Adult neurogenesis was discovered in rats. This was so surprising, and such a violation of established doctrine, that it quickly became one of the most-investigated areas in neuroscience. Hundreds of studies were done on rats to nail down every little detail of the process.
The work was extended to many other mammals, to the point where it seemed inevitable that it must be true of humans as well.
You have to take note of this important word, “doctrine”.
doc·trine NOUN
a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group.
Very much like global warming.
A rat brain = a raccoon brain = a hamster brain = a depressed woman’s brain.
“Studies” that support the PETA (and other God-rejecting cults) conclusions that humans are “nothing special” just LOVE “science” which proves their dogma. Oh! Wait! dogma can only be applied to “Bible thumpers”
I have been trying for years to kill mine, to date I have not had the success I had hoped for. What am I doing wrong.?
Try a cheaper scotch, or meth. I understand sniffing gasoline is a pretty good brain rot.
Seriously, it’s not clear to me whether they are talking of new neurons, or continuously connecting neurons.
This is news? Something I’ve know about for more than a couple of decades and the mechanism of antidepressant action involves hippocampal neurogenesis. I recall telling patients back then that if they refused to take antidepressants for their severe depression they’d end up with dementia. Another thing I’d never recommend is full brain radiation as part of cancer chemotherapy – just had a patient in hospital who developed the expected severe depression which was refractory to antidepressants. Killing off the brains stem cells as part of a treatment protocol isn’t very bright.
Neural plasticity is far greater than originally thought and good stroke recoveries can occur up to the age of 90 at which point it’s much less likely. The trick is for people to push themselves as hard as possible to recover; same idea as getting out and exercising instead of hoping that sitting in front of a TV will eventually get one in shape.
From a teleologic perspective, it would be stupid to design a complex system that can’t repair itself. The brain is no exception except that addition of new neurons is far more controlled than in a much more frequently damaged organ such as the skin. I know I’ve rewired my brain extensively since deciding to go into medicine; my organic chemical knowledge is a shadow of it’s former level and what I most regret is my decline in mathematical abilities. In exchange, I’ve developed a vast wetware medical database which is what I need now. Analagous to my losing muscle which my body no longer thinks it needs – unless I decide to take up tree planting again and cycle everywhere (wish I had the time to).
45 years ago I knew that neurons in the olfactory nucleus were dividing for the lifetime of an individual. Interestingly, loss of the sense of smell is one of the earliest signs of such neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinsons disease suggesting that deficits in neurogenesis are also part of those diseases. When I learned about olfactory neurons, it struck me as odd that other parts of the brain wouldn’t have the same thing going on as well and I happened to be right about that. I learned quickly to be quiet about my “crackpot ideas” back then as doing research looking at neurogenesis was very tedious and I was into research that involved stuff that happened fast like electrophysiology. Research physiology (non-medical) is considered to be far less conservative than “medical research” (in quotes because the closest analogy is “military intelligence” like the Trump dossier and related “research”). Concensus rules in medicine and, unless one is independantly wealthy and willing to stick ones neck out, being out of step with medical groupthink can result in a physician losing their license.
Posted a reply to my comment after reading article completely and will repost it later as it vanished after Captcha malfunction (and browser malfunction). Reply dealt with reading the article fully.
Any idea what snaps in the brain before one becomes aware of climate justice?