Think Beyond Science - A Life Science and Wellness Blog

Understanding Cerebrospinal Fluid and Its Role in Meningitis Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear, watery substance that runs along the surface of the spinal cord and coats the brain, cushioning it from impact. Any diminishment in clarity of Cerebrospinal fluid me…

In case of bacterial meningitis, the bacteria attacks the outer layer of the brain or the cortex first. The cortex is responsible for memory, language, emotions, visual and auditory awareness.

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The Importance of Idleness for Brain Health Being idle is one of the most important activities in life. While our minds are exquisitely evolved for intense action, in order to function normally our brains also need to be idle–a lot of …

Chronic busyness is bad for your brain, and over the long-term busyness can have serious health consequences. In the short term, busyness destroys creativity, emotional well-being, your ability to be social--and it can damage your cardiovascular health.

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Statins, Inflammation, and Taking Control of Your Health: A Modern Guide to Cholesterol The content discusses the significance of cholesterol, particularly LDL, and the role of statins in its management. Beyond lowering cholesterol, statins also reduce chronic inflammation, thereby decreasing cardiovascular risk. It emphasizes the need for personal health metrics and active patient-doctor communication to optimize health management through informed choices and self-tracking.

The content discusses the significance of cholesterol, particularly LDL, and the role of statins in its management. Beyond lowering cholesterol, statins also reduce chronic inflammation, thereby decreasing cardiovascular risk. It emphasizes the need for personal health metrics.

The Power of Social Influence: Manipulation, Persuasion, and Psychological Tactics Our social lives are, as human beings, among the most important things for us. In fact, alongside water, food, shelter, our need to belong, and socializing is considered one of our needs. We know t…

Sociopaths - People who are genuinely sociopathic are also charming, articulate, yet impulsive (meeting psychiatric diagnosis). They use dark tactics to create a shallow relationship and then take advantage of people because of a lack of emotionality and the ability to feel guilt.

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You may be able to resist turning toward the source of a loud and offensive comment at a crowded party, but even it your head does not move, your attention is initially directed to it, at least for a while.

The Two Systems of Thinking: Intuition and Effortful Decision-Making When confronted with a problem–choosing a chess move or deciding whether to invest in a stock-the machinery of intuitive thought does the best it can. If the individual has relevant expertise…

Orienting to a loud sound is normally an involuntary operation of System 1, which immediately mobilizes the voluntary attention of System 2.
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the belief that aliens have implanted a chip in your head or for more mundane cognitive experiences like memory or language. Rather, genes code for the molecular machinery that carries out the functions of a cell.

The Role of Genetics in Cognitive and Emotional Traits: Understanding Heritability and Human Variation The fundamental governing principles of biology are found in our genes. Human genetics is the study of the biology of inheritance and variability in our human species, and, therefore, neuropsycholo…

Identifying the genetic bases of cognitive and emotional traits involves an approach called statistical association. We know that genes do not code directly for complex phenomena like the experience of hallucinating a voice commenting on how you comb your hair or

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You went from not knowing something to knowing something, from never before having experienced today to having lived another day. And to be able to remember tomorrow what happened today means that your brain has to change.

Understanding the Role of Forgetting in Memory Memory involves a complex process of encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval, primarily facilitated by the hippocampus. Forgetting can be a natural part of memory function, not simply an ob…

Making a memory literally changes your brain. Every memory you have is a result of a lasting physical alteration in your brain in response to what you experienced.
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Suffering may not be inherent in life, but unsatisfactoriness is. We crave lasting happiness in the midst of change: Our bodies age, cherished objects break, pleasures fade, relationships fail.

The Role of Mindfulness in Overcoming Suffering The four foundations of mindfulness—body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind—help cultivate awareness amidst life’s unsatisfactoriness. Mindfulness training distinguishes ordinary thinking f…

The Buddha taught mindfulness as the appropriate response to the truth of dukkha, usually translated from the Pali, somewhat misleadingly, as "suffering." A better translation would be "unsatisfactoriness."

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The Role of Microbes in Human Health The human body is a superorganism composed of our cells and an immense community of microbes, primarily bacteria, which outnumber our own cells ten to one. This microbiota enhances our biological f…

The microbes living on the human body contain 4.4 million genes - this is the microbiome: the collective genomes of microbiota. These genes collaborate in running our bodies alongside our 21K human genes. By that count, you are just half a % human.

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Hello Kitty to Pikachu: How Cuteness Became Japan’s Gift to the World Hello Kitty, created by Sanrio in 1975, became a cultural icon symbolizing Japan's embrace of kawaii. This phenomenon, leading to products like Pokémon, showcases how cuteness influences human behavior and societal values. Cuteness influences commerce and culture, revealing a universal desire that transcends age and geography, shaping our interactions with the world.

