research

Effects of Psilocybin on Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Extinction of Trace Fear Conditioning

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This research summary comes from, CSGlobe: Expand Your Consciousness.The original research article is from Experimental Brain Research, August, 2013 issue. Researchers found that psilocybin can stimulate hippocampal neurogenesis and extinguish conditioned fear responses, making it an ideal treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Importantly, even small doses not likely to be fully “psychedelic” show these outcomes. … Read more

Curcumin Is Emerging as One of the Most Potent Natural Cancer Treatments

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Over the last decade, research into curcumin (Curcuma longa, a constituent of turmeric that gives the curry spice its yellow-orange color) has demonstrated potent chemoprotective and chemopreventive effects, as well as use as an anti-cancer therapy. Curcumin produces anti-cancer effects through several different channels: Inhibits the proliferation of tumor cells Decreases inflammation Inhibits the transformation of … Read more

The Effects of Psilocybin and MDMA on Between-Network Resting State Functional Connectivity in Healthy Volunteers

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  I’ve been binge watching a new series called Black Box, kind of like House, MD, but specific to neuroscience diagnostic mysteries (oh, and the main character is bipolar rather than narcissistic). In the 5th episode (there’s only 7 so far), one of the recurring characters has a brain tumor metastasize to his liver, which … Read more

Neuron Tells Stem Cells to Grow New Neurons

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Interesting new research out of Duke University on how specific neurons tell neuronal stem cells where to go to repair damage. Below this press release is the abstract and citation from Nature Neuroscience (where the article is, of course, embargoed). Neuron Tells Stem Cells to Grow New Neurons Researchers identify first piece of new brain-repair … Read more

Proof of Precognition or Statistical Manipulation?

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In 2011, a widely publicized study by Daryl Bem claimed evidence of precognition (Bem, 2011). The article was widely reported in the popular press, but widely dismissed in the scientific research world due to questions about the statistical approach applied in testing these effects (Bem et al., 2011; Rouder and Morey, 2011; Wagenmakers et al., … Read more

Mirror Neurons Are Essential, But Not in the Way You Think (Nautilus)

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Mirror neurons, as Christian Jarrett has twice asserted, are the likely the most over-hyped concept in neuroscience. In the paragraph below, the solution to the mystery is stated, but it is not named. Despite her apt framing of the adaptation hypothesis, [Cecilia] Heyes actually argues against it. If she is right, then we’re all simply … Read more

The Social Brain Meets the Reactive Genome: Neuroscience, Epigenetics and the New Social Biology

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This is an interesting new research article from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience looks at the convergence of neuroscience, epigenetics, and sociobiology. This is certainly a big piece of the future of understanding the brain; of understanding what genes get turned on or off by trauma, diet, environment, and so on; and how all of this … Read more

An Analysis of Early Developmental Trauma in Social Anxiety Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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Here is another article for the “does a bear shit in the woods” file. OF COURSE social anxiety and PTSD are connected to developmental trauma – almost EVERYTHING we call mental illness is the result of developmental trauma or shock trauma. On the bright side, at least someone is doing the research and writing the … Read more

An Engineered Bacterium Is Able to Copy DNA that Contains Unnatural Genetic Letters

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For all of recorded history, billions of years, the blueprint of life has been written with just four letters — adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G), the DNA subunits contained in all organisms. Now that has changed. Scientists at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have identified a pair of bases, … Read more

Priscilla Long – What Killed My Sister? [On Schizophrenia]

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This is an interesting article on schizophrenia from The American Scholar. The author seems to throw all of the prevailing theories against the wall the see what sticks, to find some way to make sense of how her sister died. One of the pieces missing, however, is the fact that an extremely large percentage of … Read more