Isaac Ostlund

‪This is a piece of art done by Sean Keating in 2022, then a PhD student at the University of Queensland. Neurons and stars, my two favorite things!

#neuroscience #art #science #astronomy

In 2017 a man, after some thought, had a simple but genius idea and took a camera on a Southwest flight from Portland, Oregon to St. Louis and captured one of the most breathtaking images of all time.

Jon Carmichael's "108" is probably my favorite #eclipse image and provokes introspection every time I see it.

#space #astronomy #astrophotography #photography

My new paper is out and its free access (for now)!

https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1mvT~6T916K9P

Adult neurons resist influence more than neurons of younger animals, but once the system is altered, recovery in adults takes longer or never happens at all!

This could be why adults resist strong emotions, drugs, and even learning when compared to children!

For this study we used #morphine and #opioid exposure to examine how the age of the animal when exposed changed drug effects.

#neuroscience #science #research

NPR's operating budget is $300 M, and 1%, or $3 M is funded by federal subsidies

The LA Times calculates the federal subsidies Musk's companies have received at $4.9 B.

Let's be generous and say Musk received those subsidies over a 10 year period, while NPR would have received ~$30 M in subsidies.

4.9 B / 30 M = Musk received 163x what NPR has from "the state."

Who is state funded then?

#elonmusk #npr #twitter

We worry about the spread of #misinformation and "alternative facts" while gating academic and scientific research behind paywalls that grossly limit public access.

#research #science #publicfunding #openaccess #facts

My paper is out! It's free to access!

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.1067493/full

We discovered that #marijuana (THC specifically) reduces #GABA #neuron activity. This helps explain some of the rewarding and calming effects of THC because the depression of GABA #neurons means increased dopamine release, which generally makes us feel pretty good.

Don't smoke too young though, we also found #THC is MUCH more influential in adolescents, and sometimes struggles to reverse!

#science #neuroscience #research

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna101420

A woman with paralysis speaks through a digital avatar after 18 years.

Brain-computer interfacing #BCI is an incredible field and one I've always been interested in. I can't believe how far it has come in the last 10 years.

I can't imagine the pain of being trapped, silent and aware, for that long. Hopefully this tech helps her find some happiness, and others who can benefit from it as well!

#neuro #AI #science #UCBerkeley #neuroscience

@P_KA_T@mastodon.social More specifically the #neurons I studied are called GABA neurons, and they regulate dopamine releasing neurons, so they can be directly involved in emotional states. When I say activity, I mean how often they fire, releasing their signals onto dopamine cells and changing if those activate and release their dopamine.

So in adults GABA neurons are less plastic, meaning less likely to modify dopamine release, meaning less frequent strong emotive states.

@P_KA_T@mastodon.social It is related in the sense that while frequently used pathways tend to fire more easily, there are controls on those pathways from regulatory inhibition, which is what we studied. So even if a synapse may exhibit relatively high activity from frequent use, they can be told to "slow down' by GABA, which we determined was less adaptive in adults.
#GABA #neuroscience #cellbiology #learning

@RonaldTooTall@universeodon.com is a single groundbreaking discovery leading to limitless energy and solving all the world's problems too much to ask?

@omaproud@nerdculture.de Hello