Halloween + Fall Back October 31, 2009

Tonight is Halloween. Kent State has one of the largest Halloween celebrations in the country. And tomorrow, we will all get an extra hour of sleep to nurse off those hangovers. It’s Daylight Savings. Daylight Savings was initiated by Benjamin Franklin to reserve candle wax.

Now back to hangovers. At yesterday’s lab meeting, the boss, Dr. D. Glass, was telling us about a recent Mythbusters episode where they dissected the common adage of “beer before liquor never been sicker” and “liquor before beer in the clear.” Apparently, the cast of Mythbusters discovered the hard way that drinking beer all night results in unbearable hangovers.

I heart science.

Hollah to Gagan! October 30, 2009

Today, my lab mate, Gagandeep Kaur successfully defended her dissertation: “Phase regulation of the circadian clock: neuropeptidergic and serotonergic mechanisms.” You can read about figments of her dissertation in a recently published article investigating rapid circadian re-entrainment to a new photocycle (i.e. time zone) following brief, constant light exposure and systemic administration of serotonergic agonists. The administration of serotonergic agonists (i.e. antidepressants) advances circadian rhythms by means of advancing the time of activity onset. When exposing nocturnal animals to constant conditions of light, the extent of advance of activity onset is potentiated.This type of accelerated re-entrainment would be beneficial for travel to far time-zones.

Dr. Kaur is off to work at a nearby veterinary clinic, applying her circadian experience towards better veterinary animal care.

 

Neury Thursday: GABA-ific Glomerulus Gating October 29, 2009

In the week’s Journal of Neuroscience, an artistic rendition of the weekly featured article was illustrated by Greg Dunn of UPenn. GABA-ergic projectoins have been found to gate glomerulus neuronal activity, hence gating olfaction.

Another article in this week’s journal characterized the rrecruitment of motor and interneurons critical for swimming in the zebrafish, which surprisingly begins early during embryonic development. Fast and strong neurons are recruited first (I’m guessing they are large, myelinated neurons with many dendritic arborizations) followed by the weaker and slower neurons (smaller, myelinated and/or non-mylineated, unipolar and/or bipolar).

Far Out Science, Dude October 29, 2009

This infrared photograph is from a recent article in Nature highlighting thermoregulation in sea stars. During high tide, sea stars absorb cold water to prevent overheating.

Fruit Bats Engage in Oral Sex: No Joke. October 28, 2009

“At present, we do not know why genital licking occurs, and we present four non-mutually exclusive hypotheses that may explain the function of fellatio in C. sphinx.”

Hey, it’s in PlosOne. Blow jobs, er, excuse, fellatio, oral sex, and/or whatever other polite term you care to use increase copulation in bats. The average licking session extends copulation by 6 seconds. Rodents also have stereotypic foreplay known as “pacing” to increase copulation. If Freud was still alive, I’m guessing he would extrapolate his “theories” and say that all mammals are fixated in the oral stage of development.

I tried finding a video of bats caught in the act, but none yet. The authors of the article can’t keep this million dollar movie footage hidden for long, I imagine.

“Sleep Deprivation is the Number One Medicial Problem in America” October 27, 2009

Per ZombieLand. Clearly, this is ironic for the heroes of Zombieland to acknowledged that Americans are sleep deprived when they have brain eating, gut guzzling, blood thirsty zombies eating all the humans in the world. But, nice of Wichita to address America’s ongoing epidemic.

I can’t vouch, however, for the movie trailer of A Nightmare on Elm Street preceding the showing of Zombieland. It urges people not to sleep, particularly kids, or expect to not ever awake.

What do Football and Dogfighting have in common? October 26, 2009

Brain damage. In a recent issue of The New Yorker, a “Yuppie” magazine to which I describe, there is a fantastic article on irreversible, irreparable brain damage associated with sports injuries. A few months ago, I posted a similar article from Science. In this particular New Yorker article, the neuroscientists who autopsied the brains of ex-football players/boxers were able to delineate between dementia related to aging/Alzheimer’s and dementia related to chronic head-bashing; the former is characterized by accumulations of both amyloid beta-protein and tau, while the latter is discernible only through tau neurofibrilliary tangles.

But where does dog fighting fit? In addition to dementia, head injuries and  excessive head-bashing (1,000 hits per football season alone!) greatly predispose athletes to substance abuse, depression, and violence. And clearly, it takes a violent person, a person who can dissociate themselves from another’s pain and suffering, to watch two dogs maul each other to the death for money and/or euphoria.

The author of the piece talks about the subject in a captivating slide show that exemplifies the neurodegeneration caused from too many hits in the head.

Freudian Slips? Ideas Needed! October 23, 2009

I do not have any motivation to post anything related to neuroscience today. SfN kicked my ass….er should I say re-unioning with friends, late-night socials, and unhealthy eating was the culprit and now my paraventricular nucleus and immune system are suffering. I’ll be hopped up on a cough suppressant/fever reducer for the next few days. Anyways, I need ideas for my Halloween costume, which is a repeatof the lovely Caroline Mailloux’s (@maillouxska) costume last year: Freudian slips. I have a few “slips” in mind, but need about 20 more…..

Neury Thursday: Fly/Post-Flight Neck Spasms October 23, 2009

In this week’s Journal of Neuroscience, scientists recorded membrane potentials from fly neck motor neurons. I bet that you would have found similar membrane potentials in my neck motor neurons after accidentally falling asleep on the plane ride home from SfN. Why couldn’t any of the exhibitors hand out neck rests?! I guess 5 grocery hippie bags, 3 USB Flashdrives, 2 mugs, pens and pencils, and a laptop sleeve isn’t too much to expect….

Closing Ceremonies of SFN: Hibernation, Circadian, and Consolidation October 22, 2009

On the last day of the conference and after successfully recovering from last night’s dance off, I attended a few last-minute posters and symposia. I managed to find one of the Data Blitz’s posters presented by the U of Wisconsin group on the role of GABA-A epsilon and delta receptors on respiratory control from the VRC region of the medulla during hibernation. I additionally attended a symposium focusing on circadian-dependent changes in learning and memory studied in very rudimentary systems including Aplasia, Drosphila, and zebrafish.

After having one last run for free candy, apples, posters, and hippie grocery bags from the exhibit hall, we left the conference center. Luckily, the last symposium was held in the far side of the building overlooking Lake Michigan.

Oh, we also managed to have one last round of Deep Dish pizza and 312 beer before leaving.

Now, back to the grind…….