Online Articles

So I have this lovely little toolbar called Stumble Upon. It's a great time waster but every once in awhile you can really come upon something truly interesting. Here are some articles I have read online in the last couple of days and why I found them so interesting. You'll also be able to find the link to each article next to the titles in case you find it interesting enough to go read for yourself.


The Benefits of Meditation link
By Anne Trafton
May 5, 2011


This really seems to be a hot topic in neuroscience studies right now, a lot of books are coming out on it (most notably Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson, a book I intend on getting around to one of these days if my stack of books ever manages to shrink a little). Anyway this article took the tone of how people who meditate are able to achieve alpha rhythms and maintain them a lot more easily than people who don't meditate at all. Alpha waves help make you better at focusing in part by allowing  you to better regulate how things that arise will impact you. Alpha waves flow through cells in the brains cortex where sensory information is processed. The alpha waves help suppress irrelevant or distracting sensory information. God the brain is cool. I really ought to start brushing up on my meditation if I'm ever going to get the 4.0 gpa I need to get into Emory.

Chinks in the Brain Circuitry Make Some More Vulnerable to Anxiety link
By Yasmin Anwar
February 9, 2011


This article is really interesting because the studies it refers to has found TWO different neural pathways that play a role in how we develop and overcome fears. The first pathway is an overactive amygdala, which is home to the brain's primal fight-or-flight reflex and plays a role in developing social phobias. The second involves activity in the ventral prefrontal cortex, which is a neural region that helps us to overcome our fears and worries. The study found that some participants were able to mobilize their ventral prefrontal cortex to reduce their fear responses even while negative events were taking place. Which is good news because there seems to be potential to train people who are not naturally good as doing so to be able to and thus help those who are chronically anxious or those living in dangerous or stressful situations. This is all great news because there have always been two ways of helping those with anxiety disorders, either by cognitive therapy or by drugs. And now scientists will be able to predict which treatment will be more effective depending on which of the two neural vulnerabilities the patient has.


New Neurons Help Us to Remember Fear link
By Robert Sanders
June 14, 2011

The discovery of neurogenesis (the process of creating new cells in the brain) in our hippocampus is surely old news by now. Although there is something we haven't been able to figure out yet; WHY does neurogenesis occur? Well a study recently done helps shed light on at least one reason, "The brain's emotional center, the amygdala, induces the hippocampus, a relay hub for memory, to generate new neurons...In a fearful situation, these newborn neurons get activated by the amygdala and may provide a 'blank state' on which the new fearful memory can be strongly imprinted." In Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson, the book I just finished, he talked for about a whole chapter on how its the amygdala that stores a second "rough" copy of fearful memories (generally called flashbulb memories) that collect a quick sketch of the situation and some contextual details surrounding the threat, and you may not be conscious of why but your amygdala will act up the next time you encounter a similar situation, even if its a non-threatening one (for example, the author talked about witnessing 9/11 and how ever since then he feels particularly anxious on days that have perfectly clear blue skies, even though its not a direct threat in any fashion that's his amygdala trying to tell him to be on the look out). So even though you're having a pleasant day and totally relaxed, your amygdala is still working and will sound the alarms if something similar to a previous threatening event happens. Its your own personal built in security team. And this article now explains that process a little bit more clearly on WHY we are able to, even though usually subconsciously, have such a clear memory response to similar events; because they are completely fresh neurons that have that memory imprinted on them for that exact purpose. 


Near-Death Experiences Explained link
By Benjamin Radford
September 23, 2011

I've always found this sort of thing fascinating, we are delving into why some people have "spiritual" experiences that turn out to have nothing to do with spirituality at all. "Near-death experiences are the manifestation of normal brain function gone awry, during a traumatic, and sometimes harmless event...In the book Dying to Live by Susan Blackmore she notes that many near-death experienes (such as euphoria and the feeling of moving toward a tunnel of white light) are common symptoms of oxygen deprivation in the brain." I particularly liked the words of Caroline Watt, "A survey has shown that 82% of individuals who have survived being actually near death do not report a near-death experience. That would seem to undermine the idea that these experience give a glimpse into life after death." Well said, sister.


Lasers Spark Breakthrough in Neuron Regeneration link
By Yang-Yi Goh
September 26, 2011

I highly suggest reading this article yourself, I have half a mind of just copying and pasting it all here. Its actually a very short read but cram-packed full of information and thought-provoking ideas (my kind of article!). But here goes the best recap I can manage: Lasers are able to build up the complex microscopic scaffolding that is needed to deliver and support lab-grown replacement cells. These lasers give scientists a whole new level of control and flexibility because of how much smaller and more intricate it is than existing scaffolding. In the cases of disease like Alzheimers the scaffolds could be harnessed as vehicles that deliver cells to damaged locations along the peripheral nerves, spinal cord and brain, and incite neural regeneration. HOW COOL! Apparently tissue engineering is where its at! The article says that they still believe they are another decade off from having this sort of technology readily available for everyone but its definitely making a lot of progress. It really just blows my mind how far we are coming as a species. And the rate of technology is improving at an accelerated rate, before you know it we will just never die unless we decide we are just tired of being alive.