Yesterday was a beautiful glimpse into Spring. It was 70 degrees in Bloomington, with a warm westerly breeze to ruffle my hair. Driving home from Indianapolis, I had the windows down and the radio blaring. (The windows were down primarily to keep me from asphyxiating in my car because my heater has two settings:  HOT and broken.) Once back to my apartment, I threw open all of the windows and sat cross-legged on the wooden floor of my deck, breathing deep and smiling at the clouds rolling by overhead. I called my friend Meredith and we decided that having a picnic was the best idea we'd had all winter. I went to her house and we walked down to Sahara Mart (see "Mochi" entry) and got some greek grub:  spinach and feta sandwiches, kalamata olives, fruit, hummus, and chips. We walked down to the closest park--there are a lot in B-town actually--and spread our blanket in the imaginary shade of a leafless Maple tree. We ate and talked until full dark, then walked back to her apartment in the still warm night air.

This morning, while counting down the minutes left on the snooze (nine minus three, carry the one . . .6:42), I realized that there was a grayish glow to my bedroom. Was that sunlight? And birds! There are birds chirping in the tree outside my window! Who needs snooze, when it warm outside? Ok, maybe I do, but it's nice to lay in bed and listen to the cheerful little robins and finches yammering on about nests and other birdy things.

It's amazing how much warm weather and sunlight can improve one's mood. I was practically singing when I came in 2 minutes late to work this morning. (Probably not the best way to sneak in without the boss noticing, come to think of it.) Of course, the first thing I hear from my coworkers is how the warmth won't last, snow's on it's way--I mean, really, can't I just enjoy today? In any case, it has been a beautiful change of pace. Spring, spring--here it comes!

In about August of 2007, I realized that something wasn't quite right. I was surrounded by teenagers at the YOC who were preparing to head back to school for another year of book learnin' and homework assignments, and it made me all the more cognizant of the fact that I was not going to be attending any classes, nor did I have any reason to buy my beloved school supplies. This was perhaps the real reason I started looking for a job in academia.

Now, as an employee of Indiana University, I am able to take up to 3 credit hours per semester without being charged for tuition. (Did I mention I love my job?) Of course, I couldn't forgo this opportunity for free education, so I signed up for a course in Cognitive Neuroscience.

So far the class has been very interesting. We've examined preserved human brains in class and toured the fMRI lab in the psychology building. Today, I am going to tell my class a little bit about a recent breakthrough in neurology and memory. Last week I found an report on NPR that discussed a published case study on the recent discovery that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the hypothalamus may be able to increase memory abilities. This has huge implications for sufferers of Alzheimer's Disease, and it could possibly lead to a "pacemaker for the brain." I ended up reading about 5 different news reports on the discovery, and emailed my professor, who suggested I tell the class about it.

DBS has been used in the past to treat Parkinson's Disease, depression, tremor, chronic pain, and severe cluster  headaches (cluster headaches? ow!). It was a complete accident that stimulation of the hypothalamus increased the patient's memory. The neurologists operating on the man were actually hoping to decrease his appetite. (He is a 50 year old, morbidly obese man with Type II diabetes, and has not been able to reduce his weight through any traditional methods.)

This is pretty exciting stuff, especially to someone like me, who has experienced firsthand the effects of memory loss in a family member. Hopefully, this method will work for Alzheimer's patients. As for the man in the case study, he did not have Alzheimer's Disease, and as far as I know, he's still obese; but at least now he's got his memories.