Adventures in Neuroscience could never be more exciting. Well, maybe a little.
This is sort of totally random, but Roger Ebert just put up an excellent essay on El Topo on the "Great Movies" section of his website to commemorate its long-awaited release on DVD.
Labels: dvds, el topo, jodorowsky, movies, roger ebert
posted by The Neurophile @ 6:08 PM
40 comments
Holy crap! The lab I'm rotating in doesn't require that our lab notebooks be the standard design with numbered pages, obvious if you ever take out any pages, etc. You know, the way everyone's always required to use them because 20 years ago everyone actually had to use notebooks because they didn't all have laptops and it was physically possible to keep your data in a non-electronic fashion.
Labels: grad school, lab, rotation
posted by The Neurophile @ 5:16 PM
8 comments
from The Neuron: Cell and Molecular Biology 3E, by Irwin B. Levitan & Leonard K. Kaczmarek, chapter 3:
The plasma membrane of a nerve cell or, indeed, of any cell provides a resistance to the flow of ions between the intracellular and extracellular compartments. Accordingly, it can be thought of as an electrical resistor, with the membrane resistance, Rm, being measured in ohms (Ω). In addition, the lipid bilayer provides an extremely thin insulating layer between two conducting solutions. This allows the membrane to act as an electrical capacitor, a device that is capable of separating and storing electrical charge. The membrance capacitance, Cm, is measured in farads (F). These considerations allow us to describe the electrical properties of the lipid bilayer membrane simply in terms of an equivalent electrical circuit, as shown in Figure 3-4a. This description is introduced not to torment the student of cell and molecular biology, but rather because it is extremely useful in understanding the electrical behavior of biological membranes under a variety of physiological conditions.
Labels: grad school, quotes
posted by The Neurophile @ 10:34 PM
5 comments
As a Junior Scientist, the Neurophile spends his days sunning in his window seat at a haptics lab at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Clenched in his left fist, he wields a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Macalester College. In his right, he bears a Bachelor of Sciences in Neuroscience from the U of M. Combined, they form Voltron! Or something less copyright-infringing! Soon, he shall be unleashed upon the grad schools of the world in a blitzkrieg of education.
The Neurophile is a big fan of sudoku, Hong Kong movies, alcohol, and the W/NBA, pretty much in that order. As a member of the Secret Society of Metalheads, his was the deciding vote in the decision to forever excommunicate Lars Ulrich from their ranks. He is also a fourth degree member of the Fraternal Order of Atheist Evolutionists, but hopes to progress further in their ranks quickly.
In his civilian life, the Neurophile is known as Jonathan Ehrich.
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