Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has a bad reputation, due in part to the graphic media portrayals we see in films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and A Beautiful Mind, and probably also in part to an innate distaste for the idea of receiving electrical shocks to the brain. Despite the popular... Read more →

You know the scenario. You are standing at a family get together lost in thought about a stressful situation in your life when a family member approaches and with a worried tone asks, “What’s wrong?” Did you know that subconsciously they are reading the facial signals you are displaying?... Read more →

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 10 to 15 percent of the U.S. population, predominately women, and can produce severe abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits. No physical abnormalities can be identified on examination, and patients are often left with suboptimal symptomatic treatments... Read more →

Welcome to the thirty-third edition of Encephalon. We at Brain Blogger are honored to host this neuroscience blogging carnival. We received many quality posts that we have included below. Enjoy your readings; you will certainly learn a great deal! Read more →  Read More →

We needed a truthful account of how cigarettes have become the highest selling addictive drug in the history of the human race, lawfully. Alan Brandt, Harvard Professor of History of Medicine and Science, and author of the recently published “The Cigarette Century - The Rise, Fall, and Deadly... Read more →

A researcher at the University of Buffalo’s Institute of Addictions won a five year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the role of “endocannabinoids” (the brain’s own marijuana) in combating stress and anxiety, an integral part of modern... Read more →

The reason why chronic pain is chronic appears to be linked to its persistent memory in the prefrontal cortex. A new study by Dr. Vania Apkarian, professor of physiology and anesthesiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, shows that treatment with a drug called D-cycloserine,... Read more →