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Biology in the News is presented by Dr. Lamar's Biology A/B classes. Each student is responsible for posting ONE blog entry and commenting on ONE post submitted by a fellow student.

About your initial posting . . . . . (approximately 150- 300 words)

Your initial posting is worth 30 points. It must be submitted by October 15th. - Locate an electronic article about a new finding in biology. Article must be been written in the last 12 months. Your posting should include 1) the name of the article (3 point), 2) article source - be specific (3 point), 3) date of article (2 point), 4) link to article (2 points), 5) summary of article in your own words (0-10 points), and 6) significance of article (0-10 points). Comments on significance of article can include (but not be limited to) importance of article to self, to society, or to the further advancement of a particular area of biology.

NOTE: To add link, select text in post that you want to link, click on link icon above posting field, and then paste URL information into appropriate field.

About your comments to a fellow classmate's posting . . . . (approximately 100 - 200 words)

Your comments to another student's posting is worth 20 points. Comments must be submitted between October 16 and November 19 - "The more you know, the more you realize there's a lot more to know" is certainly true to science. Read our Biology in the News blob posts. Pick one post (not your own) and submit comments about this post. Comments should included 1) A question that is raised in your mind by the post. The question should have scientific relevance (0 - 5 points) 2) a response to your question. (0-15 points) Research your question and answer it. If the answer is currently unknown, provide additional background information, describe research that is being done in this field, and/or research that is required for the question to be answered.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Love takes up where pain leaves off

Love takes up where pain leaves off (ScienceDaily.com)
October 14, 2010
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013173843.htm
Summary: When people are in love, they have shown significant differences in their mood when it comes to pain. Scientists aren’t ready to tell patients with chronic pain replace their painkillers with a passionate love affair just yet. They are hoping to get a better understanding of the pathways that get triggered by love so that they could lead to new methods for producing pain relief.  The same areas of the brain activated by intense love are the same areas that drugs use to reduce pain. Researchers did a study on undergraduates who were in the new phases of love, the subjects were feeling euphoric, energetic, and constantly thinking about their loved ones. Results showed that both love and distraction equally reduced pain, but the two methods of pain reduction used very different brain pathways.
Significance: I believe this is an important article because it could help scientists come up with newer, safer and possibly less addictive drugs to help people deal with pain. When people are in chronic pain a lot of times they get addicted to the medication and if somehow understanding the way love affects the brain and pain receptors this can be helped. It could make a huge impact on the world if they could find new medication due to this research
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2 comments:

  1. kelleigh JioNovember 18, 2010 at 9:30 AM

    I really like this article because its cool to think that love can be a substitute to medications that could potentially do serious damage to someone. I really like that it says that love could reduces pain. I think this is probably because of the fact that when you are in love you are more distracted and don't focus on the negative aspects of your life like pain.


    Question: So if you go to the doctor for certain types of pain will they say get a lover or a partner?


    Answer: Though this is what it seems like, not all people are alike and sometimes love isn't always the answer. Though doctors say that people are feeling intense rewards without the effects of love, prescription drugs cannot be replaced by an emotion that may or may not work.

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  2. jessicaNovember 23, 2010 at 4:06 PM

    I really enjoyed this article. You picked a good topic. I can see how thinking of loved ones helps you ease pain and distract you. I was in a really bad car wreck two Christmases ago with my boyfriend and all I could think about was if he was okay not my own pain so I have been there.
    My question would be: Would the next step be to run a trial where they use drugs that make you feel euphoric and energetic rather than pain killers?
    Answer: If doctors aren't going to tell patients to go fall in love for their pain, the only next logical step would be to make them have those feelings. According to livestrong.com, "Dopamine & norepinephrine are two critical neurotransmitters that regulate your mood and behavior. Both dopamine and norepinephrine are in tricyclic antidepressant medications which are used to treat depression."
    Apparently, Dopamine and cocaine work together to create this Euphoric feeling. I highly doubt that doctors are going to start prescribing cocaine to their patients.

    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/17497-dopamine-norepinephrine/#ixzz169a3vNHl

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