Biology 202 Web Paper 2

Diabetes has become a very common part of our vocabulary nowadays. We know that it is a disease caused by the malfunctioning of the pancreas and also the malfunctioning of receptors in our cells. We know that there is a high chance of getting hyperglycemia (too much sugar in the blood) or hypoglycemia (too little blood sugar), and that the disease can sometimes lead to mood problems if not taken care of. However, there are many other side effects. One is the numbing of the hands and feet, along with diminished eyesight, or even blindness. Another is the increased risk of dementia. A lot of these side effects are neurological and vascular, and due to there being a lack of something occurring, we can assume nerve death or at least damage.

Depression—also known as major depressive disorder or clinical depression—is most widely known a mental illness where the patient is so sad that he is unable to function normally in life (4).  A person suffering from depression displays signs of hopelessness, worthlessness, helplessness, and restlessness (1).  Pessimism and insomnia are common symptoms, as well as appetite gain or loss (1).  Apathy and loss of interest in once-fun activities are also ways to spot depression (4).  However, where is the fine line between a mere case of the blues and a serious depressive disorder?

As human beings, by simple virtue of existing in the world, we are in a constant state of aesthetic appraisal. We engage reality in a dialogue through the use of our senses, perceiving external stimuli and assigning values to each input (whether consciously or not) through a reward mechanism. Of particular interest is the way in which this mechanism is employed in the appreciation of visual art. Through the use of neuroimaging technology scientists are beginning to understand how the brain encounters and creates art. This study, known as neuroesthetics, sheds light on why art has been so prevalent and valued over the course of human history and raises questions concerning the nature and future of art.

Desmond Hubbard

Tuesday, April 14th

NeuroBiology and Behavior

 

Moral Emotions v. Rationality

 

Like most typical girls, I grew up watching Disney movies, which consisted primarily of princesses finding their true loves and living happily ever after. I watched these movies and played “house” while thinking to myself that one day I would find my own prince charming, and live happily ever after just like the princesses I grew up admiring. In addition to the Disney movies that initiated my thoughts of finding true love, learning about the concept of “soul mates” added to my belief that I was destined to be with someone. Plato presents a theory of soul mates in his philosophical dialogue, Symposium. He describes humans as originally having four arms and

“Written on the [brain] is a secret code only visible in certain lights: the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like Braille.” (1)

In this paper, I would like to explore the origin of the writing on the human brain from a neurobiological perspective.  Neurobiology can provide us with information about the material nature of the brain.  After developing an understanding of the brain, I would like to consider the implications for learning and teaching. 

Jonah Lehrer, in Proust was a Neuroscientist, suggests that Marcel Proust, in his
writing, predicted the, “instability and inaccuracy of [long-term] memory…” [1]. Before
the dawn of the 21st century, neuroscience suggested that memory, valuable pieces of
information, were archived in a structure in the brain, such as the lateral and basal nuclei
of the amygdala.  In 2000, research on rats with fear conditioning and a protein inhibitor
showed that the act of remembrance (reactivation) in fact changed the molecular
underpinnings of the memory by making the memory ‘labile’ once again [2].  Therefore,
new protein synthesis at the synapse was needed to ‘reconsolidate’ the information to

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