Home of the Stanford Neuroblog. Scientists writing about science, for a general audience.
Have a question about the brain? Ask a neuroscientist a question.
In this edition of Ask a Neuroscientist, Dr. David Bochner tackles a pair of questions: 1) Whether synaptic plasticity means that synapses move closer together, and 2) Whether the predominance of papers describing plasticity at glutamatergic synapses means that other synapses aren't plastic.
Spoilers: The answer to both these questions is no. Read below the fold to learn why.
Read MoreThis week on the Neurotalk podcast, Don Cleveland talks about the mechanisms underlying ALS and other motor neuron disorders, the shift in our basic understanding of how gene mutations lead to human disease, and more!
In this week's episode of Neurotalk, Don Cleveland talks about the mechanisms underlying ALS and other motor neuron disorders, the shift in our basic understanding of how gene mutations lead to human disease, and more! Dr. Cleveland is professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego.
Dr. Cleveland is professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego.
In this edition of Ask a Neuroscientist, what does it take to get into the Stanford Neuroscience PhD program?
To help me answer this question, I sat down with the newly minted director of the Stanford Neurosciences PhD Program, Dr. Anthony (Tony) Ricci. Before his appointment as Program Director, Tony served on the Stanford PhD Program Admissions Committee; he also was involved in graduate admissions at Louisiana State University prior to his appointment at Stanford. Tony believes that graduate admission should be a transparent process, and so was happy to share his personal approach to selecting applicants.
We discuss the process by which 500 applicants are narrowed down to 30 invited interviewees, and what a successful application needs to prevent rejection.
Read MoreWomen and academia, why does this combination seem to be so challenging? Why do so few women make it to faculty positions, regardless of all the recent campaigns and awareness-raising and the high representation of women at undergraduate and graduate levels? Is it the nature of the scientific world with its high pressure to continuously perform exceptionally? Or are we maybe expecting too much? Is changing this gender imbalance just a gradual and slow process and do we need to just wait a bit longer?
Alternatively, could this imbalance be related to something that is engraved in all of us, a tough bias that unconsciously affects our reasoning? And if so, is there anything we can do about it?
Read MoreIn this issue of Ask a Neuroscientist, Jennifer Esch discusses the language abilities of the independent left and right hemispheres of split brain patients. She tells us why it's extremely unlikely that split brain patients would be able to type a separate email from each hemisphere, and furthermore, why it's unlikely those patients would be able to use a keyboard in the first place.
Read MoreIn this exciting new episode of Neurotalk, we speak with Caitlin O'Connell Rodwell about working with elephants, elephant communication, women in science, and more!
This week on Neurotalk, we speak with Caitlin O'Connell Rodwell about working with elephants, elephant communication, women in science, and more! Dr. O'Connell-Rodwell is an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology at Stanford University.
Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell is an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology at Stanford University.
This week on the Neurotalk podcast, we speak with Kamil Ugurbil about his interesting path into neuroscience, his deep involvement with the development of fMRI, a functional human connectome, and more!
This week on the Neurotalk podcast, we speak with Kamil Ugurbil about his interesting path into neuroscience, his deep involvement with the development of fMRI, how he runs his large 100+ group, and more! Dr. Ugurbil is the Director of the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, and McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair Professor in the Departments of Radiology, Neuroscience, and Medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Ugurbil is the Director of the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research,
and McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair Professor in the Departments of Radiology, Neuroscience, and Medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Is it possible for the brain to encode sensory stimuli that we don't consciously perceive? Becca Krock (who loves the unconscious, fyi) writes about a 1967 experiment that proved that a major chunk of our somatosensory cortex is fully capable of representing stimuli that a human subject swears they know nothing about.
Read MoreOK I admit it. I am an obsessive fan of the BBC’s Sherlock series. As a neuroscientist I’m in love with breaking down complex questions with logic, and indulging ineach episode gives me the opportunity to do so late into the evening. The series is a modern-day reinterpretation of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, and revolves around the extremely intelligent “consulting detective” Sherlock Holmes and his partner John Watson, who together attempt to solve otherwise unsolvable crimes.
I especially find the way the writers define each character particularly fascinating.. Where Sherlock obsesses over his work for the sake of solving each mystery, John often focuses his attention on solving each case to benefit those involved. The writers present seeming personality dichotomies that surprisingly coalesce and complement one another. I am particularly intrigued by the way the main characters construct and develop their own mental states over the course of the series.
Read MoreA weekly feature, highlighting the science-related internet content that caught our eyes the previous week.
This week: sloths and rattlesnakes, misogyny and the GMO debate. Also: what happens when you place a red-hot metal ball on top of three eggs? There's a video.
Read MoreHome of NeuWrite West and the Stanford Neuroblog.
Do you have burning questions about how the brain works? You’ve come to the right place! Submit all your questions to NeuWrite West and we will have a neuroscientist research and answer your question.
Note: The NeuWrite West team consists of research scientists. Therefore, we can not provide answers to questions of a medical nature; we are not medical doctors.
Questions will have a turn-around time of approximately one month.
Or search for "NeuWriteWest" (without spaces) on your favorite podcast app!
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