Why do we need to sleep? In all of human biology, few questions are more persistent – or more mythologized – than this one. Almost as puzzling as sleep itself are sleep disorders like narcolepsy and insomnia, which make us wonder why some of us need so much more sleep than others do. David Rye, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘neuropharmacology’
Deciphering Sleep: Our Interview with David Rye
December 17th, 2012 
The Connectome 
Posted in Feature Stories, Featured 
Tags: biochemistry, biology, consciousness, dreams, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, sleep 
1 Comment »Stress Intervention
December 15th, 2011 The Connectome Scientists have discovered a way to shut down the brain’s “stress process” before it gets going, says a new study. By blocking the brain’s ability to manufacture certain chemicals called neurosteroids, researchers have managed to temporarily cut off a biological process crucial for stressful behavior – and for many stressful feelings as well. Animals from amphibians [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: anxiety, biochemistry, depression, emotions, fear, neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, stress 1 Comment »Chemical Parasites
November 7th, 2011 The Connectome A certain brain parasite actually turns off people’s feelings of fear by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter chemical dopamine, says a new study. Toxoplasma gondii, a parasitic protozoan (a kind of single-celled organism), mostly likes to live in the brains of cats - but it also infects birds, mice, and about 10 to 20 percent of people in the U.S. [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: biochemistry, biology, emotions, fear, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology 2 Comments »Drugs, Neuroscience, and You
September 22nd, 2011 The Connectome Let’s be honest here: if a person really wants to try an illegal drug, he or she is going to find a way to try it. To me, the most reasonable response to this fact seems to be to share clear, science-backed explanations of the effects and risks involved with each drug. So today, I’m [...]
Pain on the Brain
August 19th, 2011 The Connectome Men and women experience pain in different ways, a new study shows. The behavior of opioids – chemicals that suppress pain – differs between men’s and women’s bodies. This is because the three main types of opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord interact very differently, depending on whether their owner is a man or [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: biochemistry, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, pain, senses, touch No Comments »
