I am registered for a class at Durham Tech this summer! I'm doing chem 2 (again), because I didn't do the labs at NCF. Labs are required for PA program admission, but not for a biological psychology AOC. I really wanted to do anatomy and physiology, but it filled up too quickly. It may be for the better though, because if I do it at UNC Chapel Hill ( Read more... )

I have become very frustrated with the automaton approach that neuroscience takes to the mind and mental illness.

We talk about different dysfunctions in terms of lack of communication between brain areas or lack of activity in several regions, such as the amygdala. We talk about cognitive deficits in such things as the "executive functions", which ( Read more... )

So I went to a lunch seminar on Thursday, like I usually do. I was flustered and frustrated, because I had just come from a very emotional discussion. I sat down with my slice of pizza, and I guess I was really going after that pizza. How do I know this? The guy next to me got up and brought me a napkin. Totally unprovoked. I guess my eating skills ( Read more... )

 
The weekend was great. I especially enjoyed making blue crabs and playing "Loaded Questions". It was great to see everyone. Alexis and I were poking and prodding the hapless crabs before we ate them. It turns out they bubble and foam, and making gurgling noises. It also turns out that if they are in a large group, and if you try to pick one up, ( Read more... )

 
Here is a picture of a candlestick, also clearly not a cat:


( Read more... )

I've been having all these weird software issues at work with some in-house imaging software we use. It's really esoteric stuff, and you just end up with these nasty long text files. So you don't always even know when something goes wrong ( Read more... )

I spent my day e-mailing the Duke Medical Center's Internal Review Board to convince them the laser inside the Nintendo Wii console, will not, in fact, kill anyone ( Read more... )

My art class has been very interesting. I think it is the only class I have ever taken where I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say  in class. I feel like I could at least ask somewhat intelligent questions in the majority of classes I took at New College. Oh no. Not at art class. I have never felt so out of my element before. I could ask ( Read more... )

 
I have been quite entertained by the things my phone thinks I'm trying to say.

When I start typing the word "say", it gives me "Sri". As in, Sri Lanka? Do enough people write about Sri Lanka to make it the first and only auto-complete choice? Or should we go the more esoteric route, using the word "Sri" as the equivalent of "sir" or "lord" in ( Read more... )

 I <3 socially clueless academics. On Wednesday, there is a journal club meeting. A guy is presenting a paper called "Slow Fluctuations in Attentional Control of Sensory Cortex". Here is the announcement.

Wednesday, Feb 17
DIBS Cognitive and Affective Control (CAC) Journal Club
Matt Cain will be presenting:
Paper:   Kam et al., Journal of Cognitive ( Read more... )