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Previously on this blog I've discussed the case of cultures of living rat neurons, removed from their natural environment (the inside of the skull of a rat), and grown on top of an electrical interface that allows the neurons to communicate with robotic systems - effectively, we remove part of the rat's brain, and then give this reprocessed bit of brain a new, robotic body.  One of the stranger issues that pops up with this system is that it is extraordinarily easy to 'switch' between bodies in this situation. [1] For instance, I could easily write a computer program that creates a brief, pleasant sound reminiscent of raindrops every time the culture increases it's electrical activity.  Alternatively, the same burst of activity could be used to trigger an emotionless, electronic voice to say “Please help me. I am in pain.” While nociception (the low-level transmission of pain information) and unconscious reactions to pain both occur in the spine and peripheral nerv...

By Guest Contributor, Jagan Pillai, MD, PhD Dr. Jagan Pillai is a neurologist at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Cleveland Clinic and works to help people with cognitive changes from neurological disorders and to develop diagnostic and treatment strategies in neurodegenerative diseases. He trained as a medical doctor at the University of Kerala, Trivandrum, India. He obtained a PhD from Northwestern University. He trained in Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the University of California San Diego. As a neurologist interested in neurodegenerative disorders, I met Phil and a few others with preclinical Huntington’s disease (HD), on a trip to Phoenix, AZ to take in their perspectives. Phil is a self-appointed counselor, caretaker, and community leader of PHDs. He chuckles as he credits his accomplishments to having been born a PHD (in his lingo, Person with Huntington’s disease). HD is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded number of triplet re...

By Guest Contributor Jennifer C. Sarrett, MEd, MA Doctoral Candidate, Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts Emory University On Friday, December 14th 2012, the country learned of the mass shooting of 5- and 6-year-old children and several adults in Newtown, CT. By the end of the day, we learned that Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the heinous act, may be autistic . Although we now know that this is not the case, it has spurred conversations about the link between autism and violence. This mental illness guessing-game has become the norm in the wake of such tragedies. Jared Loughner and James Holmes may have been schizophrenic; Sueng-Hi Cho may have been depressed, anxious, and also possibly autistic; Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold may have been depressed and/or psychopathic. These speculations are understandable – the public yearns to understand the motives behind such acts and recognizes that good mental health and mass shootings are never coupled–however, the way these representation...

Last month, I wrote a post called “ Uncovering the Neurocognitive Systems for 'Help This Child ,'” where I suggested that understanding certain facts about our brains is not enough to get us to do the 'right thing.’I argued that we also have to 'outsmart' our least rational tendencies and get ourselves to apply our knowledge to real-life problems. This month, I want to explore a different aspect of the relationship between knowledge and practical action. I want to ask, 'What happens when researchers ground their work in a controversial scientific framework, but use it to introduce a set of ideas that could make a meaningful contribution?' The case I have in mind is Darcia Narvaez and Jenny Vaydich ’s use of Paul D. MacLean ’s ‘ Triune Brain Theory ’ to ground work on emotional and ethical ‘expertise development.’ Jenny Vaydich Darcia Narvaez In their paper entitled “ Moral development and behavior under the spotlight of the neurobiological sciences ,” Narva...

Imagine a vaccine that causes our immune system to create antibodies against a drug like cocaine. After being vaccinated, we could snort cocaine and the antibodies would sequester the drug before it could reach our brain. A recent article in Nature Immunology’s Commentary section, “Immune to Addiction” , considers the ethical implications of such vaccines. We discussed the article at December's meeting of the Neuroethics Journal Club, led by Emory Neuroscience graduate student, Jordan Kohn. Jordan Kohn: his provocative Powerpoint for journal club momentarily made me think I was an anti-vaxxer Here's what I took away from this month's meeting: we need to integrate the different ways we study addiction. You might wonder what the ways we study substance abuse have to do with a vaccine against it. As the authors of the article say, "How substance dependence is characterized and classified informs the appropriateness of strategies aimed" at preventing or treating it. I...