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Bouncing off the wall
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Some students go to great – and often curious – lengths to maximize their studying time before finals.After countless semesters and multiple rounds of rounds of finals, I'm confident I've seen it all when it comes to crazy, odd or just plain absurd study methods. Well, almost all. I'm sure some of you fellow Biology Forums members out there have some interesting stories. There was the kid across the hall freshman year who Aderol'ed himself into a 36-hour sleepless stupor. Don't take Aderol… just don't. Then there's the classic (and much more popular) I'm-going-to-go-to-sleep-at-4-and-wake-up-at-5 method that is meant to secure some semblance of sanity. There are the library residents, the library frequenters, the casual library users and the kid ...
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1347 |
bio_man |
7 years ago |
Watch this rare footage of a housewife on LSD
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Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a recreational, psychedelic drug that alter awareness of the surroundings, perceptions, and feelings, as well as sensations and images that seem real though they are not. LSD works by binding primarily to the dopamine receptors and adrenal receptors in the brain. It also binds to most of the serotonin receptors. The binding process is believed to overstimulate the natural neurotransmission process, activating the receptors and altering thought and perceptions. Though medical researchers have not scientifically proven how this process alters consciousness, they are certain about the binding process which links hallucinogenic chemicals to receptors and disrupts neurotransmission between receptors and parts of ...
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3647 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Heavy marijuana users produce less dopamine
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For the first time, scientists have discovered a link between heavy marijuana use and reduced dopamine production. Just so you know, dopamine is the hormone/neurotransmitter that is released during any kind of satisfaction - it's the same hormone that is released in your brain when you eat chocolate. In a recent study, lower dopamine release was found in the striatum - a region of the brain that is involved in working memory, impulsive behavior, and attention, in addition to subregions involved in associative and sensorimotor learning, and in the globus pallidus. Previous studies have shown that addiction to other drugs of abuse, such as cocaine and heroin, have similar effects on dopamine release, but such evidence for cannabis was mis ...
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4389 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Hair loss no more - a promising treatment for baldness
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Isn't it strange, two FDA-approved drugs - topical ruxolitinib or tofacitinib - can reawaken dormant hair follicles! According to the study, within 3 weeks, mice that received topical ruxolitinib or tofacitinib had regrown nearly all their hair (right photo; drug was applied only to the right side of the mouse). Little to no hair growth occurred in control mice during the same timeframe (left photo). According to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth. These drugs, known as JAK inhibitors have been approved to treat blood diseases (ruxolitinib) and the other for rheumatoid arthritis (tofacitinib). Both are being tested ...
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20591 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Why do drugs like MDMA make you feel happy?
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This video explains it quite well. The key hormone in question is serotonin. Serotonin is known to play a role in depression. Low serotonin levels are believed to be the reason for depression and associated symptoms of anxiety, apathy, fear, feelings of worthlessness, insomnia and fatigue. The opposite is true when a high-level of serotonin is present, you feel jovial and enthusiastic. MDMA promotes the formation of this hormone. ...
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11151 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Apparently Ibuprofen helps you live longer - not my words
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Good news for pain-pill poppers: Ibuprofen (found in Advil) may help you live longer. A new study shows that it increases life span in lab organisms, raising the possibility it does the same thing in people. To put ibuprofen through its paces, biochemist Michael Polymenis of Texas A&M University, College Station, and colleagues gave yeast, nematode worms, and fruit flies doses of the drug that are comparable to what humans would take. The life spans of all three types of organisms increased if they received ibuprofen, the researchers report today in PLOS Genetics. In yeast, for instance, ibuprofen stretched life span by 17%, half of what researchers can produce by cutting the cells’ food supply (another approach to increasing longevity). ...
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12883 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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7488 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Trippy mushrooms
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Users of magic mushrooms often report altered states of consciousness and a synesthesia-like melding of the senses. Now, scientists may have figured out why: Psilocybin changes the brain’s wiring, creating a hyperconnected brain that contains links between regions that don’t normally communicate with each other. Communication between brain networks in people given psilocybin (right) or a non-psychedelic compound (left). ...
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6096 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Super strong immune system
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Pandas produce a super powerful antibiotic that kills bacteria and fungi. The substance is released by the panda’s immune system to protect them from catching infections in the wild. Researchers are trying to decode the substance’s makeup as it could be used to develop treatments against drug-resistant superbugs.
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7832 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Legalize puffer pots!
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Puffer fish release a toxin to protect themselves from predators, but dolphins have figured out how to make the fish release just the right amount and use it to get high and enter in what seems to be a trance-like state. “They [dolphins] began acting most peculiarly, hanging around with their noses at the surface as if fascinated by their own reflection,” said one of the researchers.
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5472 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Don't try this at home
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A ganzfeld experiment is a technique used in the field of parapsychology to test individuals for extrasensory perception (ESP). It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce the ganzfeld effect, an effect similar to sensory deprivation.The ganzfeld effect has been utilized in many studies of the neuroscience of perception, not only parapsychology. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive to inwardly generated impressions.The technique was devised by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s as part of his investigation into the gestalt theory. ...
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8254 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Oreo cookies are more addictive than cocaine
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 Researchers have found that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine, at least for lab rats. According to the new study, eating the black and white cookies activated more neurons in the rat brain’s pleasure centre than drugs such as cocaine.
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3564 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Things that happen to spiders while on drugs
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During this experiment, spiders were exposed to a variety of drugs to help determine their effect on the brain. Spiders who had been given marijuana started out well enough, but were unable to maintain focus. Benzedrine (speed) produced spiders who spun enthusiastically, though no great thought or care was put into the web design. Caffeine, one of the most common stimulants taken by humans, produced an erratic web. Chloral hydrate, an ingredient in sleeping pills, made the spiders doze off after barely getting started on the web. Though this 1995 experiment sought to determine toxicity of drugs, it was a continuation of experimentation of spiders on drugs that had started in 1948 by P. N. Witt. ...
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3404 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
New weed that won't get you high sure to bum out stoners
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Sad news, stoners. Scientists in Israel have cross-bred a new type of medical marijuana that essentially removes the dopey, high-inducing properties from it — basically, it's pot that won't get you stoned. Researchers with Tikun Olam have meticulously cross-bred their medical pot to eliminate most of the psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) properties from it; instead, the cannabis has a high concentration of cannabidiol (CBD), a potent anti-inflammatory. The result is a substance that's great for woozy-free pain relief, terrible for stoners trying to get high. ...
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3102 |
duddy |
12 years ago |
Turn the taste of sour to sweet with these natural tablets
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By themselves, miracle berries do not taste like much. The reason to eat them is that they contain a chemical called miraculin that binds to the sweet taste receptors on your tongue, changing their shape and making them respond to sour and acidic foods. The upshot of this effect is that some things you eat taste spectacularly different. Straight Tabasco sauce tastes like donut glaze. Guinness tastes like a chocolate malt. Goat cheese tastes like cheesecake. After about an hour of craziness, your taste buds go back to normal, no harm done. ...
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5402 |
duddy |
12 years ago |
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