Men Are from Mars, Women Are from ????

Hello fellow neuroscientists. This week we will review the cells of the nervous system, and the structure and function of various parts of the brain. Did you know that very little is known about how the brains of men and women differ at a cellular or molecular level? Its true! For years, researchers shied away from using female subjects because, as one scientists said to me, 'why would you want to have all those hormones muck things up?'

Unfortunately, this oversight may have severe consequences. We know that men and women metabolize some medications differently (ex. this). What about our brains? How do the brains of men and women differ? This question isn't purely philosophical, as it has important implications for the treatment of diseases in men vs. women. Luckily, scientists are now beginning to recognize the importance of using females in basic science research. In fact, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  now requires that animals of both sexes must be used in all new scientific research (you can read about the new NIH initiative here). Not to be cliché, but only time will tell whether this new scientific direction provides invaluable insights.

Golgi's Got an Axon to Grind

Greetings fellow behavioral neuroscientists. Welcome to the inaugural post of our course blog. Did you know that scientists are human too? Prone to fits of jealously and filled with boundless ego, scientists can be considered the ultimate 'Frenemy.'

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Camillo Golgi

Take for example the well-documented friction between noted neuroanatomists, Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The basic dispute centered around the fundamental organization of the brain. Golgi believed that the brain was made up of a single interlinking network (called the Reticular Theory); whereas Cajal thought that nervous system is made up of discrete individual cells (the Neuron Theory).

Unfortunately, this dispute was not resolved in either of these two men's lifetimes (although Cajal's thoery was eventually proven true). Nevertheless, both men achieved great success and notoriety, and even shared the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Surprisingly, even this prestigious award wasn't enough to bury the hatchet between Golgi and Cajal. Golgi even used his Nobel Prize speech as a opportunity to attempt to discredit Cajal (if you want to read the actual transcript of Golgi's lecture, click here).