Sophia Vinci-Booher is a graduating Ph.D. student and soon-to-be postdoctoral researcher in IU’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. She has spent the last 5 years here completing graduate coursework and conducting research in order to earn her Ph.D, and she is now one of the leading researchers in the field of functional brain development…. Read more »
This post is from ScIU’s archives. It was originally published by Rachel Skipper in January 2017, and has been lightly edited to reflect current events. This post is also part 1 of a two part series. Check out part 2 here! Imagine it’s 9:45 am. You have a meeting across town in 15 minutes and you… Read more »
Social behavior is most commonly associated with electrical and chemical signaling in the brain. But, did you know that your gut may also communicate with your brain? There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome, a population of about 100 trillion microorganisms that resides in the gastrointestinal tract, may communicate with the central nervous system… Read more »
Just like scientific findings themselves, the processes by which scientists communicate within their communities and with others can be nebulous. Historically and today, academic scientists have developed a contentious relationship with public communication of their work (e.g., books, news, social media, etc.), which has been perceived by other scientists as a sign of questionable scientific… Read more »
Dr. Yvonne Lai is well known for her work at IU’s Gill Center for Biomolecular Science. However, she and her collaborators are also making waves in the business world with the growth of their startup company Anagin Inc., a promising pharmaceutical venture located in Indianapolis. Dr. Lai’s research focuses on novel drug therapies for post-traumatic stress… Read more »
In the famous Milgram Experiment, it only took commands from a purported authority figure to get people to subject another study participant to electric shocks up to 450 volts (about a quarter of the voltage used to execute people in the electric chair). In reality, the other participant was an actor, and there were no actual… Read more »
According to both popular science and drug commercials, the brain is a mess of chemicals. Imbalances in these chemicals are responsible for a variety of ailments from depression to addiction. However, there’s rarely any mention of how these chemicals are related to neural activity. For instance, why is dopamine often rewarding, and why is serotonin… Read more »
This post is the second installment in a two part series. Check out last week’s post here. Thanks to modern technology, the field of cellular neuroscience has become illuminated with brightly colored images – tissue samples, cells, and individual molecules have been stained, photographed, colorized, and even reconstructed in three dimensions. A Google Image search… Read more »
This post is part 1 of a two part series. Check out part 2 here. Imagine it’s 9:45 am. You have a meeting across town in 15 minutes and you just realized that you overslept your alarm! You throw on some clothes, grab a cup of yesterday’s coffee, and rush out the door, only to… Read more »
Last week, over 32,000 neuroscientists met in San Diego for the annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference. Joining them were members of IU’s Program in Neuroscience, including Dr. Andrea Hohmann, who is also a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts in Sciences and a Linda and Jack Gill Chair of Neuroscience… Read more »
