Neuroscience Blogs
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Neuroskeptic
Not one but two new papers have appeared from the Carlos Zarate group at NIMH reporting that a single injection of the drug ketamine has rapid, powerful antidepressant effects. One placebo-controlled study found a benefit in depressed bipolar patients who were already on mood stabilizers. The other found benefits in treatment-resistant major depression, though ketamine wasn't compared to placebo that time.
I’m writing a fortnightly column for BBC Future , about everyday brain quirks (as I’ve mentioned previously ). My marvellous editor has told me I can repost the columns here, with a three day delay. There’s a bit of a backlog, including Why can smells unlock memories? , Why you’re bad at names and good at faces , and Why we need to sleep? , but you’ll have to visit the site for them. The column from a month ago was on personal superstitions.
Mind Hacks
The conference entitled The Neurosciences and Music-IV: Learning and Memory was held at the University of Edinburgh from June 9–12, 2011, jointly hosted by the Mariani Foundation and the Institute for Music in Human and Social Development, and involving nearly 500 international delegates. Two opening workshops, three large and vibrant poster sessions, and nine invited symposia introduced a diverse range of recent research findings and discussed current research directions. In the reference below ( Altenmüller et al ., 2012) , the proceedings are introduced by the workshop and symposia leaders on topics including working with children, rhythm perception, language processing, cultural learning, memory, musical imagery, neural plasticity, stroke rehabilitation, autism, and amusia.
Music Matters
Science 2.0
Previous posts, examined possible plant cognitive functions with the Dodder’s parasitism and the complex ability plants have to communicate with other plants and fungi. More impressive are the elaborate abilities of plants to defend themselves. Traps and signals When an animal predator eats the leaves of a plant, some affected plants release chemicals within just five minutes to either repel the predator or trap them. In a now-famous experiment, people are told to carefully look for and count certain details of a performance.