Vertebrate Physiology

“Researchers at Stanford engineered mice to carry light-sensitive proteins in the brain’s reward center, which responds to drugs of abuse. Using pulses of light delivered directly to the brain, researchers were able to induce a druglike state, ultimately conditioning the mice to behave like drug-addicted animals.” To read the rest of the article click here.

Read Full Post »

Summer love is in the air.
When Bob went out to the beach, he couldn’t stop oogling Hilda in the yellow polka dot bikini. They were both attending a steamy neurobiology conference. With his heart beating rapidly, he decided to ask her out to a gourmet meal at Chipotle. Lucky for Bob, she was hungry [...]

Read Full Post »

Some of you have mastered the art of cramming for exams. But what really happens when we store a thought for a very short period of time? What are memories made of? We’ve come a long way in our understanding since Dean Martin’s 1955 hit song. After looking at single neurons in the prefrontal cortex [...]

Read Full Post »

Do these lines look like they extend away from you at different angles? Actually, they’re exactly the same. You brain is fooling you…again! For more information and a few other examples of this illusion, click here.

Still trust your perception? Maybe this will change your mind. Here is the 2009 winner of the Best Visual Illusion [...]

Read Full Post »

The placebo effect has been observed for centuries. Patients given nothing more than sugar pills are able to alleviate their own pain, anxiety and depression. In one case, a terminal cancer patient shrunk his own tumors when he believed in the power of a sham treatment.
This is a very well-written article that links the placebo [...]

Read Full Post »

Has someone just been watching too many sci-fi movies on Hulu? Doctors at Geneva University Hospital disagree. This is a special case of a supernumerary phantom limb. After suffering a stroke, the 64-year old woman says she can see and feel the “presence of a pale, milky-white and translucent third arm.” More surprisingly, she even [...]

Read Full Post »

Did you know that your brain is made up of more than just neurons? In reality, it’s a mix of many different types of cells. Glial (housekeeper) cells are the most common cell type in the CNS. These have endless functions, from providing nutrients, to repairing damaged tissue, to physically keeping neurons in place.
It would [...]

Read Full Post »