Thursday Tea Times  -  The BrainChild of Sunbin Song

Come and enjoy tea, cookies, and lively discussion revolving 
around current topics.

When: Held the first Thursday of most months from 4:30 to 6:00pm.
Room: NE 401 Med/Dent  (Pharm library) or NE 403 (Pharm conference)
Description: Discussions with IPN faculty and students centered around a topic
Format: Current Events and Topic

March 2008 Topic:  The Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate -
 of which Georgetown was a part, has formally published its findings in a new book.  
Barry has a copy of the book but you can also read an excerpt here: 
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470197439.html.  
Come and hear about the major findings, how the Georgetown IPN played a role in 
the formation of this book and implementation of its findings, and how we can 
continue to move forward in these efforts both at Georgetown and beyond. 

February 2008 Topic:  Renewing an Old Debate: The Two Cultures
  In 1959, a hot debate was elicited by British academic C.P. Snow who claimed
 that two independent intellectual cultures were developing, one focused on the 
literary arts and other on science.  He claims this was to everyone's detriment.  
Today, the debate rages on although attempts, especially in the neurosciences, 
have been made to bridge this gap.  
More information to come as this topic develops...

November 2007 Topics:  Mentor/Mentee Communication  and
                                                  The neurobiology of faith/religion

October 2007 Topic:  From Academia to Industry:  
                                             Science in the Private Sector
Special guest:   Mark Velleca, M.D., Ph.D.  Founder of GCI Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Velleca discussed his experiences in moving from academia, where
he was on the faculty at Yale University Medical School, to an
entrepreneurial venture:  starting up a company.

September 2007 Topic:  Balancing Career and Family as a Scientist.
At the IPN Retreat at Prince William Forest Park

A lively and honest discussion of what it means to balance career and family 
for scientists.  Several men and women faculty members shared their 
experiences on this topic.  Lots of student questions kept the topic going
 for 1 1/2 hr.

February 2007 Topic:  The Neurobiology of Evil
When Where?  Thursday Feb 1st, 4:30pm, NE 401

Come and join us for an exploration of the dark side, scientifically of course.  
Are sociopaths born that way?  
Are there some who have uncontrollable compulsions to kill?  
Is pedophilia an innate sexual orientation?  Come armed with the latest scientific
 research, and armed to listen to the same.  
Nazi's thought we should eliminate deviants from our gene pool.  
What are your views on how as a society we should interpret and deal with 
this evidence?

(More links to come but for now, some quick links)
What is the the neurobiological basis behind uncontrolled violence? 
LINK 1
Why study the semantic processing of socio paths?
LINK 2

November 2006 Topic: Neurocognitive Enhancement
What does it mean to have a "normal" brain?  People who are not normal
 can do things no one else can do.  What is the difference between "genius"
 and a brain abnormality?  Would Einstein's parents put him on Ritalin if 
he were growing up now?

Food for thought...
A practical and ethical discussion regarding Neurocognitive Enhancement
Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5:421, 2004

September 2006 Topic:  How is the scientific environment changing?
  Is it becoming an inhospitable one for science?  Discussion held at the
annual IPN Retreat at Prince William Forest.  Beginning this stimulating 
discussion was an article by Dr. Goodstein at
  http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html
The discussion ended up focusing on the increasing  impact 
of regulatory affairs on a scientist's ability to get science done.

June 2006 Topic:  What are the causes for women to progress more
slowly than men up the academic ladder?

Wow!  This 3-hour discussion was stimulating as well as eye-opening.  
Thank you Sunbin!

February 2006 Topic:  Discourse between the public and 
                                               the scientist

As scientists, we usually write for the 10 other people in our field. Sometimes however, 
a paper might catch the eye of the public and for better or for worse, the scientist is now 
forced (or gladly accepts) to become a minor celebrity and an authority.

Is this a good thing?  Should this be a goal of a scientist to communicate to the public 
and have work highly relevant to the public's interest?  If one's work is misinterpreted, 
do you feel responsibility to clarify?  Does it help your career to have a highly publicized 
piece of work?  Is it just annoying?  Do you want to become the "go to" person for a certain 
topic as a leader in the field? 

