scicomm | The Burgundy Zine

May 28, 2021

How Entheogenic Plants & Fungi Affect Memory

A major area of psychedelic research is its potential clinical applications in psychiatry. In particular, a major area of study has concentrated on the potential therapeutic effects of shrooms, acid, and MDMA for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Memory plays a central role in the psychedelic experience,” begins a 2020 Psychopharmacology review. “The ability for psychedelics to provoke vivid memories has been considered important to their clinical efficacy.”

Throughout their review, the researchers found that psychedelics enhance autobiographical memory recall, which has therapeutic potential for overcoming traumatic experiences. However, psychedelics also have a dose-dependent effect of impairing memory task performance.

February 4, 2021

NeuroCOVID: NIH Launches Database to Track Neurological Symptoms of COVID-19

A fever. Cough. Fatigue. Sore throat. New loss of taste or smell. By now, we’ve all learned to stay on guard and watch for the common symptoms of COVID-19.

Although COVID-19 is regarded as a respiratory disease, it can have a wide range of effects throughout your body: including effects on your brain.

In light of this, the National Institutes of Health recently announced the launch of “NeuroCOVID,” a database designed to track neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19.

February 1, 2021

Oral Microbiota: The Unforeseen Love Doctors Involved in “Intimate Kissing”

You don’t just share an intimate moment during a kiss; you also share millions of microbiota.

That’s right. As you lock eyes and greet each other with your slimy, beastly tongues, microscopic bacteria thrash about from your mouth to theirs for some mingling — and vice versa.

January 23, 2021

The “SAD” Truth About How Cheat Days Could Impact Your Health

Added sugars. Saturated fats. Sodium. Mmm, tasty, right? These are the food groups The U.S. Department of Agriculture says our population is over-indulging in.

But hey, they can’t hurt in moderation, right? Alright, alright. If balance is key, then surely cheat days shouldn’t make too much of a difference, no?

Well, according to a study in the Neurobiology of Pain journal, eating healthy most of the time (five days a week) might not be enough to curtail the negative impact cheat days could have on your health.

More specifically — the impact cheat days could have on your ability to heal from inflammation, which is a staple of chronic pain.

January 16, 2021

What Happens to Your Blood After it’s Tested?

After you’ve been pricked, prodded, and poked, pretty, little, crimson vials of your blood are shipped off to a lab, never to be seen again.

But what happens after it’s been tested? Is your blood fed to vampires in government warehouses to keep them from prowling the streets and feeding on people? Is it stored away in towering, futuristic refrigerators along with thousands of other samples for further experimentation?

September 14, 2020

What is the Solar Cycle?

So, you’ve heard of the water cycle, the menstrual cycle, bicycles… But have you heard of the solar cycle?

September 2, 2020

September is National Honey Month

As sunflowers put on a show for us this month, it’s also important to pay homage to another black and yellow marvel of nature: bees.

September is National Honey Month, a time in which we honor the byproduct of the five-eyed, six-legged, insects that have soared through our skies at 20mph for the last 30 million years.

Bee pollination adds approximately 14 billion dollars to improved crop yield and quality annually in the United States, according to NASA. And while we all know the “BEES ARE DYING,” which will inevitably wreak havoc on agricultural output, did you know that honey may have played a critical role in human evolution?

August 27, 2020

An Abbreviated History of Neuroscience

Ah, neuroscience, the study of the squishy, slimy, three-pound computer that rests between our ears. Although the brain is the most complex organ in the body (or as a Trends in Cognitive Sciences Journal review aptly put it, “one of the most complex multicellular structures in biology”), neuroscience itself is only a mere 55 years old.

That’s right — the study of the brain, this omnipotent, protein and fat blob of soft tissue, is probably much younger than your grandparents.

August 16, 2020

Weekly Newsletter #86: TALK TO US ABOUT SCIENCE

Y’know, I had this realization the other day that I manage to casually slip some textbook-sounding medical tidbit into just about every conversation that I have.

So, TALK TO US ABOUT SCIENCE! Don’t be surprised if editor burgundy bug somehow manages to go off on some ICD-esque tangent, though.

Anyways, let’s dive into our weekly recap.