Tag: Science

Why brain scientists crave illegal drugs

Drugs are dangerous, but they are double-edged swords, and when used in the right time in the right way, scientists can use them as unparalleled tools to probe the mechanics of the mind.

28 October 2014

Wired

How magic mushrooms induce a dream-like state

Anyone who has enjoyed a magical mystery tour thanks to the psychedelic powers of magic mushrooms knows the experience is surreally dreamlike. Now neuroscientists have uncovered a reason why: the active ingredient, psilocybin, induces changes in the brain that are eerily akin to what goes on when we're off in the land of nod.

4 July 2014

New Scientist

The Unselfish Gene

Are humans really a selfish species ruled by competition and self-interest? Zoe Cormier surveys the ideas of recent thinkers who argue that biology and evolution prove we are natural co-operators.

1 July 2012

New Internationalist

Illuminating Life

Since its discovery 50 years ago, Green Fluorescent Protein has become one of the most useful tools in biology.

1 July 2012

BBC Focus

Orangutan > Me

I expected to smell better than two boys who had not washed for 40 days. I did not expect to be deemed less attractive than an orangutan.

17 August 2011

Guerilla Science

Bacterial Culture

On the outside: a sleek and smooth white briefcase, sporting a bright silver handle, cheerfully labeled “E. chromi” in a cursive font, each letter a different colour of the rainbow. On the inside: an assortment of stool samples, each also brightly spotted in a different colour of the rainbow, cushioned neatly into white pockets for easy examination.

25 April 2011

Toronto Standard

Hygiene Hypothesis: London’s Feast of Filth

“Please put your genitals on the table.” Epidemiologist and author Elizabeth Pisani was speaking to a crowd of 60 diners sitting beneath the gilded iron arches of a Victorian sewage pumping station. “No, you cannot trade your genitals with your neighbour — you have to take the genitals you are given.”

6 April 2011

Toronto Standard

Surgery of the Soul

Over the eyeball, under the eyelid, and straight on till morning: Lobotomy techniques, past and present, for the alleviation of psychosis, delusions, and emotional distress.

30 November 2010

Guerilla Science