called “Synesthete,” as in someone with synesthesia. Synesthesia
ddart Looking for the Found Refer to this video below for the artist's interpretation of their piece, or continue scrolling for a text version. “Looking for the Found” is a piece depicting the depressive psychological
ddart Cleared Tissue Refer to this video below for the artist's interpretation of their piece, or continue scrolling for a text version. I wanted to make something that cannot be recreated with the
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
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
Issue 20 Screaming into the Void: Evolved and Learned Echolocation Introduction 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
Issue 20 Old Brain, New Tricks: Neuroenhancement for an Aging Workforce Our Brain Is Being Beaten With the increase in computer performance and accessibility of personal computing, most jobs require computer skills as part of their work. According to an analysis
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
Issue 20 How Pollution Affects the Brain The Pollution Problem: How Pollution is Affecting our Brains Take a deep breath in. Exhale out. Take another deep breath in. Exhale out. Take deep breaths to center and calm
Issue 20 Just Dance, It'll be Okay Dance Movement Therapy: Kinesthetic Approach in Modern MedicineIt starts with the hand lift – the body moves with the melody while the mind thinks about a feeling that has yet to
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 Tenuous Times are a Great Time to Get “Rolling”Our ever-changing socio-political landscape creates many feelings of uneasiness, and individual experiences of war, terrorism, or sexual abuse only corroborate these
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 IntroductionLet’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
Issue 19 Mental Mechanics: How Humans Reason Through a Physical World IntroductionPicture 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
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’
Neuroscience Melody and Memory: The Potential of Music Therapy for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease Introduction 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
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 [1] . He exhaled deeply
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 INTRODUCTION 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
Issue 16 Eye Opening Epilepsy Background Epilepsies include a variety of disorders, characterized primarily by a disturbance in neuronal activity known as a seizure [1] . One type of epilepsy that originates in the temporal lobe,
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 Spoken Bird: The Curious Case of Parrot Mimicry With about 10,000 species, birds make up one of the most diverse classes in the animal kingdom. While one may be
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 Increase in Neurological Diseases in Past Several Decades Due to Environmental Pollution 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 exerc ise. A variety of studies show that participation in both aerobic and non-aerobic exercise for as
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 Le Jardin 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
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 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 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 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
Cover Article 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 HyperthymesiaWhen Jill Price talks about her day, she might give a full rundown of what she ate for breakfast, what commercials she saw, and what the
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 Moving Toward Motion IntroductionOne 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 input
Issue 11 Ketamine: A Novel Treatment For Major Depression Finding New Ways of Thinking About DepressionWithin the last decade, a new agent has appeared in the spotlight of psychiatric research: ketamine. This drug, also known as “Calypsol,” is currently
Issue 11 Power Play IntroductionMany 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 of
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 FranceClad in armor and lances at hand, two jousters mounted their steeds. The competitors aimed their weapons
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 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 Issue 11 Editor’s NoteThe 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 of
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 IdentityIt’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 ourselves
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
Cover Article 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 NameA concise definition is a powerful tool in medicine and medical science. As we learn more about the biomedical world, our ability to better organize
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 CarewScientists 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
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 IntroductionAsk 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 for
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
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
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,
Featured Article Mod IntroductionNo 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 IntroductionMost 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
Featured Article Smarter, Better, Faster, Longer Introduction700 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
Featured Article On Hominid Intelligence Introduction 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
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 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
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 (fMRI), neuroscientists can observe brain activity while someone performs a task or responds to
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’
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
Conscious Brain Surgery [unused] This series was done in Autodesk Sketchbook and portrayed elements of conscious brain surgery. Having surgery done while you're awake is a deeply terrifying experience and I wanted to highlight this by using a dull color palette and very emotive eyes. The goal with
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