neuroBLOGical - Jordan Gaines

Featured - Smell and memory: old feelings in a new place

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 08:49:00 -0600

My friend texted me something today that she thought I'd find interesting. She had a meeting for work in an office she'd never entered before. Immediately as she entered the room, conflicting feelings of happiness and awkwardness washed over her. The smell. It wasn't necessarily good or bad—just distinctive. And it didn't smell like anything in particular. All she knew was ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - How stores trick our senses to make us buy more (Part 2 of 5: Sight)

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:26:54 -0600

The weekend before Christmas, I was sucked into a giant, enticing vortex of craving and desire, stuck for hours with the inability to leave—my only limitation being my wallet. In other words, I went to Target. And—again, in other words—I was like a bull in a China shop. Back in 2009, Target introduced new gigantic, plastic, Playskool-esque shopping carts. Maneuvering the aisles is like pa; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - How stores trick our senses to make us buy more (Part 1 of 5: Taste)

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 22:24:07 -0600

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me... ...a bunch of crap I really didn't need. With just sixteen shopping days until Christmas, it's easy to get roped into buying things we might not actually have on our gift list. Most times, we're conscious of our impulse purchases—there's a great sale on this! I'll use that later! But sometimes reasons for our f; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Give thanks this Thursday—and always

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:08:24 -0600

Sometimes our world can be pretty crappy. There's violence and crazy people. Maybe your candidate didn't win the election. Perhaps you hate your job, and that—on top of life's other personal, familial, and financial burdens—is wearing you down. Maybe you got to your morning coffee after it went cold, and that set off a bad tone for the rest of your day. If you're celebrat; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - "neuroBLOGical" turns 1!

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 23:27:05 -0600

A year ago today, I began this blog, "neuroBLOGical"! Having my blog hosted on LabSpaces has allowed me to interact with so many interesting, insightful, thoughtful, and questioning readers, scientists and non-scientists alike—which is exactly how I envisioned my audience when I set out to write about the latest neuroscience research and hot topics. And so, readers, I ask you for a sm; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

neuroBLOGical - Why are clowns scary?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:59:50 -0500

A couple weekends ago, I came down with coulrophobia. Unfortunately, I have yet to shake the disease. Because we are Halloween masochists, my friends and I drove out to the Lancaster area for Field of Screams, which can be best described as a horror-movie-set-haunted-house on steroids. Sprinting from room to room offers a completely new, dizzying experience, with different themes and sca; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Kids' willpower influenced by others' reliability

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:08:09 -0500

Think back to your childhood Halloween: 9pm, a school night, pillowcase full of candy. Just as you plunge into your pile of peanut butter cups, fun size this-and-thats, and spider rings (weren't they so exciting?), Mom ruins the party. "You can eat three. Then go brush your teeth and get ready for bed." Did you eat just three? Or did you sneak an extra Baby Ruth or two whe; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - It's that time of year again—support America's classrooms!

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:38:18 -0500

Every year around this time, science bloggers from all over unite as a single force (in a non-Twitter format, no less) at DonorsChoose.org. The science blogging networks engage in monetary battle, raising money to buy school supplies for needy classrooms across the country. This challenge runs until November 5.  Check out the various projects put forth by science bloggers&a; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Facebook-stalking your ex; or, how NOT to move on

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:26:29 -0500

Do you have an ex? Do you have a Facebook profile? Does your ex? Do you stalk your ex on Facebook? To the untrained eye, that photo of him eating dinner with...that girl...at Olive Garden is no big deal. But Olive Garden was our place, and—wait, is that the watch I got him? Oh, and it looks like he got into that grad school he wanted to go; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Sight without seeing: Balint's syndrome

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:10:53 -0500

Scientific literature is, to say the least, pretty dull. It's rife with redundant phrases, confusing methodologies, and tiny graphs. Reading page after page of long words in small font is better than any over-the-counter sleep aid out there for getting the job done. Occasionally, the rare gem will come along just when you least expect it, providing a readable (dare I say—enjoyable)&nb; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Catnip fever: why your cat acts high

