OK YOU'RE SO CRAZY - OR ABOUT DOPAMINE

So, in the day of yesterday 50 people in the entire world lost 10 minutes to read my blog.
CRAZY!!
I haven't so many friends! I haven't got in my all life!!!

And so...
I know the yesterday preview was about something else but I'm an unpredictable person and so I just want to talk you about DOPAMINE

Many many many many many....many years ago I used to be a teenager. And like every teen I used to fall in love mmmmh 3/4 times a day. Now that I'm a serious grown up woman I rarely fall in love with everything, will tell you if it comes to men!

It's not my fault.
I'm not becoming a dry, sour and old ninnies. Maybe.
It'MY DOPAMINE fault.

Dopamine is both a neurotransmitter and neurohormone produced in several part of your brain.
When he (I think it's a male; It does so much mess that it has to be a male) act like a neurotransmitter is involved in the control of movements, the signaling of error in prediction of reward, motivation, and cognition.
When he act like a neurohormone is involved in sexual and affective approach, consumption, and addiction of every kind.
You can see the point by yourself, don't you?
Signaling of error and sexual approach is an oxymor

When you see someone that you think is good for you or simply you like a lot there are two physical effects always: increased heart rate and blood pressure.
Ok It's your hypothalamus that is saying to you GO AND MAKE A RUN ON THIS ROLLERCOASTER!
Do you think it's safe? I don't think so...
The explanation for this totally irrational behavior is in our biological evolution: we are still animals and the hypothalamus is there to remind us.
So for your animal brain is good to reproduct yourself with that person for the continuation of the species...or just for fun! (Take this creationists of my boots!)
The only consolation is while as a neurotrasmettiter he works all life, as neurohormone his strength diminishes with age

But Dopamine, or L-Dopa in his synthetic form, is also uses in medicine to cure a lot of brain desease like Parkinson, Tourette sindrome and so on.
I have to suggest to you a 1985's book that talks also about this type of medical cases: "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales" of Oliver Sacks.
Oliver Sacks is most well known for being the author of "Awakening" which was made into a film with Robert De Niro and Robbie Williams in 1990. In that book (and in the film) he talks about his own experience with catatonic patients treated with L-Dopa that "awake" from their state of catatonia.

This other book,



instead, is formed by 24 essays split. I don't want to tell you anything about this stories just because they're so amazing and so well written that they have to be read just as they are.
I just want to tell you that as catatonic people treated with L-dopa become very arty and full of life, Tourettic people, which lifes are full are chaos, become more calm and laid.
Mysteries of Dopamine.

So, recapping, I only want to advise you that:

1. Every stupid things you have done in your teenage life are justified, healthy and symptoms that you were wonderful animals in the thick of their strength
2. You can produce your own drugs that give you happiness without wasting your money.
3. In a biological way you're allow to be teens whenever you want

In conclusion GO FOR IT!!!

As always keep watch the stars. And go have sex under them.

bye, Elena

PS my own private resource of Dopamine come from this guy



but don't tell him I love you so much that hurts (DAMN DOPA!)

THE PHOTOGENIC BACTERIA

Three mounths ago I was in Milan with Mika (my physicist boyfriend) for the Roger Water's concert (yeah The wall...yeah it was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. but I want to do a next post about it).
We have found a street exhibition linked with "BrainForum", an annual forum about neuroscience.
It was called "The color of thought" and there were almost 30 panels with giant brain images compared to most famous last century painters modern art paintings.

Here some examples:


To the left of the image of a neuron. To the right of 'The Fountain' by Gustav Klimt (1909)


To the left brain damage. To the right 'Camouflage' by Andy Warhol (1987)


To the left growing astrocytes. To the right 'Red Plastic' by Alberto Burri (1961)

Pretty amazing, isn't it?
The tecnique they used for make these photos is called “Brainbow” technique and it works some ways like tv or computer monitor.
I try to explain: the colors in old monitors were formed by mixing three primary colors: cyan, magenta and yellow. In graphics is called Tri-color technique.
Actual monitors uses four-color process or more (adding for example green in the primary colors). It's the reason because when you try to run an old videogame the computer asks you to change the monitor resolution to 256 colours.

In neuroscience there was an old tecnique to "colour" brain cells invented by Camillo Golgi in 1873 but it allowed to color just feaw neuron at time.
The 256 video resolution.

This new tecnique, developed in the Spring of 2007 by a team led by Jeff W. Lichtman and Joshua R. Sanes, both professors of Molecular & Cellular Biology in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, consist in a genetic engineering stuff.

In substance they have modified the DNA of some mice with inserted fluorescence genes from coral, jellyfish and a bacteria called Cre(ahahah here we are...long long long speculation for a good title.)

And this fluorescents ints hundreds of brain cells at a time in about 90 various colors. And, most important, you can see how cells interact together. Instead of having a vision of just one cell within a circuit, you have a vision of the circuit itself.

Ok those are the good facts.
The bad ones are:
1. It works only with modified mice. No normal mice and mostly no human. Mh good point.
2. It costs a fortune. For see this wonderful pictures you've to buy several hundred thousands dollars fluorescent microscopes. Ok it's a problem.

My own speculations about this street exhibition are on the perspective of humanistic vision of it. I wonder how is possible that something that already exists in nature, although in tiny and hidden form, is visible an paintable for some genius artistic minds.
In some way it's like they paint what they have in their mind VISUALLY that unconsciously was what their mind was PHYSICALLY.

Keep thinking...
for now keep watch the stars. In your tiny and gorgeus brains.

TOMORROW PREVIEW: BEAT CANCER IN A BREATH

bye
Elena

link
http://www.brainforum.it/
http://espresso.repubblica.it/multimedia/fotogalleria/28671087
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7166/full/nature06293.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainbow

Hi :)

Hi everyone,
I'm Elena and I'm a nerd.
I'm so nerd that I'm interested in science facts (like physics, mathematics, biology and so on) even if my past studies and my all life have nothing to do with that.
I'm interested just because I'm curious like George :)
I'm also surround myself with science/nerd people so it's impossible for me to be safe.
I open this blog only to share with you some fun/interesting/atypical facts about scientific world that I've found here and there.
I think I've type the word "science" or similia so many times that this post is going to explode in 4 seconds.
For now...good night and watch the stars. As quick as you can.

TOMORROW PREVIEW: THE POTHOGENIC BACTERIA

bye,
Elena