If your brain has as many curves as your body, you've got to be Einstein!

Yes, I'm opening with a very cheesy pick-up line.  Though I will admit, any guy who tried to use that on me would be pretty impressive in my mind. *awkward silence* So.... moving on!  I actually do have a new topic for you today.  I recently read an article in psychology today about the connection between a woman's curves, the intelligence of her children, and the modern obesity epidemic.  Ready?

The article starts out with a reflection on women's body-image issues and how they've changed in the last decade.  The modern fashion seems to be thin is in.  And for most of the population, that's a tall order.  Coming from someone whose curvy (And struggled with my self-image because of it), I know how hard it is to go to a clothing store but feel nothing was made to fit you.  But while more women than ever obsess about their weight and dieting, the modern fashion may not be the right answer for us.

This may be most women's ideal,
but men much prefer the curves.

Take for instance your standard fashion model.  They are so skinny as to be considered bony by some.  They are all flat planes and sharp angles.  And while something akin to this is what most women strive for, the truth is men prefer girls with some meat on them.  Studies have shown men prefer women with curves and fat deposits in places like the butt and thighs.

So what does all that have to do with neuroscience?  Well, the fat stored there is of a particular variety of omega-3 called DHA.  It's important that women store this type of fat because it is a primary component to help feed a growing baby.  DHA is a key ingredient which leads to brain growth and development in a child's life- specifically when they're in the womb or still breast feeding.  So women who store DHA on their hips and thighs have children who have better developed brains.  Evolution leads to men preferring this body shape because it means healthier, smarter off spring.  It all makes sense right?

And as an interesting side note, it is easy to deplete stores of DHA during pregnancy but hard to rebuild those levels in time for a second child.  This might partially explain why most eldest children are the brainiacs of the family.  They received a higher dosage of DHA then their siblings.

I'm probably expanding too far on this hypothesis,
but maybe Nicki Minaj's physical appeal comes
from this evolutionary back ground.

However, this wonderful evolutionary advantageous set-up becomes a problem when you lace people in a calorie rich environment that has few sources of omega-3 fats.  Due to agricultural practices and eating habit, women are getting about half the levels of omega-3 that they used to.  And now women are putting on weight in other areas that are detrimental both to themselves and their potential children.  However, a diet heavy in green vegetables and seafood can help bring up levels of the important omega-3.

I highly suggest reading the full article to get all the implications.  However, I hope I have through;y amazed you at the evolutionary history of curvy women and how our diet through out life can affect our future children.

Science is Hard!

Remember back in the good old days when teachers said "Here's how this works! Just learn the process." and that was it?  I wont disagree that there's a certain element of boredom involved with that style of learning.  But this semester is teaching me that performing real science is so far beyond rote memorization.

It's not easy to get access to up there, huh?

Currently I'm working in a lab on my college campus.  I'm just an undergraduate research assistant but our project is relatively small so I get to handle all aspects of the actual research.  When I first volunteered for the position, I thought all the procedures and general direction of the project were pretty obvious.  We're doing a longitudinal study so it breaks up into neat little chunks.

But halfway through the semester I'm seeing all these sources of error!  I have a bit of OCD and sometimes I wonder whether that's a blessing or a curse for doing academic research.  Let's start with the fact that I do human research.  So we had to start by getting a big enough sample size.  We didn't have grandiose expectations yet you'd be surprised on how difficult it is to even get 10 people to it your research criteria.  There are all sorts of things that can eliminate a person from a psychology study.

And even when they do make it past initial screening, you have to remember that these are people you're dealing with.  People, unlike lab rats, have schedules and plans and can't be kept in a cage in the lab.  So you have to keep an eye on your participants and make sure they keep up with the requirements of the project.  This is particularly important for longitudinal studies.