Please come and share your thoughts and stories,

Cookies a la Martha Stewart, will be served

December 2005 Topic:   Ethics and Neuroscience

Do we even have free will?

As Damasio stated in his book, Descartes Error,
 today's philosophers sometimes find their answers in neuroscience. 

Come and debate issues surrounding free will, ethics, and morality.  
For fans of Daniel Dennett, this is for you.  If you need a starting point,
 check out the article by Josh Greene.

October 2005 Topic: How drugs have shaped American society.

In the 1960s, doctors tested a new compound in the hopes that it would cure
 alcoholism and mental illness.  Instead, they inspired a new generation of
 writers, musicians, and artists, and a flowering of creativity that was the 
60s & 70s and the counterculture revolution.  LSD defined an era.

In the 80s, cocaine had it's heyday, as materialism and corporate America
 rose to power, and in the 90s, we have a Prozac nation.  What defines the
 New Millenia?  

Come and discuss your thoughts on how drugs have shaped our society, 
how our society's values are reflected in it's drug use, and the implications
 this has on our future as a society and as scientists.   

September 2005 Topic:  Current events in science

This week's Tea Time is devoted entirely to current events which include:
1. Fetal Pain. (JAMA 2005, contact me if you want the pdf)
2. What do people have against the Dalai Lama? (set to speak at 2005 SFN)
3. The live longer gene. (Klotho gene upregulation prolongs health in 
aging mice)
4. The next Modafinal. (An AD drug leads to wakefullness and 
potential abuse)
5. Gaming-holics (A new addiction to online games leads to death and 
regulations)
6. fMRI really DOES measure human brain cell activity (Science 2005)

Feel free to bring your own current events, 
read up on them and be the smarty pants.

June 2005 Topic:    Neuroethics

		  Note date is Thursday, June 9

Note date is Monday, May 2 in NE403

In 2003, the Dalai Lama met with scientists for a forum at MIT in which neuroscience
set out to tackle some of the phenomena achieved through meditation by Buddhist monks.  For example, even in subzero freezing weather in which normal people would die of hypothermia, Buddhist monks can meditate and maintain a normal body temperature. 
Come join us to discuss what modern neuroscience has discovered about this ancient practice. 
          As an alternative hypothesis:
Is it suspended animation with H2S? BBC article
Original article in Science magazine

April 2005 Topic:   Neuroscience and the Law

Neuroscience has been used to make groundbreaking and controversial decisions 
in the courtroom.
  
- ... to outlaw death penalty:   On March 1st 2005, the Supreme Court outlawed juvenile 
death penalty based on research that shows adolescent forebrains are still developing 
(Roper vs. Simmons).  

- ... to determine what constitutes life:   On March 18th 2005, the Florida Court system 
allowed for Terry Schiavo's death based on neurologists' arguments that brain activity 
in the base but not in the cerebral cortex of the brain does not consitute life.

- ... to exonerate convicted criminals: Brain Fingerprinting, a controversial technique 
which uses brainwaves to determine guilt or innocence, has been used in appeals for 
deathrow convictions.  
                                __________________________________________
Please see below for more links, and come and share your thoughts 
this coming Thursday.

PS: As always, please bring current events to share. 

Links and more information:

Roper v. Simmons/ Juvenile Death Penalty
The differences between adolescent and adult brains bring into question whether 
adolescents should receive the death penalty no matter what the crime.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2108284/
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/03-633.html
http://www.apa.org/releases/ropervsimmons.html

Terry Schiavo/ Euthanasia debate
What is death?
http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=524703

Brain Fingerprinting: 
Can brain imaging be used to determine guilt or innocence?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3495433.stm
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/issues/mental_surveillance.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/07/0705_wirelies.html

March 2005 Topic: Politics and Science.  Discussion centered around
the new guidelines at the NIH and the debate over stem cell research.  Faculty shared
their experiences, observations, and reactions to changing policies and how they
effect the future scientist. 
Students asked questions about the reasons behind these regulations, and received
advice on choices to be made in the emerging scientific world.  Notable current events
also included the remarks made by the Harvard dean, new technology such as
"Virtual reality" in which patients without limbs can now have prosthetics that
respond to brain signals delivered via electrodes, and discussion over human
stem cell lines.