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:26:17 -0500

There are few things in this world more entertaining than cats. Except for, perhaps, cats on catnip. Yes, "on" catnip. I speak of it like a drug, because it is. Sure, make a laser pointer dance around the room and you've got endless hours of entertainment. But give Mittens a little toy mouse infused with catnip and—well, something changes. Mittens will rub against the toy, rolli; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Paralyze your face, fight depression

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:48:53 -0500

I'm willing to bet you've made fun of the expression-less faces on heavily-Botoxed people. With their vanished crow's feet, missing smile lines, lack of forehead wrinkles, and paralyzed cheeks, eventually we just can't tell whether Botox abusers are happy, sad, angry, worried, or just plain crazy. We can only assume the latter.  As it turns out, this side effect may ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Superhero science: tapping into our super-strength with adrenaline

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:53:16 -0500

In 1982, Angela Cavallo of Lawrenceville, Georgia received the Mom of the Year Award. (Not a real award, but if it existed, she would probably win, hands down). Her son Tony was working on the suspension of his 1964 Chevy Impala when the car suddenly slipped off the jack and pinned him in the wheel well. Angela dashed outside to see her unconscious son trapped under the car. She yelled for a neig; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Chronic blushing: when it goes beyond embarrassment

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:28:33 -0500

A teacher calls on you when your hand isn't raised, and you feel the familiar sensation as your classmate's eyes immediately dart toward you. Mrs. So-and-So watches expectantly, smirking. A surge of blood races from your gut to your head and your cheeks become warm. Hot. A sheepish smile involuntarily follows. You know you're bright red, and that ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Turning trauma into story: the benefits of journaling

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:51:58 -0500

For me personally, June has proven to be a rather disappointing and fruitless month. Just when things began to look brighter, I was involuntarily assigned to be the middle vehicle in a double fender-bender two days ago, and my car now needs almost $1,000-worth of repairs. And as a perfect metaphor for the crappiness of the past month, for whatever reason I was not paid my stipend yesterday for t; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Ecstasy: "safe"?

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:39:17 -0500

Call me a prude, but I'm not so thrilled about the announcement made yesterday by British Columbia's top health official that ecstasy is "safe." Dr. Perry Kendall asserted yesterday that the health risks of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine—or MDMA, the active ingredient in the drug ecstasy—are exaggerated, and that pure ecstasy is not dangerous when consu; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

neuroBLOGical - Vote for me?! (3 Quarks Daily)

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:19:17 -0500

3 Quarks Daily is a pretty fascinating site. In essence, the site writers post interesting tidbits daily, from science to art to literature to current affairs—anything they find interesting. I encourage everyone to check it out if they haven't already.What I've been looking forward to most all year, however, is the 3 Quarks Daily 2012 Science Prize. And guess what? My blog p; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Narcolepsy: more than just falling asleep on the job

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:07:56 -0500

Check out this short video of "Rusty the Narcoleptic Dog." I was first introduced to Rusty in a video presented to my high school psychology class. As expected in a classroom full of teenagers, we erupted into a fit of laughter when the happy-go-lucky dachshund suddenly collapsed into a deep sleep. Gallup polls reveal that 56% of Americans complain that daytime drowsiness is a problem in their li; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - John Edward: my interview with a psychic medium

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:46:32 -0500

Just 12 hours after writing Tuesday's blog post about the neuroscience of psychics, mediums, and clairvoyants, I was contacted by psychic medium John Edward's media coordinator asking if I would be interested in interviewing him.It was about an hour ago right now that my phone was ringing: "Hi, is this Jordan? This is John Edward."A New York native, John is best known for his ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, and...neuroscience?

