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Festering Brain Infection–Piercing the Illusion of Safety
She was young and wild, a bit of a rebel. The 22-year-old woman’s body art announced that message as subtly as a billboard on a highway. No stranger to illegal drugs, she had inhaled or injected the worst of them, including cocaine and heroin. But recently she had turned a corner. Last month she…
Read MoreKillers–Is Captivity Driving Killer Whales Mad?
Is Captivity Driving Killer Whales Mad?
Read MoreSleeplessness in PTSD—Don’t Get Your Blood Pressure Up
The horrible nightmares. An American soldier serving in Iraq reaches out for support in his recent website post. “Last night I dreamed I was flying in a Blackhawk to another FOB and blood was covering the seats and the floor of the bird. There was so much that I was scooping it…
Read MoreThe Mystery Mark of Cancer
Brain cancer can be one of the most deadly forms of the disease, but all cancers are the result of uncontrolled cell division. Could all cancers share a common failure in the way genetic material is processed? Mysterious spots have been discovered in the nucleus of cells that marks them as being cancerous and…
Read MoreDyslexic Neurons
According to French neuroscientist, Dr. Stanislas Dehaene, it is not surprising that some readers have difficulty reversing letters when they read, the particular neurons we must use for reading are designed to be “dyslexic”. In the natural environment this left/right scrambling of objects is an asset, but to read we humans must re-train a part…
Read MoreNew Hypothesis for Acupuncture: Interview with Prof. Geoffrey Burnstock
How can poking needles into the body soothe pain? At an international meeting in Fukuoka, Japan this summer, Professor Geoffrey Burnstock of the University College London presented a new hypothesis, which he discussed with me in the recorded interview I invite you to hear. The meeting was organized by Prof. Kazuhide Inoue, of…
Read MoreGlia and Chronic Pain
From the November 2009 Scientific American Magazine | New Culprits in Chronic Pain Glia are nervous system caretakers whose nurturing can go too far. Taming them holds promise for alleviating pain that current medications cannot ease By R. Douglas Fields Helen’s left foot slipped off the clutch on impact, twisting her ankle against the car’s…
Read MoreBrain Damage from High Altitude Mountaineering
Are the Mountains Killing Your Brain? Alarming new science shows that thin air can wreck brain cells—at lower altitudes than you’d think. Here’s how to protect yourself. Douglas Fields “YOU HAVE TO BE poco loco to be a climber,” says Dr. Nicholás Fayed. A neuroradiologist at the Clinica Quirón de Zaragoza, in northern Spain, Dr.…
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