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This week on Neurotalk, Nelson Spruston describes some of the first patch clamp recordings ever, shares the most exciting moment of his scientific career, and explains how a student in his lab discovered a new form of neural integration. Dr. Spruston is the Scientific Program Director, and a Laboratory Head at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Janelia Farm Research Campus.
This week on Neurotalk, Nelson Spruston describes some of the first patch clamp recordings ever, shares the most exciting moment of his scientific career, and explains how a student in his lab discovered a new form of neural integration.
Dr. Spruston is the Scientific Program Director, and a Laboratory Head at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Janelia Farm Research Campus.
This issue of Ask a Neuroscientist looks at what information neuronal firing rate encodes. Dr. Forrest Coleman (Steven Smith lab), explains how differences in the firing rate of neurons reflects not only features of the external sensory world, but also features of our dynamic inner world.
Read MoreThis week in Neurotalk, we speak with Chengua Gu about the molecules linking axon guidance, cardiovascular development, and synapse formation. Dr. Gu is an associate professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.
This week in Neurotalk, we speak with Chengua Gu about the molecules linking axon guidance, cardiovascular development, and synapse formation.
Dr. Gu is an associate professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.
The Flame Challenge invites working scientists to answer a simple question, generated by 11-year-olds, both simply and accurately. Talia Lerner presents her video-based entry, which goes from the physical reality of light, to the biological process of color vision. Plus, there is an adorable hand-drawn bull.
Read MoreThis week on Neurotalk, we speak with Thomas Schwarz about the diversity of potassium channels, the link between mitochondria and Parkinson's disease, what young scientists can learn from Julius Caesar, and more!
Read MoreJulia Turan answers a question about the language deficits experienced by patients with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia. Read on to learn whether Wernicke's aphasiacs have difficulty writing, and to see amazing videos of stroke patients with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia.
Read MoreThe other week, I received a fantastic question from a gentleman named Bill. He wanted to know whether there was any neurological basis in (what is apparently) a common technique for recovering a martial arts practitioner from a knock out induced by a strike to pressure points.
As I've pretty much forgotten everything I ever knew about spinal nerves, I pulled a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and phoned (read: emailed) a friend. Well, three friends. One of whom contacted a neurology resident.
Our collective conclusion: the recovery technique is probably BS.
Read MoreThere has been much wringing of hands of late over findings that many scientific findings are proving impossible to reproduce – meaning, they were probably wrong. Coverage in the news, concern expressed by the President's council of scientific advisors, and a call to action by Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), all suggest that this is a problem that the scientific community needs to understand and address.
In the recent issue of the journal Nature, Francis Collins and Lawrence Tabak (the deputy director of the NIH) outline their plan for improving scientific reproducibility, emphasizing a need for improving experimental design, statistical analysis, and transparency.
Read MoreFor Valentine’s Day, let's take a look at the neuroscience of love.
See: an online version of the Passionate Love Scale used by psychologists and neuroscientists alike to measure love.
Learn: why being passionately in love has some similarity to being addicted to cocaine.
Read MoreIn 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 MoreDo 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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