Hello Kitty, created by Sanrio in 1975, became a cultural icon symbolizing Japan's embrace of kawaii. This phenomenon, leading to products like Pokémon, showcases how cuteness influences human behavior and societal values. Cuteness influences commerce and culture, revealing a universal desire.

Achieving Balance: The Key to Happiness and Growth Greatness transcends surface-level achievements, requiring purpose, humility, and happiness. True self-love balances acceptance and personal growth. The Law of Vibration asserts that reality corres…

The truth is, you won't love yourself more if, for example, you lose or gain weight, or undergo cosmetic surgery. You may feel more confident, sure. But true self-love is when you appreciate who you are, regardless of any transformation you aspire to.

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If it perceives a threat it will initiate a strong and immediate response - dispatching chemicals to the rest of the body using your brain's (vastly more efficient) version of DHL, known as neurotransmitters.

As such, it is constantly scanning the area around you for evidence of a threat to your existence, or the opportunity for instant reward.

The Brain’s Impact on Learning and Wellbeing The content explores the complexities of adolescent brain development and its role in learning and mental health. It contrasts nostalgic perceptions of youth with the challenges teenagers face, emp…

One of the first parts of your limbic system to develop is the amygdala. The amygdala has one seemingly simple but fundamental job - to keep you alive. It is not concerned with context - it has no sense of the past or future and it doesn't have any morality.
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The other vantage point is that of the self as knower, the process that gives a focus to our experiences and eventually lets us reflect on those experiences.

One is the vantage point of an observer appreciating a dynamic object—the dynamic object constituted by certain workings of minds, certain traits of behavior, and a certain history of life.

The Evolution of Consciousness: Mind and Self Explored Consciousness is a remarkable yet mysterious aspect of our existence, defining our self-awareness and enriching human experiences like creativity, love, and suffering. The self operates as both obs…

There is indeed a self, but it is a process, not a thing, and the process is present at all times when we are presumed to be conscious. We can consider the self process from two vantage points.

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What Is a Species? Exploring Nature’s Building Blocks Species are fundamental units of life, essential for forming interconnected communities. While the classical definition centers on the ability to breed, modern genetics reveals complexities in species identification. DNA analysis uncovers hidden biodiversity and cryptic species, highlighting the intricate relationships among organisms and emphasizing the ongoing mysteries of biodiversity and species distribution.

Species are fundamental units of life, essential for forming interconnected communities. While the classical definition centers on the ability to breed, modern genetics reveals complexities in species identification.

Even if you're relaxed about death itself - we all have to go sometime, after all — then this risk of death is still a proxy for years of suffering at the hands of disability and disease which we would probably all rather avoid.

The fundamental reason that our risk of death rises so swiftly is a rapid, synchronized increase in the odds of age-related disease.

As we age, our bodies accrue a familiar array of changes - from the superficial, like grey hair, wrinkles and elongating noses and ears, to the life-changing, like frailty, loss of memory and the risk of deadly diseases.

Understanding Aging: Risks and Insights into Longevity As humans age, they face increased risks of illness and death, with mortality rates doubling approximately every eight years. Understanding aging as a collection of biological changes can lead to t…

Understanding ageing could have enormous implications because it is by far the world's leading cause of death and suffering. While that might sound counter-intuitive, looking at aging as a biological process makes the logic inescapable.
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The Power of Story: Why Narrative Always Wins The content emphasizes the power of storytelling in shaping understanding, persuasion, and narratives that drive human behavior, innovation, and market dynamics. It highlights how captivating writing, rather than raw facts, can influence perceptions and motivate actions. Ultimately, human progress relies more on compelling stories than on statistics or formulas.

The content emphasizes the power of storytelling in shaping understanding, persuasion, and narratives that drive human behavior, innovation, and market dynamics. It highlights how captivating writing, rather than raw facts, can influence perceptions and motivate actions.

This is because fructose exists only hand in hand with glucose in foods and because insulin is released by our pancreas in response to glucose.

Understanding Glucose: The Body’s Energy Source Marketing significantly influences our dietary choices, promoting processed foods and sugar under misleading narratives. Scientific evidence reveals these foods are harmful, impacting energy levels…

Both fructose and insulin levels are hard to monitor continuously. Glucose levels are the only measure we can track from the comfort of the couch, and the good news is that when we flatten our glucose curves, we also fatten our fructose and insulin curves.
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It's no longer a one-on-one battle where one side just needs the right gun. It's an inscrutable morass of battles, some of it resembling a small civil war and some of it echoing a large war crossing borders.