My laptop hard drive finally clicked it’s last clack last night. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to back it up this weekend when it was showing signs of trouble.
As a result, this blog may be a bit on the quiet side while my laptop is in the shop.
The latest edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon is being hosted by Pure Pedantry.
I’m glad to see that Chris Chatham’s excellent Dopamine for Dummies post made it in this edition.
Even though my spell checker still doesn’t recognize it as a word, polyamory has become real enough to be researched. A new article in New Scientist magazine entitled Love unlimited: The polyamorists discusses polyamory in general, interviews a San Francisco poly family, and discusses some of the research.
I’m not sure what’s up with the “polyamorists,” but other than that it’s overall a pretty good article. It’s definitely interesting to see science beginning to show some interest in the cultural phenomenon. [...]
My cousin, John Norris, who is both an excellent ceramics sculptor and student of biomedical informatics, sent me an email asking if I knew anything about Second Life and the new Healthinfo Island Consumer Health Information Library. I didn’t so I checked it out.
The Alliance Library System received a $40,000 grant last Nov to “provide consumer health information services in the virtual world of Second Life.” To quote from their announcement:
“This will allow us to provide important information in a virtual world whose citizens may not come or may not be able to reach a traditional library. For instance there is a group for stroke victims. In real life they may be physically limited. In Second Life, they can fly and be whomever or whatever they choose to be. There are no limits.”
Since I’m interested in online medical treatment and services, I thought I should check it out. So I made a Second Life account and signed on.
Dropping da neuroscience seems to have even gotten some street cred lately: a google search of “dopamine rap” pops up the hip hop artist Dopamine. His myspace profile boasts, “Dopamine is a neurochemical occuring naturally in the brain. It is responsible for movement and emotion, much like the music this artist creates.” Not exactly right, but I guess close enough for Myspace.
At least it’s a better description than the one Made With Molecules uses in describing their dopamine necklace: “love, passion & pleasure,” which annoyingly perpetuates the stereotype of dopamine as a pleasure chemical.
I can hear you all asking, “so if dopamine isn’t a pleasure chemical what is it? Cause dude I‚ÄîI mean a friend of mine‚Äîonce did some coke and said it was a blast!” The quick answer is that dopamine is involved in learning and the pleasure one feels is a secondary effect of the rewarding nature of the drug. The long answer is as overwhelmingly verbose as one would expect, and frankly no one really completely understands it yet. I can however give a slightly more informed yet still understandable version, which in the very least might help you seem smart at cocktail parties.
Let’s start by destroying a metaphor. You’re brain is not a bathtub with neuron spigots for neurochemicals labeled “happy” or “pleasure.” In fact, the chemicals themselves are valueless and are often used in rather unrelated sections of the brain and body. Dopamine is no different, but we’re just gonna focus on it’s function in the reward and learning system.
In the spirit of accessible and interesting approaches to science, I’ve constructed an little neuro-allegory entitled “The Shrine of Wa-King and the Dopa-monks”.
[...]
The 16th edition of the psychology and neuroscience writing carnival Encephalon is hosted on Mind Hacks
For those of you unfamiliar these writing carnivals are summaries and collections of some of the best and most recent neuro blog writings.