Tue, 29 May 2012 22:31:13 -0500

Seers. Mediums. Clairvoyants. Psychics. Telepathy. Prophesies. Paranormality. Hypnosis.I love it all—the hope that deceased loved ones are indeed still with us, in a way, bearing comforting messages. The mystery of things we can't prove or disprove. The excitement and freakishness when a psychic's prediction comes true, no matter how vague. Ghosts.But perhaps what I love most is how ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - My MRI experience

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:01:16 -0500

Today I participated in a brain imaging study! I laid in an MRI machine for 45 minutes and looked at pictures of chocolate while smelling chocolate odors. Tough life, right? (Hershey really is the sweetest place on Earth...even in the labs!) The MRI machine is rather big, rather loud (I wore headphones), and...rather claustrophobic—but it operates on a rather GENIUS principl; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - MS blog follow-up: immune-modulating therapies

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:18:33 -0500

I received an e-mail requesting that I write a follow-up to last week's blog post on multiple sclerosis (MS). I was asked to detail the immune-modulating therapies available for MS patients.As a neuroscientist, the purpose of my original post was to explain the basic neurology behind the disease: what myelin is, what happens to myelin during MS, and why lack of myelin results in th; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Multiple sclerosis: multiple perspectives

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:54:56 -0500

Montel Williams and 400,000 other Americans face it everyday. Richard Pryor was confined to a wheelchair in the last few years of his life because of it. Symptoms range from weakness to bladder problems to difficulty talking. Indeed, multiple sclerosis, or MS, is one of the most well-known yet mysterious neurological conditions we know about.MS and myelinMS is an inflammatory disorder affecting ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Science: why I do it AND write it

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:43:35 -0500

A random sample of Americans was polled a few years ago. The purpose of this poll was to gauge our population's knowledge and beliefs on human life and evolution. Religious beliefs aside, this statement particularly stood out to me:    There's no such thing as a genetic defect. All genetic changes result from the decisions of a God or Intelligent Force. A quarter of ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Careers

Featured - Clothes make the man—literally

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:54:02 -0500

In the sleep research lab where I'm currently completing my rotation, we are bringing back students for a follow-up study. Most of them don't seem to recall the uncomfortable beds or having electrodes pasted to their scalp from their baseline test, which was done back when they were in elementary school. (For our sake in recruiting participants, that's probably for the best.)Nowad; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Coffee: a caffeinated chronicle

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:59:51 -0500

The following is a story about a college girl named Jordan. Jordan blindly, exhaustedly, yet somehow successfully stumbled her way through college. In her final two years, she averaged 4 or 5 hours of sleep every night due to schoolwork, labwork, club responsibilities, and the dreaded 4:55 A.M. alarm for crew practice. She only drank one coffee, ever—a pumpkin spice latte—simply because th; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - The deadly neurotoxin that is Botox

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:11:12 -0500

Banish crow's feet. Plump up the lips. Tighten sagging jowls. All are very attractive options—particularly for the aging population, and particularly for those looking for a fast, relatively painless solution with little effort on our part.But did you know that Botox—the quick fix solicited by 6 million Americans each year and 75% of celebrities over the age of 35—is composed of the sa; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Using psychology to silence your enemies: the speech-jammer gun

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:05:08 -0600

Chances are you've been in a quiet, peaceful place, such as a library or work cubicle, concentrating intently on a task at hand, when suddenly someone's obnoxious ringtone goes off. That's bad enough. But then they answer it, and you're subjected to five or ten minutes of one-sided conversation, giggles, and abject, torturous curiosity. Don't you just; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Seeing into the future? The neuroscience of déjà vu

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:24:55 -0600

Even the most rational of us experience it: you'll be chatting with friends or exploring a place you've never been when suddenly a feeling washes over you: you've experienced this exact moment before. The familiarity is overwhelming, and it shouldn't be familiar at all. The sensation becomes stronger before ebbing, then completely leaves, all within a matter of seconds.&n; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Your love is my drug

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:08:47 -0600

For our first Valentine's Day a few years back, my boy got me chocolate brains! Not only does he know me extremely well, but he also had it right—love originates in the brain, not the heart.But what exactly is going on between the ears when those warm and fuzzy feeling wash over us? A new study out just in time for Chocolate Day reveals that love actually acts like an addictive drug. Hmmm; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Hemispatial neglect: a one-sided world

