Author: Jessica Fisher

While there are many instances in which synchronicity may be beneficial, such as musicians playing in unison, the same cannot always be said for neurons in the brain. A seizure results from atypical, hypersynchronous electrical activity in the brain (Milligan, 2021). Neurons become overexcited and fire in abnormal patterns, often recruiting neighboring neurons to fire…

Climate change has been on many of our minds recently – but what if it physically affects some people’s brains? Emerging research predicts that elevations in climate change-related air pollution can increase incidence of neurological disorders (Xu, Ha and Basnet, 2016). One of these disorders is multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder characterized by neuroinflammation…

Many of us would like to believe that “the Ice Bucket Challenge was the beginning of ending ALS” as phrased by Pat Quinn, one of the Ice Bucket Challenge founders (Sohn, 2017). In 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge raised global awareness and millions of dollars for research on the neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).…