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- October 25, 2010
- 12:35 AM
- 929 views
Fat rat fathers and pre-diabetic daughters
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
You guys, there is SO much science out there. SO MUCH. Grrl and I agree, so much to blog, so little time. Anyway, I found this great paper in the latest Table of Contents for Nature, and went “ooooh, must blog!” And then SciAm beat me to it. No fair, I bet they had it [...]... Read more »
Ng, S., Lin, R., Laybutt, D., Barres, R., Owens, J., & Morris, M. (2010) Chronic high-fat diet in fathers programs β-cell dysfunction in female rat offspring. Nature, 467(7318), 963-966. DOI: 10.1038/nature09491
- March 23, 2011
- 09:22 AM
- 894 views
Where is your antidepressant working? Depends on which kind you try.
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
One of the hardest parts about treating psychiatric illness is deciding which drug to use. Hopefully most doctors are not too swayed by the Paxil pens or Prozac magnets that end up in their offices (though that’s a great way to get those names to the top of the recall list), but often, no matter [...]... Read more »
Brühl AB, Jäncke L, & Herwig U. (2011) Differential modulation of emotion processing brain regions by noradrenergic and serotonergic antidepressants. Psychopharmacology. PMID: 21359508
- June 29, 2011
- 01:31 AM
- 887 views
REPOST: Dopamine and Reward Prediction, or your brain on Rickroll
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Today Sci is going to blog a paper that she has been meaning to blog for a long time. It's one of those papers that people who do certain kinds of science snuggle with when they go to sleep at night. (Sci and this paper) But the real reason that Sci loves this paper is [...]... Read more »
Schultz, W. (1997) A Neural Substrate of Prediction and Reward. Science, 275(5306), 1593-1599. DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5306.1593
- July 13, 2011
- 07:59 AM
- 859 views
The Opposite Side of Dopamine: The D2 Receptor
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
When most people think of dopamine, they think of things that can get you high. Things that feel good. Cocaine. Sex. Food. We imagine floods of dopamine in our brains as the pleasurable feelings take hold. As more and more media outlets cover neuroscience, we get the idea that serotonin means happiness, but dopamine means...pleasure. [...]... Read more »
Bello EP, Mateo Y, Gelman DM, Noaín D, Shin JH, Low MJ, Alvarez VA, Lovinger DM, & Rubinstein M. (2011) Cocaine supersensitivity and enhanced motivation for reward in mice lacking dopamine D(2) autoreceptors. Nature neuroscience. PMID: 21743470
- April 12, 2011
- 09:32 AM
- 857 views
Experimental Biology Blogging: Speeding Healing in the Eye with CAP37
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
I'm sure many of you are probably reading this while wearing some kind of corrective lenses. Some of you might be wearing some cool hipster glasses, but many of you are probably wearing contacts. And as you might know, wearing contacts can be a dangerous sport. Putting them in incorrectly can cause you to damage [...]... Read more »
Lee TD, Gonzalez ML, Kumar P, Chary-Reddy S, Grammas P, & Pereira HA. (2002) CAP37, a novel inflammatory mediator: its expression in endothelial cells and localization to atherosclerotic lesions. The American journal of pathology, 160(3), 841-8. PMID: 11891183
Pereira HA. (2006) Novel therapies based on cationic antimicrobial peptides. Current pharmaceutical biotechnology, 7(4), 229-34. PMID: 16918399
- April 6, 2011
- 01:12 AM
- 785 views
If Stress is Getting you Down, you can blame your BDNF
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
People react to stress in different ways. Some people seem to thrive under a constant deluge of deadlines, and galvanize to action in the face of life stress. In others, stress can be a trigger for psychiatric disorders such as depression, leaving them feeling helpless and causing difficulties in their everyday lives. But each person [...]... Read more »
Taliaz D, Loya A, Gersner R, Haramati S, Chen A, & Zangen A. (2011) Resilience to chronic stress is mediated by hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(12), 4475-83. PMID: 21430148
- July 14, 2010
- 12:53 AM
- 768 views
Aging, Cancer, and p53
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Sci has recently did a post on p53. She finds it to be a fascinating little guy, and it might just become her new obsession. It appears to be everywhere, the little protein behind the scenes making things happen. (Awww, look at it, all hugging the DNA like that. What a cutie!) And one of [...]... Read more »
Feng, Z., Hu, W., Teresky, A., Hernando, E., Cordon-Cardo, C., & Levine, A. (2007) Declining p53 function in the aging process: A possible mechanism for the increased tumor incidence in older populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(42), 16633-16638. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0708043104
- June 3, 2011
- 09:43 AM
- 765 views
Friday Weird Science: Forget cancer, what are cell phones doing to your SPERM!?
