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Your Brain in Love

Your Brain in Love
Men and women can now thank a dozen brain regions for their romantic fervor. Researchers have revealed the fonts of desire by comparing functional MRI studies of people who indicated they were experiencing passionate love, maternal love or unconditional love. Together, the regions release neuro­transmitters and other chemicals in the brain and blood that prompt greater euphoric sensations such as attraction and pleasure. Conversely, psychiatrists might someday help individuals who become dan­gerously depressed after a heartbreak by adjusting those chemicals. Passion also heightens several cognitive functions, as the brain regions and chemicals surge. “It’s all about how that network interacts,” says Stephanie Ortigue, an assistant professor of psychology at Syracuse University, who led the study. Graphics by James W.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-in-love-graphsci/

Whether "Beast" or "Virus" Metaphor Is Powerful Stuff Let's say that we are comparing cities we have visited or would like to visit, and I mention one that I have not yet been to but you have. You say, "It's a massive, stinking cesspool filled with garbage and crawling with every form of filth imaginable." Immediately my mind conjures an image of a filthy retention pond covered with scum, loaded with trash, and lousy with rats and roaches. How close the metaphor you have chosen is to actually describing the city is debatable, but in the few minutes we are speaking this doesn't really matter. What matters is that you have provided the metaphorical rudiments for me to construct an image that is now schematically associated with the city in my mind. One day I may visit that city and determine that your metaphor was inaccurate, or I may conclude that it was dead on right.

10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies Ten of the most influential social psychology experiments. “I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures.Why do good people sometimes act evil?Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?” –Philip Zimbardo Like eminent social psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo (author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil), I’m also obsessed with why we do dumb or irrational things. David Brooks, Neuroendocrinologist David Brooks, Neuroendocrinologist Having digested Leonard Sax on "the emerging science of sex differences", David Brooks has been continuing his education in neuroscience by reading Louann Brizendine's The Female Brain ("Is Chemistry Destiny?" 9/17/2006): These sorts of stark sex differences were once highly controversial, and not fit for polite conversation. And some feminists still argue that talking about biological differences between the sexes is akin to talking about biological differences between the races. But Brizendine’s feminist bona fides are unquestionable.

Microscopic Images of Alcoholic Drinks All of these impressive photos of alcoholic beverages under a microscope uncover the elements that make up some of our preferred tipples. Similar to photos of snowflakes, each and every beverage is unique, while observed below when zoomed about 1, 000 times under a high tech lab microscope. Created by United States company Bevshots, these are available as artworks for potential buyers which recognize the concealed beauty of alcoholic beverages. Catching the small elements that define most popular drinks such as vodka, pina colada and Chablis.

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Making memories last: Prion-like protein plays key role in storing long-term memories Memories in our brains are maintained by connections between neurons called "synapses." But how do these synapses stay strong and keep memories alive for decades? Neuroscientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a major clue from a study in fruit flies: Hardy, self-copying clusters or oligomers of a synapse protein are an essential ingredient for the formation of long-term memory. The finding supports a surprising new theory about memory, and may have a profound impact on explaining other oligomer-linked functions and diseases in the brain, including Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases. Si's investigations in this area began nearly a decade ago during his doctoral research in the Columbia University laboratory of Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel. A portion of the structure is self-complementary and -- much like empty egg cartons -- can easily stack up with other copies of itself.

40 Photo-Illustrated Questions to Refocus Your Mind Asking the right questions is the answer… It’s not the answers you get from others that will help you, but the questions you ask of yourself. Here are 40 thought-provoking questions to help you refresh and refocus your thinking: Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

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