Exposing graduate students and post-docs to science writing
Recently, I couldn’t find my keys. They weren’t where I usually keep them. Turns out, I was so distracted when I came home that I left them dangling in the lock. Other days, I’m looking for my phone. Where could I have put it? Oh…
Any scientist knows the importance of a good negative control. A negative control in an experiment is a group of samples or subjects in which no response is expected to an experimental treatment. The experimental group can then be compared to the control group. Such…
How memories are formed, stored, and modified has been one of the key topics in neuroscience studies. It’s fascinating to realize that not only can we enhance our memory through constant practice and exercise, but also alter or eliminate existing memory in some trauma cases.…
Drug addiction is notoriously difficult to treat. Limited treatment options are available for those suffering from addiction, including behavioral therapy, rehabilitation programs, and medication. However, current drug addiction medications are only approved to treat opioid, tobacco, or alcohol abuse, leaving out many other drugs of…
In anticipation of Halloween, October is a month full of spooky festivities including scary movies. Gathering a group of friends to watch a horror movie is a fun holiday activity, but finding a movie that appeals to a broad range of people can be challenging.…
You see them at restaurants, grocery stores, and parties. In your fridge, in your cupboard, and on TV. In city streets and in the trash. And most likely, you’ve never paid attention to them. Every bottle of alcohol you’ve seen since 1988 has had a…
I’ve found that it is rather difficult to write an article when you are lying in the fetal position and afraid to move. No, I wasn’t trying to hide from a T-rex. I was having a migraine attack, and what really kept me curled up…
Who I am today is a reflection of all the sacrifices my immigrant parents made to achieve the American Dream. In the late 1970s, my parents fled the Communist takeover of Vietnam, leaving behind family and friends and spending weeks traveling by boat to come to…
Measuring Chemical Chatter If a brain could talk, what would it say? Probably nothing profound or understandable. Rather, it would emit a bustling clamor of messages between neurons. These messages are delivered by chemicals called neurotransmitters. Different groups of neurotransmitters serve unique roles in the…
Shedding light on brain function has never been so literal. The idea that light could be used to control brain cells has always seemed like a far-fetched possibility, something more out of a scene from Star Trek than reality. The brain is a hugely complex…