It’s finals week, and you’re staring at a mountain of assignments and study guides. Getting some sleep feels impossible as your mind races and your stomach churns. This feeling of anxiety is a part of your body’s natural stress response, driven by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This neuroendocrine system is an evolutionary response that is […]
How the HPA axis manages your stress levels Read More »
Addiction: a disease that millions battle with and countless watch their loved ones fall victim to. But is it really a disease? Scientists have been debating this question for years. Diagnostic criteria for something to be classified as a disease include a set of signs, symptoms, and tests used to create a diagnosis. However, some
Addiction: disease or disorder? Read More »
According to the CDC, about 456,000 people in the US under the age of 17 have epilepsy. This equates to approximately one in 160 children who suffer from seizures. Some individuals can be treated with medication, but others may be drug–resistant, in which case doctors can recommend a hemispheric surgery. This type of operation stops
Plasticity during recovery: How young brains adapt to hemispheric surgeries Read More »
Everything on Earth has fallen victim to plastic pollution, from our oceans to our food. Consequently, our bodies have accumulated unprecedented amounts of nanoplastic concentrations in organ tissues, including the critical cardiovascular, lung, and nervous systems. Today, scientists continue to uncover more distressing effects of microplastic exposure in the human body. Increased accessibility and inexpensiveness
Nothing left untouched, not even the brain Read More »