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Posted in Brain on Aug 11th, 2007
There is an amazing array of stories whereby people wander into the emergency room complaining of a headache only to have an X-ray reveal some large pointy object embedded in their brain. The classic tale is of Phineas Gage who was somewhat different after a 3 foot metal tamping rod was rammed up into his [...]
Posted in Course material on Aug 11th, 2007
This is a collection of short quicktime movies showing original films of giant squid axon studies and voltage clamping. This is back when science was real science and a pair of scissors from the desk were considered a dissecting instrument.
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 11th, 2007
For those of you that use newsreaders (Safari, Firefox, NetNewsWire) to keep current with the popular press, there are a couple newsfeeds (RSS) listed over to the right -> You can also subscribe to this blog as a newsfeed. In addition to the video Channel N and Mindhacks, there is a nice one from Omni [...]
Typically, the arsenal of pscho-active anti-depressants can take weeks if not months to take effect. But recent research has shown that ketamines can relieve symptoms of depression in a matter of hours. Ketamines appear to be NMDA antagonists; this can mediate LTD by stopping the sequestering of AMPA receptors. There may be a direct affect [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 7th, 2007
Pinky and the Brain describe the parts of the brain.
Posted in Course material, Perception on Aug 6th, 2007
Three cases of things that are not there– The alleviation of pain is one of the foremost lines of pharmaceutical research. Here are some articles on the strangeness of pain: the story of a boy, who could feel no pain, that regularly walked on coals to earn money from appreciative tourists. His case led to [...]
This is not another edition of Weekly World News, but a rather wonderful story of a boy, blinded by cancer, that developed the ability to echolocate! Using a series of clicking sounds he is able to identify objects that are nearby, even making a distinction between a fire hydrant and a rubbish bin.
Posted in Behaviour, Memory, Perception on Aug 1st, 2007
“Memory is the thing you forget with.” ~ Alexander Chase,Perspectives “Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.” ~ Michel de Montaigne One of the major mysteries of the brain is how memories are formed– or more particularly, what form memories take in the brain. This is another [...]
Channel N – brain science videocasts Mind Hacks