Brainy Days

Jeff and Paul discuss the last of the lobes: The Parietal Lobe. This Brainy Bits episode starts with the basics, describing where the parietal lobe is in our brain and following up with the type of functionality it contributes to (hint: the sense of touch). The duo goes on to chat about what may happen behaviorally in people who have damage to their parietal lobe.

Jeff and Paul are back to discuss different types of hallucinations, how some of them can be caused, which ones are common among healthy people, and in which mental illnesses we may see extreme examples of hallucinations. The two also try touching on the neuroscience of hallucinations by breaking down a complex experiment using animal behavior to uncover the molecular science behind hallucinatory perception.

Jeff and Paul briefly go over some key concepts regarding the temporal lobe. Location is touched on early in the episode, and the importance of the temporal lobe and its functionality is highlighted throughout the remainder of this quick and consumable episode of Brainy Bits. 

It's a long one. Save your time reading a description by jumping right into the episode. The title is self-explanatory: an episode on the experience of depression and anxiety from a personal and also chemical perspective as told by cohosts Jeff and Paul.

It's a long one. Save your time reading a description by jumping right into the episode. The title is self-explanatory: an episode on the experience of depression and anxiety from a personal and also chemical perspective as told by cohosts Jeff and Paul. 

In the third installation of Brainy Bits, Jeff and Paul introduce the occipital lobe of the brain. Humans and many mammals are heavily reliant on vision as the primary sense used to navigate their environment. Afterwards, blindsight is briefly described in order to provide the listener an example of sight without conscious perception, which the occipital lobe is implicated to be involved with based on multiple case studies.

Brainy Bits number 2: A brief discussion on the frontal lobe of the brain. After starting the chat by listing some general regions and particular functions of the frontal lobe, Jeff and Paul bring up the famous case study of Phineas Gage to emphasize the importance of learning about the brain through injury or case studies.

Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Each a type of social media. Is social media good? Is it bad? Is there any science behind it? The neuroscience of social media is very much lacking due to complications in replicating experiments in controlled and meaningful ways, and there isn’t much hard scientific evidence regarding social media (yet). All we know is that every like we receive on a post we make publicly makes our hearts flutter a bit. Tune in to episode 15 to hear Jeff and Paul discuss the pros and the cons of social media on our mental health.

The debut episode of Brainy Bits by the Brainy Days podcast –⁠ this is the first installation of a side-concept Jeff and Paul are mixing in with their regular-length podcast episodes: Each Brainy Bits episode will be about 15-20mins in length, during which Jeff and Paul will chat about the brain (or mental health, or both) in a more dense, swift way. Quick facts and short discussions, these episodes are for listeners who may want to dive a bit more deeply into a topic. This episode is about Navigating the Brain –⁠ Jeff and Paul go over some general terminology commonly used in neuroscience and other sciences in order to better understand the origin of some complicatedly-labeled brain regions' names.

Jeff and Paul come back from another short break due to a lack of... time... to record this episode. This episode's topic is about time; Jeff and Paul each describe their respective "nows", some of the neuroscience behind the perception of of time (and how much time it takes for us to experience things), and a quick debrief on how improving our time management can contribute to our mental health.

This week, Jeff and Paul chat about nonverbal communication; the ability to communicate without using verbal language. Crossed arms, rolled eyes, pointed feet, licked lips — all forms of communication we each knowingly (or unknowingly) engage in daily in order to communicate with others within (or outside of) our own species. Whether someone uses nonverbal communication to get a message across consciously or unconsciously, we can each learn a lot by focusing on the physical cues that others provide us. In some instances, we can even recognize positive or negative emotions a person may be feeling in real time, whether or not we know them personally — all without a single word from the individual displaying them.

