Stress and Anxiety, aka CRF and 5-HT2

Today’s post comes to you from several tweets that Sci received way back in the mists of time (that is…two weeks ago. Three? Something like that). Sci got wind of this paper and has been meaning to blog it for a while, but other things get in the way, like other things will. And when [...]

What does that MRI signal MEAN, anyway?

Sci was incredibly excited to see this paper come out. It’s got lots of stuff going for it, and all its powers combined were enough to send Sci bouncing around in her seat and sending emails to Ed Yong saying “OMG COOL PAPER!!”. What’s it got, you say? It’s got the meaning of life, the [...]

Dopamine and Reward Prediction: What your brain looks like on Rickroll

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 [...]

Is Mr. S more flexible than Sci? Cognitive flexibility and first-person shooter games.

This post comes to you courtesy, actually, of Sci-Dad, who sent an email to Sci saying wasn’t this cool. Sci then showed it to Mr. SiT, and he was very intrigued, and insisted she cover it. Sci kind of wanted to make cake balls. Maybe that will be tomorrow. OM NOM NOM Anyway. Colzato et [...]

Bulimia and the Vaso-Vagal Reflex

This is another post in Sci’s investigation into the current studies being performed on eating disorders, particularly binge eating and bulimia. Usually I try to focus on the dysregulation of reward-related systems in these disorders, but this paper will be a little different. Faris et al. “De-Stabilization of the Positive Vago-Vagal Reflex in Bulimia Nervosa” [...]

A Follow up: Depression, p21, CREB, and more

Everyone once in a while, someone sends Sci email. Often it’s silly. This one, however, was very good in that it asked for some clarification on a series of posts that I’ve been working on looking at clinical depression and possible causes and treatments, including neurogenesis in the hippocampus, cell cycle controls, and CREB. And [...]

Cell Cycle p21, Depression, and Neurogenesis and in the Hippocampus

This is somewhat of a followup post. What’s really cool about this paper (to Sci, anyway), is that it brings two different areas that she’s been interested in into one cool glob of SCIENCE. And it helps to explain many of the questions that Sci got in response to two of the papers she has [...]

Book Review: Your Brain on Food: How Chemicals Control your Thoughts and Feelings

Sci recently got asked to be a book reviewer for Oxford University Press again! She is thrilled about this. Having recently moved to Huge New City (and consequently to Very Small New Apartment) she ended up having to…*gulp*…get rid of some books. It was a painful process, but she firmly believes her books are going [...]

On Washing your Fruit: ADHD and Pesticides

Sci was a little startled recently when she saw “the latest study” on ADHD splashed across the frontpage of Yahoo. You can see it here on Reuters. PESTICIDES TIED TO ADHD. (Run for the hills, indeed. Or maybe run AWAY from the hills, since they might have pesticides) However, the story broke a good TWO [...]

The Neurogenesis theory of depression and a little guy called CREB

Sci wishes she could begin this post with something clever. But she has a cold. Suffice it to say that this paper is cool and interesting. And also, as Sci has a cold, I expect all of you to read this post out loud to yourselves in suitably stuffy, gluey Sci-voices. (*sniff*) Gur et al. [...]