Notes of Ranvier - Cynthia McKelvey

Featured - MDMA and "Drugs Live: The Ecstasy Trials"

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:03:40 -0500

It's been a while. Last summer, I became inspired to write an article about the potential benefits of the club drug, MDMA, otherwise known as Ecstasy or Molly. The blog post got turned into an article for my alma mater's science magazine, The Synapse, and was published a few months ago. With permission, I am cross-posting it here. A quick life update for anyone who is interested will b; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - The Unsung Scientist, Louis-Antoine Ranvier

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:25:15 -0500

To many who read this blog, Notes of Ranvier is a title that probably evokes no thoughts of science or history. There is a backstory to the name, however, and a reason why I chose it as the title. Notes of Ranvier is meant to be a play on words referring to the nodes of Ranvier, anatomical structures in certain types of neurons that have a myelin sheath. Every neuron has a long projectio; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Ranvier Returns

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:02:08 -0500

Hey everyone! I just wanted to write this to explain my absence. In the last few weeks I left my job at the lab and decided to move back home to Ohio. I did this because I wanted more time to focus on what I really want to do, which is to write about science. The first step in that process, after the move, was to attend the science writer's workshop in Santa Fe, NM. I learned a lot there and; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Careers

Featured - Salty Penguins Filter Salt Out Their Nose

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:02:05 -0500

The Venture Brothers season 1, episode 5, via [adult swim]   Why yes, penguins do have an organ that converts sea water into fresh water! Except it's not an organ, it's a gland. And it doesn't directly convert sea water to fresh water, it filters salt from the blood.   Hm, maybe I should start from the beginning.   (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Animals

Featured - Neuromagicology: At the Intersection of Art and Science

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:49:25 -0600

We all know how the cameras in our phones are only so good. The photos look grainy and the colors washed out. Compared to the naked eye, phone cameras don't seem to compare.   Well actually, the camera in your smartphone is 2 1/2 times better than your eye! In other words, if the resolution on your phone camera is 5 megapixels, the processing power of your eyes roughly equ; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - The Advantage of Being Cute

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:25:38 -0600

Most people would agree that babies are pretty damn cute. Put a grown man or woman in a room with an infant, and all bets are off, that baby is getting 100% of that man or woman's attention. Wild horses could not stop most people from cooing a baby, yet we don't usually question why. The truth?   Carolyn McGraw   That baby is pretty much helple; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Psychology

Featured - Blindsight and Consciousness, what can we learn from the blindsighted?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:54:33 -0600

If there were ever a perfect example of an oxymoron, the term blindsight would be it. Other than the best oxymoron ever, what is blindsight?  Alan Cowey, in his 2010 review article, The blindsight saga, describes it as such:   It is the ability of patients with absolute, clinically established, visual field defects caused by occipital cortical damage to det; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Can woodpeckers help us design better helmets?

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:37:51 -0600

Despite being one of the more annoying animals, woodpeckers are actually pretty cool when you consider how well they're designed for what they do.  Their feet have two toes in front and two in back to better grip vertical surfaces.  Their stiff tails act like a third leg to balance themselves against the tree (or building) that they're pecking.  But what' (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Zoology

Featured - Home for the holidays! How pigeons use their sense of smell to find their way home.

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:34:19 -0600

Happy holidays, everyone!  It's a time of eating lots of delicious food, spending time with friends and family, and celebrating long-held traditions.  For many, it's also a time of finding their way back home, whether it's in the town where they grew up, or in the company of loved ones (or both).  This also means that for many, it's a time of airports; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Animal Behavior

Featured - Gender-Bending in the Animal Kingdom

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:24:42 -0600

An article in the New York Times this week inspired me to write about my favorite animal of all time, the cuttlefish.   :D   Cuttlefish are cousins of squids and octopuses.  They're not native to the Americas (which is why many American readers may have never heard of them before), but they are common virtually everywhere else; (read more)

Source: Cynthia McKelvey - Discipline: Animal Behavior