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:26:02 -0600

Check out the dog, Barley, in this video. Notice how he doesn't seem interested in the food on the left side of his bowl. Perhaps he's blind in his left eye? But that can't be the case. Close your left eye. You can still see much of your left visual field, and you'd certainly smell any food placed under your nose. And what dog is one to walk away without finishing their food?I; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Fur-iends with benefits

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:16:33 -0600

Apologies for the cheesy blog title. My brain for the past two weeks has been a whirlwind of—well, brains. I'm in a fairly intense five-week neuroanatomy class and my neurons have been abuzz with images of brain slice after brain slice—so much that transverse sections of the brainstem were beginning to resemble a pug's face. The wrinkly cerebellum was the forehead; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - The neuroscience of optimism: why we resolve (and believe) we'll be better

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:09:44 -0600

If you're within the 32% of Americans that made a resolution for 2012, chances are you're still going strong. Nearly a week in, you've been faced with the temptation, the test of willpower, and likely some teasing from loved ones. And you've only got 360 days left to call your resolution a success? Easy as pie...   Experimentally (and in real life; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Bad Christmas gifts: a neuroscientific gifting guide

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:21:17 -0600

Gift-giving isn't easy—particularly during the holidays, when there are so many different people for whom to buy. It's overwhelming and stressful, and people cope with the burden in different ways. Some, like myself, begin lists in September, all the while picking up hints from others and taking note, then making my purchases before Thanksgiving. Others rush to the mall the weekend b; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Why yawning is contagious

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:31:15 -0600

Check out the woman on the left and try not to yawn. Go on, give her a good ten seconds of your time. In the spirit of A Christmas Story, I triple-dog dare you. Really—try your absolute hardest not think about yawning as you read this post! C'mon, you know you can do it—you've been dared before, and you always fail miserably. NO YAWNING! Chances are you've already let ; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - The neuroscience of "Christmas Shoes"

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:58:53 -0600

Sir, I wanna buy these shoes for my mama, please. It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there's not much time... This little gem by New Song permeates the airwaves each year around this time, igniting tears and snickers alike in its listeners. We all know why the man agrees to buy the shoes for the boy—I mean, "his clothes were wo; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Agriculture

Featured - Lunacy by the full moon-acy: is it real?

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:49:36 -0600

When I was in elementary school, my teacher told my class that the full moon makes people crazy. She said it was caused by the gravitational tug of the moon on the Earth—the same forces that cause high and low tides—the argument being that our bodies are more than 60% water. I was impressionable and fascinated by weird science—who isn't at that age?—and have long since stored that "; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Mirror mirror on the wall, relieve me of pain once and for all

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:40:44 -0600

A very exciting event is happening as I type this: Neuroscience 2011, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. This nerd-tastic event attracts a bevy (over 30,000, to be more precise) of the best and brightest in brain research under one roof once a year. This year's meeting is in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately for me, I am not in attendance; but fortunately for myself; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Hippocampus (or should I say, elephant-campus)

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:31:52 -0500

I am always in awe of "unlikely animal friends," and there are plenty of these videos on YouTube from which to enjoy. This CBS Evening News Assignment America particularly interested me. Steve Hartman has reported two follow-ups since this 2009 feature about an unlikely friendship between Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog. The latest, which I caught when aired two ni; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience

neuroBLOGical - Welcome to neuroBLOGical!

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:22:09 -0500

Welcome to my new blog, neuroBLOGical! My name is Jordan, and I'm a 22-year old graduate student in the Neuroscience program at Penn State Hershey. I'm a native of the Baltimore area, and graduated from the beautiful St. Mary's College of Maryland in May with my Bachelor's in Biology and Neuroscience.  I have had an interest in neuroscience since 8th grade�; (read more)

Source: Jordan Gaines - Discipline: Neuroscience