badchad

In a VERY basic sense you'll use statistics to determine whether the difference between two groups is "real"; or whether two or more sets of data are different due to chance and variability. Usually, you are comparing a treatment group(s) to a control. However, statistics can get very complex (depending on what you're comparing, how many groups, how large the difference is etc.). Thus, a basic knowledge of statistics is required for most fields of science.

As Cap'n said, you'll need good grades in a basic science degree or pre-med. During your undergraduate work experience will help (vounteering in a hospital and other extracurricular stuff). Then once you get into med. school you'll need to do well and spend a ton of time in a residency. I can't say for sure, but be prepared for a TON of school (4 years undergrad, 4 years med. school plus a residency which I would imagine ranges from 4-8 years). So we're talking about 14+ years after college. good luck!

As you said, LSD binds to serotonergic receptors. However, generally speaking antidepressants DECREASE the subjective effects of hallucinogens. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8726753&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

The short answer is NO, that method will not induce hallucinations. Even when considering drugs and pharmacologically induced hallucinations there is a lot of variability in the subjective effects of the drug. For example, some compounds will have a much larger visual load, others have more of a "body load". Even the types of patterns and visuals differ with the specifc compound in question.

In short, my opinion is that you are vastly overestimating what these drugs are capable of. I'm relatively unfamiliar with the subject, so I did a pubmed search using the keyword "nootropic" and searched within clinical trials. Looking over the first page, it appears the vast majority are studies performed in patients with dementia and alzheimers. Also, you have to consider how we measure the effects of these drugs. From an experimental standpoint imagine the difficulties in measuring "academic performance" or cognitive fucntion in a group of treated patients vs. controls. So in my opinion there are a lot of drawbacks. First, our limited knowledge (depending on how you look at it) of how thoughts and the brain work in general. Second, devloping an objective measure of "intelligence", "smart" etc. to measure the effects of these drugs. Seems to me the debate is somewhat far off. Perhaps there are others familiar with these compounds.

Quick side note: heroin use by American soldiers in vietnam is often used in studying what exactly causes "addiction". (more specifically, whether a substance can be intrinsically addicitve). For instance, nearly 35% of soldiers used heroin in vietnam. However, when they returned home, few (if any) continued to use the drug. This sets the premise for the debate on what other factors contribute to "addiction".

An "invited review" is, (as the name implies) A request/offer from a particular journal to a specific researcher to write an article. Usually these are given to very experienced researchers and/or authorities whom are experts or considered "leading researchers" within their particular field. While I cannot speak for all areas of science, generally speaking, journal articles (whether reviews or original research) are reserved for professional scientists. I would urge you to look up several articles on pubmed to get an idea of how they are written. In addition, look up the references in the reviews; so you can get an idea of how the ideas in the reviews are formed (e.g. the original research that the review is referring to).

I would assume you've never written a grant before. Unfortunately, government funding is usually reserved for those who are formally educated, and have prior experience in their expertise. Do you have any publications? Do you have any preliminary data? Do you have a sponsoring institution which will provide an environment conducive to achieveing your goals? Grant writing is a skill that takes years and years of experience. Having a "connection" may help, but the process is much more involved than simply presenting an idea. Good luck!

I'm not too far off in Buffalo, NY. Yes, it's been the same here.

Anyone have a link to the actual study? They should have added a third group to the mix; a group receiving nothing at all. Then you could look and see if there were differences amongst the groups. If there were a difference among all three, you would have additional evidence against it being pureley placebo. While I'm not an expert on acupuncture, the study (as well as some others I breezed over on pubmed) seems to indicate that acupuncture can produce measurable, and physical changes in the body. If these changes are greater than the control group (e.g. those receiving needles inserted to a very small depth) one could conclude it's not purely placebo. Theoretically, it makes sense. Stimulate a neuron with a needle, and you'll get changes. Whether the stimulation occurs with said needle, or with a therapeutic drug may not make much of a difference.

If you had found a cure for cancer you'd make a submission to a prestigious peer-reviewed journal. Probably Science or Nature. However, the majority of publications are of "original research" which requires data and experimentation. While I'm not in cancer research, I would certainly think you'd need data to assert that you had "cured cancer". I hate to sound skeptical, but the fact that you're not familiar with the peer-review process and/or the publication of data will immediately make people question the validity of your hypothesis (whatever that may be). good luck!

Have you read ANYTHING about the side effects of Nutmeg? You're going to seriously regret this.

As most have already stated, your ISP usually provides you with hosting space. I used Macromedia Dreamweaver to make my website. Very simple to use. Took a few days to learn but after that it was very simple. Of course, I had a very basic site.

You need an autoclave to be able to "autoclave" something. From looking at the size of the machines around my lab, I'd think the pressure is pretty darn high inside them (not something you could achieve at home). Although, I'm sure someone knows more about this than I.

I'm in my 5th year of my Ph.D program and hopefully finishing soon. At the time I applied, the majority of schools had a person skip directly to a Ph.D program. Thats exactly what I did.

It depends on what you want to do. With a BS, your major opportunities will be working as a lab technician. An MS will get you a bit more pay, and perhaps some extra responsibilities but not much else. If you aspire to be the head of a laboratory go for your Ph.D.

I get these from paypal constantly. They are "fishing" scams. They just hope you input your valid info into their website.

As most have already stated: Our goal is to pass along our genetic material in the form of offspring. Consider your "average pregnant woman". If she has slept with hundreds of men, the chances of the baby being "yours" decrease dramatically.

Could you provide me a reference showing that LSD causes a "consisderable increase in death and disease"? And to keep on track, a major point of debate on the subject is whether particular substance can "cause" schizophrenia or whether it may cause a psychotic episode in predisposed individuals. While some of the aformentioned drugs can be "psychotomimetic" there isn't a lot of data suggesting the effects last after the acute effects of the drug have ceased.

As ashennell said, just because a drug is natural, or binds to an endogenous receptor doesn't mean it is "safe" by any means. But as far as your hypothesis is concerned it could be plausible. As far as human perception, cognition and consciousness is concerned there's no telling what may happen when particular neurotransmitter or receptor is stimulated. As another example, you could look at LSD (acid). We're fairly certain the primary effects occur through stimulation of serotonergic receptors (specifically 5-HT2A receptors) and its chemical structure resembles serotonin. However, it induces a conscious state well beyond what is considered "normal".

Theoretically, if we took all the atoms in the universe; wouldn't that include the atoms within the brain?

I had a related, yet slightly off topic question: We all know that (in a basic sense) when we exercise, our hearts get stronger. But I was curious, would it be possible to strengthen the hear through drug use? For instance, a dose of cocaine will increase the heart rate. So, theoretically speaking, will the heart get stronger through use of drugs which increase our heart rate? (caffein, amphetamines etc.)

Thats not entirely correct. The number of animals needed depends upon the experiment and varies tremendously.

I'm in Pharmacology and Toxicology. I mostly do behavioral work. Our laboratory focuses on psychotropic drugs and hallucinogens. My choice was relatively easy because I find the effects of hallucinogens on the mind intriguing. Also, there were a lot of practical matters considered in my choice. EMployment is one, I hope to find a job with a major pharm. company relatively soon. Also, with being a behavioralist we use in vivo models which require a lot of speculation which allows me some creativity. In a more general sense I like psychotropic drugs because I feel it is a wonderful combination of what many consider "hard science" and a tough of philosophy.

I believe I have located the original publication here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10479703&query_hl=3 I'm sure someone has institutional access on here and can grab it for ya. If not PM me with an email and I can send it to you (although I don't lurk around these boards often, so you'll have to be patient).