Welcome to a collection of my science writing, mainly about brains and behavior. Here you'll find brief descriptions of and links to the complete articles.
Featured articles
Personality circuits
We broadcast our personalities through our behavior, but a new study in PLoS One suggests that our character might be apparent even when we’re resting — at least inside a brain scanner.
Scientific American Mind May 2012.
2012 Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference
More than 1,600 researchers and clinicians gathered in Florence, Italy, from 14-18 April to discuss new schizophrenia research. These meeting reports were filed for Schizophrenia Research Forum.
The pile of schizophrenia genetics puzzle pieces grows
Immunology takes center stage
Predicting psychosis through brain imaging
Can schizophrenia patients put trust in oxytocin?
Right before your eyes
A lousy lab meeting leads to a way to link protein sequence to function, thousands of variants at a time. This new method, and a similar one for RNA, reveal these molecules in startling detail.
HHMI Bulletin February 2011.
Epigenetic anointment
Though queen and worker honeybees are genetically identical, they lead starkly different lives. A recent report in PLoS Biology finds that chemical add-ons to DNA make much of the difference.
The Economist December 23, 2010.
The banner image above shows manganese dendrites found in stone, which recall the dendrites in the brain that I usually think about. The image appears courtesy of Dr. Hans Hermann, who says that the rock currently sits in his office in Zurich, Switzerland.
