This article is a much needed one in the field of neurology and psychiatry. I’ve seen so much hype over the human connectome project. I’m fairly excited about it too. However it’s important that we tread lightly on this subject and don’t over hype it. Allegations have been said that visualizing a connectome will allow us to predict the actions or thoughts of human beings. This concept is wrong on so many levels. However I must disagree with the article when it states that funding this project is a waste of time. the human connectome project is essential for the development of neurology and psychiatry as a whole. imaging micro scale connections is vital for understanding underlying mechanisms essential to the field of psychiatry, advancements in this process may improve the effectiveness of prescription. This due to the fact that the main problem that surrounds the field of psychiatry is the fact that most drugs (such as antidepressants) only account for one mechanism of action, whereas diseases such as biologically based depression have many different mechanisms of occurring. Similarly, neurology can be greatly improved considering that the field of neurology is based on the study of brain structures and tissues.

oneheadtoanother:

Connectomics is about the full capturing, mapping, and understanding of how the brain works, starting with a map of which neurons connect to each other (what’s called the “connectome”), plus some critical molecular features of the 1,000 or so synapses (bridges) each neuron makes to others (the “synaptome”) and perhaps, a few learning-based changes in gene-protein networks in the nucleus of each neuron (the “epigenome”), which is believed to interact with our synapses in a way that’s still a bit beyond our understanding.

scipsy:

Retina (via Weimbs Laborator)

Fun Fact of the night:

The retina works very similarly to how pixels in a computer work, in the sense that each nerve cell makes on speck of a color, (we have millions of retinal cells).  There are two types of retinal cells cones and staves.  Cones sense color, there are three types of cones: Red, Green and Blue (Yep RGB, just like a pc) They each sense a specific color, when a specific wavelength hits the cells they activate an send a signal (all colors come from a variation of these three).

Then theres Staves, rounder cells that show us brightness and depth, you can hardly make out a picture using only ur cones, but without it, we would only see in 2d and colors would blend less.

:P 

WORDS CANNOT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE BEAUTY OF THIS PHOTO!
IT WILL REMAIN UN-DESCRIBED! 
D: 

(Source: excisions, via articulomortis)

dancekasiadance:

I just can’t get over brains. They are so cool. People take that for granted a lot, I think. Right now I can think about myself typing this post and realize that thoughts are being produced in my brain and nearly simultaneously my brain’s sending a signal all the way through all its pathways and…

SOMEBODY GETS ME!

progressivehumanity:

Using MRI scans, researchers have found 12 hubs of extraordinarily dense connections in the brain that are all tied together. Now they want to figure out why this special network exists.

:D Amazing isn’t it?

Now researchers at UCLA have identified the group of neurons that mediates whether light arouses us — or not. Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and colleagues report in the current online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience that the cells necessary for a light-induced arousal response are located in the hypothalamus, an area at the base of the brain responsible for, among other things, control of the autonomic nervous system, body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue — and sleep.

These cells release a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, Siegel said. The researchers compared mice with and without hypocretin and found that those who didn’t have it were unable to stay awake in the light, while those who had it showed intense activation of these cells in the light but not while they were awake in the dark.

…

In the current study, researchers examined the behavioral capabilities of mice that had their hypocretin genetically “knocked-out” (KO mice) and compared them with the activities of normal, wild-type mice (WT) that still had their hypocretin neurons. The researchers tested the two groups while they performed a variety of tasks during both light and dark phases.

Surprisingly, they found that the KO mice were only deficient at working for positive rewards during the light phase. During the dark phase, however, these mice learned at the same rate as their WT littermates and were completely unimpaired in working for the same rewards.

Consistent with the data in the KO mice, the activity of hypocretin neurons in their WT littermates was maximized when working for positive rewards during the light phase, but the cells were not activated when performing the same tasks in the dark phase.

“The findings suggest that administering hypocretin and boosting the function of hypocretin cells will increase the light-induced arousal response,” Siegel said. “Conversely, blocking their function by administering hypocretin receptor blockers will reduce this response and thereby induce sleep.”

Further, Siegel noted, “The administration of hypocretin may also have antidepressant properties, and blocking it may increase tendencies toward depression. So we feel this work has implications for treating sleep disorders as well as depression.”

(Source: curiousgirl)