Ah, and we must also remember the fallibility of technology.  For all the good its done us, our tech is never perfect.  You can have faulty wires or computer programs that wont run or even run out of materials.  Just today, my lab ran out of circular adhesives to use with the EEG and had to run a makeshift version of our preferred methods.  And I've had times when batteries nearly died and the electrical leads on the EEG decided to stop working.  There's just so many little places for a slip up to affect your data.

Obligatory cute baby picture!  Though really I meant to
say I'm still young in my training.

Yet, in a weird way I love that variability.  It makes science hard, but it also keeps it interesting.  You're always striving for the perfect run and the most accurate results.  And a truly good scientist learns to compensate for all the possible external factors.  Trying to design the cleanest. most efficient, most reliability study appeals as an interesting study for me.  But for now, I hope to continue to learn in my current position.

Bird-Brained Bombs?

While Pavlov's dogs and B.F. Skinner's work with behavior conditioning are the quintessential studies of learning for psychology and neuroscience alike, the archives of experimentation have even stranger stories to tell.  Some are gruesome, but others are so absurd that you can't help but marvel at human ingenuity and creative thought.

My favorite example of "the odd" starts in the dire settings of America amidst World War II.  B.F Skinner, the famous behaviorist psychologist, wanted to assist in the war efforts.  In particular, he saw a need for improvement in the missile guidance of America's air craft.  The key issue was, we really didn't have one.  Bombers approximated when they were over their target and then dropped the full payload in the hopes that a few would accurately hit.  The sheer inefficiency of this system sent Skinner in search of a solution.  And what better experience did he have than working with operant conditioning?

His solution was to train pigeons to peck at a target through a glass lens marked with crosshairs.  As long as the target was in the center of the lens, the pigeon pecked at the center and the bomb flew straight.  But if the explosive began to veer off target, the trained pigeon would peck off center (in order to hit the target it saw through the glass), altering a complicated series of mechanisms which would change the angle of the bomb's fins and redirect it towards the target.

The military actually funded a good part of this research and initial tests looked promising.  However, by late 1944 the military withdrew their funding in favor of more immediately promising technology.  The idea was revived for a short time in 1948 and paid for by the Navy but ended permanently in 1953 after computer guidance was shown to be consistently reliable.

An image of B.F. Skinner's pigeon contraption.

Still, I can't help but crack up at the idea of pigeon-headed bombs falling on enemies.  Animal rights groups would be aflutter with animal cruelty and abuse claims nowadays.  Nevertheless, I'm perversely proud of Skinner and his finally thinking "outside the box."


*Get it?  B.F. Skinner is best known for the "Skinner boxes" he used to condition his animals in his initial testing.

A New Direction

Dear Readers,

I know it's been a long time since I last typed out a blog on this website.  In fact, it's been over a semester.  Well I suppose when you think that I started this blog as a college writing assignment, it makes sense that I stopped writing when the class ended.  But I have come to realize in recent months that I'd like to get back into the habit of writing on this online forum.  I've missed the unique opportunities it affords me and the practice I garner from writing about topics which actually interest me- not just the usual school-required essays.

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q
=college+writing#/d1n4m35

So I'd like to take this opportunity brought on by winter break to re-enter the world of writing.  I want this blog to be a creative outlet which will combine my interest in neusopsychology with my everyday experiences.  I'd like to see this as a synthesis of science and the everyday world we deal with all the time.

I know this is only a rough sketch of where I want this blog to go.  I've been pondering how formulaic I want to make my entries.  Do I want to purely write from an unscripted idea?  Or should I create a schedule  where I decide to cover different aspects of the brain's biology and it's affect on how it changes our interactions with the world at large.

So if there's anyone still reading this (and I certainly hope there is), then this is my promise to you:

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=brain&order=9&offset=72#/d2r0460

I promise to try to make these posts a weekly endeavor.  I promise to try to make science of the brain more accessible to every level of knowledge.  It is my hope that this will force me to increase my knowledge as well as my writing technique.

So stay tuned as I swing this blog into a whole new direction.  That of neuroscience and psychology and behavior and everyday problems.  I hope you stick around and enjoy the change.
Sadie