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
You know, we keep hearing about things that cell phones may or may not do things. To the bees. To the risks of brain cancer. To your perceptions. To I don't know what. But it's time we focused on the IMPORTANT things, my friends. What does a cell phone do to your SEMEN? I mean, [...]... Read more »
Gutschi T, Mohamad Al-Ali B, Shamloul R, Pummer K, & Trummer H. (2011) Impact of cell phone use on men's semen parameters. Andrologia. PMID: 21486411
- February 25, 2011
- 01:19 AM
- 759 views
Friday Weird Science: Killin’ Prey With My Super Scary…Glue Gun!
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Today is my second synchro-blogging of the week! When Laelaps showed me the video that went with this paper, and explained the concept…I was HOOKED. We had to blog it. It’s too good. It’s too GROSS. Just you wait. So we HAVE blogged it, and when you’re done reading this, go over to Laelaps and [...]... Read more »
Haritos, V., Niranjane, A., Weisman, S., Trueman, H., Sriskantha, A., & Sutherland, T. (2010) Harnessing disorder: onychophorans use highly unstructured proteins, not silks, for prey capture. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1698), 3255-3263. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0604
- July 22, 2011
- 08:27 AM
- 755 views
Friday Weird Science: The Lion Eats Tonight
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
A weemahway, A weemahway... You think too hard about this paper, you'll get this song in your head for the next few days. Don't say I didn't warn you. Humans. We have a lot of fears, many of them somewhat justified. Heights, spiders, the scream mask. The dark. In Westernized countries a lot of these [...]... Read more »
Packer, C., Swanson, A., Ikanda, D., & Kushnir, H. (2011) Fear of Darkness, the Full Moon and the Nocturnal Ecology of African Lions. PLoS ONE, 6(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022285
- December 1, 2010
- 09:44 AM
- 731 views
Reducing stress via brain reward circuitry. Stress, meet pie.
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Yesterday I was out with my running group, and chatting with an acquaintance. She was saying that someone at her office had accused her of “eating her feelings” when she was stressed. Her: She accused me of eating my feelings! I’m kind of upset she would say that…so I had a cookie, and then a [...]... Read more »
Ulrich-Lai YM, Christiansen AM, Ostrander MM, Jones AA, Jones KR, Choi DC, Krause EG, Evanson NK, Furay AR, Davis JF.... (2010) Pleasurable behaviors reduce stress via brain reward pathways. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(47), 20529-34. PMID: 21059919
- December 8, 2010
- 01:13 AM
- 727 views
Magnets, Brain “Disruption”, and Math
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Sci got an email the other day. Ok, I get lots of emails, but this one asked a cool question, which is always nice. All it asked for was an opinion on an article in Scientific American: “Get Better at Math By Disrupting your Brain“. Sci looked. Was intrigued. Read the actual paper…and found the [...]... Read more »
Cohen Kadosh R, Soskic S, Iuculano T, Kanai R, & Walsh V. (2010) Modulating neuronal activity produces specific and long-lasting changes in numerical competence. Current biology : CB, 20(22), 2016-20. PMID: 21055945
- August 13, 2010
- 12:32 AM
- 719 views
Friday Weird Science: So, how would you say your poop FEELS today?
