NBS Senior Seminar

Our decision to discuss animal research arose from several questions that we think are important to consider, as scientists who have used, or might use, animal models at some point in our career. First, we wondered who is in charge of the regulation of lab animals. Who is keeping track of the numbers, and who monitors the treatment of these lab animals? Secondly, we wanted to investigate the written legal restrictions on use of animals in scientific research. Where is the line drawn between what is acceptable to do to an animal and what isn’t?

Anesthesia and Consciousness

 

Gender and Sexuality Differences in the Brain:Should we study them?

Kara BrownApril 21, 2008            

Psychosomatic symptoms refer to a mind (psych) and physical body (soma) relationship. Illnesses of psychosomatic nature are caused by mental processes of the sufferer rather than physiological causes. This mind-body dialogue is powerful and is instrumental in both health and diseased states. Perhaps there is a mental aspect to every physical disease, and this possibility has important implications for the way we diagnose, treat and study sickness.

What is consciousness?

We first stumbled upon the topic of “The Science of Romantic Love” when we saw the Time Magazine cover from January 28, 2008. This was Time Magazine’s topic of choice for their annual mind and body special issue. At first, we were unsure if the science of romance would be a suitable topic for our Neural and Behavioral Sciences Senior Seminar because of its pop culture nature. However, the topics we encounter in daily life and in pop culture, such as love, can serve as very stimulating topics of discussion in an academic setting as well, and we believe we chose a interesting, controversial topic quite fitting for our seminar.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, has been around for nearly a century, and it’s popularity in the media has waxed and waned for the past 30 years or so as the issues around it come and go. It is important to know where ecstasy came from and all the places it has been in order to better understand where it is going. And due to its potential for therapeutic benefits, ecstasy is definitely going somewhere…