Category Archives: Science and Medicine

To Lose Weight: Learn to Be Hungry

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Chris

It sounds like a joke: if you want lose weight, go hungry. But I’m serious. A lot of the obesity we see exists because our bodies have forgotten how to be hungry. We are designed to fast occasionally. Our bodies … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain Hacking, Diet and Exercise, Neuroscience and Psychology, Science and Medicine | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dopamine and Serotonin: Words and Music

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Chris

Serotonin has sometimes been called the “police officer” of the brain, regulating the action of other neurotransmitters like dopamine. But this seems to me to be not quite the right analogy. I think of serotonin as the mood music of … Continue reading →

Posted in Neuroscience and Psychology, Science and Medicine, Sleep | Leave a comment

Digital technologies and social networks will usher in the biggest shakeup medicine has ever seen

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Chris

Yesterday, Eric Topol, who is director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, CA,  spoke to members of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute about the transformative power of digital technology and social networks in medicine. He noted that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Current History, Science and Medicine | Leave a comment

Alcohol helps the brain remember

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Chris

I’m going to skip to what I found most remarkable about this news release from the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin: “People commonly think of dopamine as a happy transmitter, or a pleasure … Continue reading →

Posted in Neuroscience and Psychology, Science and Medicine, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How much would an exercise pill be worth?

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Chris

I recently went to a talk at Stanford by Kenneth Walsh of the Boston University School of Medicine, in which he spoke about his research on the molecular basis of obesity-linked cardiovascular disease. He did some fascinating experiments in which … Continue reading →

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Fountain of Youth

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Chris

I just went to a talk by Amy Wagers, who is a researcher at Harvard now but used to be at Stanford. She talked about work that she did with Stanford’s Tom Rando, putting young and old mice together so … Continue reading →

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