-
Oxytocin and parenting behaviour
An article in Neuropsychopharmacology has prompted this post (it's free access I think, but weirdly, the accompanying commentary requires a subscription ( Read more... ) -
Good news
I've now been on maternity leave for two months, and N is one month old ( Read more... ) -
Benoit Mandelbrot
RIP Benoit Mandelbrot, who coined the term 'fractal' and for whom the Mandelbrot Set, which gives rise to such beautiful images, is named.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6006/926.full
( Read more... ) -
Neuroimmunology, or immunoneurology?
Rapamycin is an immunosuppressant drug used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients. It was isolated from the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopius on Easter Island or Rapa Nui, hence its name (see pic of commemorative plaqueRapamycin binds to a protein called mTOR which blocks T- and B- immune cell activation. However, mTOR also regulates ( Read more... ) -
You really do learn something new every day
Today's novelties:
Gantt charts: who's heard of these? Apparently they are useful tools for project planning. To me, those kind of words suggest corporate psychology and buzzwords, which are kind of offputting, though aspects of corporate psychology are interesting in their own right, like the Myer-Brigg test. ENTJ ( Read more... ) -
Travel!
I've received a travel award to attend the CINP Major Psychoses and Substance Abuse conference in Edinburgh in April. http://cinp.org/index.php?id=64Read more... ) -
Good news
Hello! My, it has been awhile. I'm not sure whether it's good anymore that this journal is separate to my main one - initially I thought most LJ friends wouldn't want to read lengthy tracts about science so I separated my work stuff over here. But occasionally I have some generally good news that happens to be related to work, and I end up wanting ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
You know when you have dreams about something at work? The other night I dreamed that someone was helping me with my immunohistochemistry and had placed my tissue slices in concentrated hydrochloric acid instead of physiological buffer solution. I am about to work with these tissue slices today and I really really hope that doesn't happen... -
RIP Billy Martin
Billy Martin was a pharmacologist who, among other things, established a lot of the basic understanding of the behavioural properties of THC and other plant-derived, synthetic and endogenous cannabinoids. He was admired and respected by my PhD supervisors, and his senior collaborator Aron Lichtman marked my PhD thesis. Billy had not been well for ( Read more... ) -
Journal club writeup
L started a journal club for our floor which is a good initiative. The floor is loosely linked by people doing neuroscience research but very few work in behavioural neuroscience. Today was my turn and I just wanted to write down the gist of what we discussed.
This is the article I chose: Marquis et al (2008) Neonatal ventral hippocampus lesions ( Read more... )
