So when Sci got the press release for this paper, it said “PHANTOM IMAGES STORED IN FLEXIBLE NETWORK THROUGHOUT THE BRAIN”. I went “wut?!” and read ahead. Those press releases, how they do lie exaggerate. But this paper is cool and well worth the blogging, so I got myself a tidy little copy and settled […]
Reader David sent me this paper the other day, and asked if I could blog about it. I said ok, maybe, and then I read… …”Gene therapy”… …oooooh… Sounds very cool, doesn’t it? Sounds like the FUTURE! Where’s my JETPACK!!!?!?! But of course “gene therapy” is kind of a buzzword. A lot of people throw […]
Welcome to part 3 in the series of my coverage of LaPlant, et al. 2010. It’s been a long day, and Sci is TIRED. She just ran a 13 hour experiment, and boy is she wiped. But she is also DEVOTED. And also has her teeth well into this paper, and refuses to let go […]
So Sci was sitting in a seminar the other day. We were mentioning this paper, some problems we had with it, some of the things we LIKED about it, and various approaches, etc, in our usual sciencey fashion. As the discussion got intense (in a good way), one of the PIs there leaned over and […]
Sci thought this particular paper was of current relevance, due in part to the public attention that bullying and social rejection has been getting lately. I think it’s really important that this gets in the public eye and that something is done about it, and so Sci will contribute her sciencey best to talk about […]
Sci got an email from one of her lovely readers recently about an article that appeared in Scientific American. I usually have a lot of respect for Scientific American, but I have to say I feel they really dropped the ball on this one. So today, I present to you: what Sci Am said, the […]
Let it be known to the masses (all two of you, hi!) that Sci LOVES Diet Coke. I mean, not as much as coffee or Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but it’s a close second. And I always heard what I’m sure everyone has heard, about how Diet Coke is HORRIBLE for you and the ASPARTAME!! The […]
Sci saw this paper. She’s going to start with some caveats. She thinks the paper is cool. BUT, it appears to be one of those papers that is HIGHLY subject to overinterpretation and possible panic. So Don’t Panic. And now we’re going to talk about oxytocin. And parenting. In humans. It ain’t just for voles […]
Sci deeply considered titling this post “Becoming Lindsay Lohan: Cocaine Escalation in Rats”. But then I thought…nah…too much. 🙂 Anyway, a post over at Drugmonkey yesterday got Sci to thinking about drug self-administration in rats, and more particularly, HOW we use it to model cocaine addiction in humans. Because, like other models, drug self-administration in […]
I’m sure everyone here has heard of self-inflicted harm, or self-injurious behavior. The common word for it is “cutting”, and professionals and parents often worry about its presence in adolescent populations. But the population in which self-injurious behavior is most prevalent is actually in patients (adult or adolescent) with borderline personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder […]