/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ The field of neurotechnology, the focus of this blog, encompasses advances in brain science (neurons), information technology (bits) and bioengineering (genes). Up for discussion and analysis: the political, economic, ethical, and social forces that will shape the future of what will be one of the most important and fascinating stories of the coming decades. en-us zack@neuroinsights.com 2009-02-16T13:20:31-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2009/02/16/memory_erasing_emoticeuticals_back_in_the_news.php Every year or so for the past half dozen, a news story makes headlines that highlights the memory fading quality of propanolol. This time around it is a Dutch study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience that is making the... 73744@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2009-02-16T13:20:31-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2008/06/23/an_antishyness_drug.php The King of Trust, Paul Zak, touts oxytocin as a potential drug for shyness: "Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people. What's more, it is a very... 73391@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2008-06-23T13:47:03-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2007/02/14/there_is_always_some_madness_in_love.php Brought to you by MindHacks: Highlighting the striking parallels between our least understood and most exalted states of mind, Nietzsche commented that "there is always some madness in love". Perhaps the reason love has such a good reputation when compared... 72007@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2007-02-14T11:48:38-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2006/11/10/the_search_for_emotional_truth.php Mindhacks points to a new series on Psyblog that will focus on the search for emotional truth, an area of inquiry of the upmost importance. This is the first in a series of posts examining these and related ideas. But,... 68959@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2006-11-10T11:17:00-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2006/06/05/games_that_feel_you.php This post came in from a Brain Waves reader, Alexandre Carter. Seemed good enough to share. While listening to Weekend America yesterday on NPR I came across the following story I thought you might find interesting. They report that the... 59487@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2006-06-05T18:19:23-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/12/29/a_love_spray_for_the_fearful.php The analysis of love has moved from the embrace of poets into the arms of science. A recent series of precise studies reveal some of the key brain areas and molecules, like oxytocin, involved in the ability to love and... 45063@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-12-29T13:18:50-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/11/28/emotional_neurotechnology_who_needs_emotions.php My book review of Who Needs Emotions? The Brain Meets the Robot is published this month in the Lancet Neurology. While copyrights hold me back from publishing the review here, I will say that the 499 page book is an... 38807@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-11-28T18:49:26-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/11/23/turkeys_imagined_tryptophan_effect.php As most Americans prepare to gorge ourselves tomorrow, I'd like to set the record straight about the sedative effect of the amino acid tryptophan found in turkey: IT'S A MYTH. Tryptophan is the key ingredient in making serotonin; without it,... 38513@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-11-23T11:13:58-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/11/15/isolating_excessive_friendliness_for_the_good_of_humankind.php Excessive friendliness is one of the indications that people with Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WS) exhibit. Also known as 'elvin face syndrome' because of the general common appearance of upturned noses, wide mouths and small chins, WS is a neurodevelopmental disorder that... 38051@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-11-15T17:25:58-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/02/23/fda_clears_mdma_trial_for_post_traumatic_stress_disorder.php Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults. People who suffer from PTSD often relive... 4394@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-02-23T12:28:16-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/02/11/dhea_for_depression_and_stress_reduction.php Integrative and "alternative" approaches to improving an individual's well-being are finally receiving the respect they deserve. In a recent report, supported by the NIMH and published the Archives of General Psychiatry suggests that the naturally occurring hormone DHEA improves the... 4388@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-02-11T16:10:16-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/02/10/severe_emotional_stress_or_heart_attack.php Randall Parker writes today about how severe emotional stress can release chemicals that mimic a heart attack. "In the Hopkins study, to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine online Feb. 10, the research team found that some... 4387@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-02-10T20:31:23-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2005/02/07/is_lovesickness_a_psychiatric_disorder.php The Independent reports today on the growing belief that lovesickness should be categorized as a psychiatric illness: "Falling in love used to be fun. Now doctors are warning that the throes of passion should be seen as a potentially fatal... 4384@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2005-02-07T18:49:14-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2004/10/18/do_you_laugh_or_cry_uncontrollably_avanirs_emoticeutical_solution.php At last week's BIO Emerging Company Investor Forum in San Francisco I found out that more than one million people across a wide variety of neurological disorders suffer from episodes of uncontrollable laughing and/or crying called the pseudobulbar affect (also... 4311@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2004-10-18T15:59:59-05:00 http://brainwaves.corante.com/archives/2004/02/22/empathy_is_a_hardwired_feeling.php As I mentioned in emotions in art and the brain "emotions and feelings are mediated by distinct neural systems. Whereas emotions are automatic responses to sensory stimuli, feelings are 'private, sbjective experiences' that emerge from the cognitive processing of an... 4122@/home/corante/public_html/brainwaves/ Emoticeuticals 2004-02-22T18:44:30-05:00