It's what I do

When I’m not writing lectures, giving lectures, grading papers, reading, writing, or meeting with students, I’m counting. Counting sounds like an easy task, right? I mean it is just numbers. When people call/email me while I’m at work & ask me what I’m doing and I say that I’m counting, this is what I’m staring at under the microscope……for hooooouuuurrrrrsssss. I have a love-hate relationship with these little brown dots. These “dots” by the way, are neural markers of resiliency and plasticity upregulated with the onset of chronic stress (yes, this is my inner nerd coming out).

A region of the brain associated with learning and memory, known as the hippocampus

And now for a "close-up"

A region of the brain associated with emotion, known as the amygdala

Up close and personal with cells in the amygdala