Monday, October 26, 2009
Long Time No Blog
I guess the immediacy of Facebook has drawn me away from the ol' Blog. Sorry about that.
I had my first piece published by the CSUEB alumni magazine recently. It's about Assistant Professor Nidhi Mahendra's work with Alzheimer's Disease patients. Hope you like it.
I had my first piece published by the CSUEB alumni magazine recently. It's about Assistant Professor Nidhi Mahendra's work with Alzheimer's Disease patients. Hope you like it.
Labels: clips, neuroscience, writing
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Brain Tumor News from Seattle
Dr. Greg Foltz at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle is doing some interesting work around genetic mapping of brain tumors. A thorough article from the Seattle Times (reprinted by PhysOrg.com) talks about how he's approaching the disease in a number of creative ways. Some big guns (including Mitchel Berger, Jane's surgeon at UCSF, and Henry Friedman of Duke) are quoted in the article. A snippet:
The article also says that Dr. Foltz gives all of his patients his cell phone number, which is pretty cool; brain surgeons can be kind of aloof. The article's well worth a read. Maybe we Norwegians and the Swedes can get along after all.
Foltz and his colleagues genetically map each tumor they remove or biopsy, examining 30,000 genes to determine which are switched off or on. The pattern can reveal genetic glitches responsible for a specific cancer's runaway growth. Such mapping is done at major brain-cancer centers for select patients such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., recently diagnosed with brain cancer.
Foltz does it for every patient, free of charge.
The article also says that Dr. Foltz gives all of his patients his cell phone number, which is pretty cool; brain surgeons can be kind of aloof. The article's well worth a read. Maybe we Norwegians and the Swedes can get along after all.
Labels: brain tumor, health, Jane, medicine, neuroscience, technology
Monday, June 16, 2008
People Like Brain Images
I've looked at my fair share of brain MRIs and even played with OsiriX. Turns out I'm not the only person who finds neuroscience and brain imaging compelling.
A study, blogged about at Cognitive Daily, says that brain images make science articles more compelling to readers.
The article's interesting and compelling. The comments are also worth reading; get ready for the advent of neuromarketing.
A study, blogged about at Cognitive Daily, says that brain images make science articles more compelling to readers.
Not long ago we discussed work led by Deena Skolnick Weisberg showing that most people are more impressed by neuroscience explanations of psychological phenomena than plain-old psychology explanations. Talking about brains, it seems, is more convincing than simply talking about behavior, even when the neuroscience explanation doesn't actually add any substantive details.
The article's interesting and compelling. The comments are also worth reading; get ready for the advent of neuromarketing.
Labels: language, marketing, neuroscience, psychology, science