After thinking they lost episode 12 to the abyss of Jeff’s newly empty hard drive, Brainy Days co-hosts Jeff and Paul recovered some audio from an interview they had just prior to Thanksgiving. Paul brings his friend Heather from high school onto the podcast as our first Brainy Days guest to talk about language and linguistics. Have you heard of prescriptivism and descriptivism? You probably know someone who has corrected you for saying “I’m good” instead of “I’m well” after being asked how you are… And it’s usually pretty annoying. In this episode Jeff and Paul ask Heather a little about what made her want to study linguistics, along with other interesting topics regarding language, such as different types of aphasias that people can experience – language disorders that affect someone’s ability to communicate fluently.

Jeff and Paul return with the relatable topic of how the idea and concept of money impacts our mental health and behavior. Starting with general chat about money and human behavior, Brainy Days cohosts later go into detail regarding a few mechanisms in the brain that may contribute to the way we perceive money — and more specifically — how we perceive value. 

This week things are a bit different, including Paul being half absent and Jeff trying out sound effects since he's been left alone. Today Brainy Days co-hosts provide their personal descriptions of jealousy, then include how scientists would specifically define it. Jeff breaks down a publication regarding jealousy studied in titi monkeys, and wraps up by chatting about how we can utilize the experience of jealousy in positive ways. Who woulda thunk it could be so deeply reflective to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself the ultimate question... “You Jelly??”

This week Brainy Days co-hosts Jeff and Paul start a conversation about what it really means to be in graduate school — Never feeling smart enough and being endlessly absorbed in a world of fierce competition can take a major toll on any graduate student’s mental health. Have you ever heard of imposter syndrome? Because it sucks. Jeff and Paul then take these seemingly niche emotions and relate them to a general audience by discussing the stress system in the brain and body in order to connect Brainy Days listeners through shared experiences.

Jeff and Paul attempt to walk us through the complicated mechanisms through which signals are sent to and received by brain cells. After a general introduction regarding the different kinds of neurotransmitters (and Jeff promising to talk about dopamine and failing to deliver), the boys chat about the electrical and chemical events that trigger the release of synaptic vesicles at the junction between two brain cells: the synapse. Jeff and Paul then discuss the mechanism through which SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), a commonly prescribed antidepressant, relieve depression and anxiety.

Outgoing, obnoxious, social, outspoken. Reserved, internal, quiet, shy. These are just some of the strings of words typically used to describe either an extravert or an introvert. Having one of each as our co-hosts of Brainy Days, Jeff and Paul answer the same questions to learn more about the perspective of the opposing personality type. Human personality ranges on an infinite scale, but many people seem to favor one of these “attitude types” originally described by Carl Jung. Jeff also graces us with some embarrassingly delightful stories about awkward situations his extraversion has gotten him into in the past.

In the second episode of Brainy Days, Jeff and Paul have a general discussion regarding how they’ve both been trying to personally cope with the ongoing effects of COVID19. An abrupt halt of what we as a society (and species) consider “normal life” has given us all a gargantuan obstacle like we’ve never experienced before — and it’s starting to get to some of us. The goal of this episode is to normalize that even some of the healthiest minds are dealing with mental strife during this historic event, and that even in some of the worst possible situations we can do our best to learn from them. But in a nutshell, COVID sucks.

The debut episode of the Brainy Days podcast, hosted by current PhD students in neuroscience, Jeff and Paul. After a few personal introductions, this episode opens with a general discussion on the different kinds of neuroscience before going into what it really means that “neuroscience is everything”. The two emphasize why understanding neuroscience even superficially proves useful for any individual -- regardless of scientific background or interest. We get to know Jeff and Paul a little better in this first recording of Brainy Days as they offer agreeable yet sometimes neutrally opposing thoughts on similar topics with their unique demeanors.

Jeff and Paul offer a short introduction on what to expect from their upcoming podcast, Brainy Days. Touching on the basics of neuroscience in a way that’s attractive for the general public to absorb, these current PhD students aim to instill scientific interest in a way that will not only educate us about the brain, but will also teach us more about our own behavior and mental states. A podcast created for a general audience — including some episodes tailored specifically to the life of graduate students — that goes above and beyond what is expected of the average young scholar of science.