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
The following is my entry for the newly created Carnal Carnival, a blog carnival started by Jason (of The Thoughtful Animal and Child’s Play) and our dear blogfather Bora. Sci is a little upset she didn’t think of it first. This will be a carnival covered the weird and odd and, if possible, the completely [...]... Read more »
Müller-Lissner SA, Kaatz V, Brandt W, Keller J, & Layer P. (2005) The perceived effect of various foods and beverages on stool consistency. European journal of gastroenterology , 17(1), 109-12. PMID: 15647650
- March 7, 2011
- 01:33 AM
- 696 views
Assassins vs Men of Note: the old pseudoscience of phrenology
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
I thought that I had wavy hair Until I shaved. Instead, I find that I have STRAIGHT hair And a very wavy head. -Shel Silverstein The poem above is something I think of whenever I think of phrenology (also it’s just awesome, because Shel Silverstein is always awesome). Phrenology was (and is!) a pseudoscientific practice [...]... Read more »
unknown. (1885) COMPARISON OF THE SKULLS OF ASSASSINS AND MEN OF NOTE. Science, ns-6(129), 72-73. DOI: 10.1126/science.ns-6.129.72-a
- July 1, 2011
- 01:44 AM
- 695 views
Friday Weird Science REPOST: Curing your snoring problem with quick and easy digeridoo lessons!
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Thanks again to NCBI ROFL, who finds these hilarious things and posts their abstracts for all the world to see, and for Sci to giggle over and then run around trying to find hilarious pictures of didgeridoos. So, let's talk about your snoring problem. And then let's talk about your musical stylings on the didgeridoo. [...]... Read more »
Puhan, M. (2006) Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, 332(7536), 266-270. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.38705.470590.55
- July 30, 2010
- 12:41 AM
- 689 views
Friday Weird Science: HEY GUYS, I’M SO DRUNK RIGHT NOW!!!!
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
You know how it is when you’re in college (or high school). You’ve got that one kid (and yes, it has at some point been you) who’s never had a drink before, and they go to a party. You have a few drinks, they have a few drinks, and pretty soon, even though they have [...]... Read more »
Upile, T., Sipaul, F., Jerjes, W., Singh, S., Nouraei, S., El Maaytah, M., Andrews, P., Graham, J., Hopper, C., & Wright, A. (2007) The acute effects of alcohol on auditory thresholds. BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders, 7(1), 4. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6815-7-4
- March 14, 2011
- 08:20 AM
- 687 views
How long is that word? As long as it needs to be.
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
He studies too much for words of four syllables -Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice “No” “the” “of” “to” “and” “a” “Yes” “How” “LOL” “F**K” What do all of these words have in common? They are all in the 500 most frequently used words in the English language (ok, two of them aren’t, but I bet [...]... Read more »
Piantadosi ST, Tily H, & Gibson E. (2011) From the Cover: Word lengths are optimized for efficient communication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(9), 3526-9. PMID: 21278332
- May 2, 2011
- 11:57 AM
- 677 views
Easily distracted? Chances are you're not one of those young kids.
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
When we think of demographics that are easily distracted, we tend to think of younger generations, people on their phones over dinner or texting while driving, or only listening to you with one ear while they listen to their ipod with the other. But when we're talking about cognitive tasks like working memory, the ability [...]... Read more »
Clapp, W., Rubens, M., Sabharwal, J., & Gazzaley, A. (2011) Deficit in switching between functional brain networks underlies the impact of multitasking on working memory in older adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1015297108
- July 9, 2010
- 12:37 AM
- 673 views
Friday Weird Science: The Human Penis Bone
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Today’s post is some seriously OLD science. Old science and WEIRD science, coming to you courtesy of Mt. Sinai hospital in NYC, 1913. And it’s also the WEIRDEST conjunction of this: And this: That Sci has ever seen. Gerster AG, Mandlebaum FS. “XI. On the Formation of Bone in the Human Penis.” Annals of Surgery, [...]... Read more »
GERSTER, A., & MANDLEBAUM, F. (1913) ON THE FORMATION OF BONE IN THE HUMAN PENIS. Annals of Surgery, 57(6), 896-901. DOI: 10.1097/00000658-191306000-00012
- April 22, 2011
- 02:30 AM
- 671 views
Friday Weird Science: Masturbation and Restless Leg Syndrome
by Scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
You know, I tried SO hard to come up with a good rhyme..."When your legs give a yank, turn to your spank bank?" "Are your legs restless? Masturbate to redress!" "If your legs still shake, yank or your trouser snake?" I got nothin'. Rhyming has failed me here. But the weird science, it NEVER fails [...]... Read more »
Marin LF, Felicio AC, & Prado GF. (2011) Sexual intercourse and masturbation: Potential relief factors for restless legs syndrome?. Sleep medicine, 12(4), 422. PMID: 21377419
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