Matthew Sparks

@sparksm

BS Behavioral Neuroscience: addiction and addiction treatment armchair-expert with a past toxic relationship with opioids. Aspiring terminal degree holder. Lifelong musician, metalhead, tech nerd and PC gamer, and open-mic night standup comic. Accidentally blew up on YouTube for screaming in my car.

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Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn are using a biophysical model to clarify how astrocytes interact with nerve cells to regulate rapid adaptation to new information.

Lorenzo Squadrani • Astrocytes: The Unsung Heroes of Learning and Memory - Neuroscience News

Academic Papers and

This goes along with the suggestion from that Glutamate & MDD lecture I love on YouTube given to psychiatry med students where the lecturer/professor claims that glial cells are the real stars in much of the processes that are major areas of study right now in mental illness.

Astrocytes regulate synaptic plasticity, which is essential for learning and memory. Their dysfunction can lead to significant cognitive decline.

Also, the researchers referring to themselves as Computational Neuroscientists—just a heads up!

The Pudding

pudding.cool

While going through the showcase of pages made using Svelte/Sveltekit, this one that tells stories through data, presented in beautiful, single-page scrolling fashion, was especially memorable. Enough to warrant it being added here.

Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters - PubMed

A I Leshner pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Addiction and Neuroscience

This is one of the foundational papers that established the more medicalized brain disease model of addiction (which AA and treatment facilities would borrow from, if I were to put it lightly. Hijack is a more appropriate term)

One thing I'd argue as a starting point is there is no "theory" or a "model" of addiction as a disease. The arguments associated with that claim are actually not that cohesive. A common position associated with addiction as a disease is that it is an essential category, which is an idea we can get our arms around a bit better and which I discuss... See more

Toward a Unified Field Theory of Human Flourishing

Addiction

come. The resulting marriage penalty discourages marriage and rewards single parenthood. Combined marriage penalties across federal and state welfare programs can reach tens of thousands of dollars per year for a given family. One component of the marriage penalties comes from state-level free or subsidized preschool programs. In addition

Benjamin Paris • How Welfare Programs Discourage Marriage: The Case of Pre-K Education Subsidies

Politics

This is absolute garbage. If you search “marriage penalties and federal welfare programs”—which is in their Project 2025, this trash is the first result.

Tattoo Ideas

Motivation and Humor

1000 IQ crippling self-doubt ENGAGED.

Motivation

The only way to lose is not to act.
The only wrong decision is to not do something.

Another day dragged on into sleepless nights
I wish I knew no stars when the sky grows dark
Each one a reminder of all that we are (All that we are)
And how it fell apart

Monument to every meaningless goodbye
And a purpose I have yet to find
A pale light lingers no matter where I hide
Are you ready for truth and pain to be the same?

The difference between

Lyrics and