I’ll be giving two talks (sponsored by San Jacinto College’s Lyceum Committee) on Wednesday, April 10, 2013.  Both lectures will be held at the Proscenium Theatre in the Marie Spence Flickinger Fine Arts Center, located on the San Jacinto College South Campus at 13735 Beamer Road in Houston.  (And they are open to the public!)

The first talk, at 10:00am, will be about women and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers, entitled, “The Trouble with Women and Science (or Why Aren’t More Women Pursuing STEM Careers?).”  I’ll tackle why understanding why women aren’t going into STEM careers is such a tricky thing–and what people are doing to try to encourage more girls to get into science.

Later, at 7:00pm, I’ll be talking love, brains and sex — “That Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”  Who doesn’t want to learn more about all the ways love can turn us into proverbial crackheads?

It’s going to be a full, fun day at San Jacinto College.  I hope to see you there!

I hope you’ll tune in and join me!

You’ll find me at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania discussing love, lust and the brain from 4:00pm-5:00pm in Oberkotter 1.

Fun fact about me:  I actually went to elementary school in a town just a few miles away from Allentown.  It will be my first time back in that neck of the woods since, well, I’m not sure I can count back that far.  I am looking forward to seeing how much the area has changed–as well as talking some neuroscience.

If you are in the Allentown area, pop on over.  The event is free and open to the public.

I hope to see you there!  (And if I do see you there, please come over and introduce yourself.  I only bite when asked very, very nicely.  I promise).

Thanks, Stanley!

You may have noticed a few changes around here.  Welcome to my new website–the guys at Out:think did an amazing job with the design and implementation.  And I’m looking forward to blogging and keeping y’all abreast about what’s happening with me.

Of course, that’s not the only change.  DIRTY MINDS is being released in paperback by Simon & Schuster on March 26, 2013.  But it will be released with a new title and a whole new look.  I give you THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SEX:  THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SEARCH FOR LOVE.  Pretty spiffy, no?

You can pre-order the paper now.  And make sure to check back on my Speaking page:  there will be a lot of great events coming up in spots like the Woodlands, Des Moines, Houston and Allentown, Pennsylvania.  I hope to see you there!

Excerpt:

Excerpt:

Potential drugs for neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer’s disease have been stymied by their inability to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), a system of unique blood vessels that acts as a natural barricade between the brain and the rest of the body. This barrier, designed to block potentially harmful substances from reaching neural tissue, also holds back the very agents designed to target disease. But two new techniques, one using endogenous adenosine receptors and another using ultrasound, may offer doctors the ability to not only open the BBB but also control the length of time it remains open…

(To read the rest of the article, click here).

Barry Komisaruk's orgasm research was a hot topic at this year's Society for Neuroscience conference.  The Guardian asked me to blog about how one has an orgasm in an fMRI.

Excerpt:

The first question, invariably, is, "Excuse me? You had a what where?" It's not a surprise, really. People may not be shocked if you tell them you managed a wank on, say, the train or even in a public restroom. But when you announce that you took part in an orgasm study and managed to reach climax in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner as it recorded the blood flow in your brain? Well, that's not something one hears every day…

(To read the rest of the post, click here).

NOTE:  This piece was included in a round-up of the Guardian's best science stories of 2011.

What happens when you donate an orgasm to science and it goes viral on the web?  Well, let me tell you.

Excerpt:

After donating one of my orgasms to neuroscience, I watched a scan of my brain at the moment of ecstasy go viral on the Internet. And as a result, I find myself being simultaneously accused of being a sinner, an exhibitionist, a pervert and a tease.

It all started as a purely research endeavor.  As part of my background research into the neurobiology of sex for my book, "Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex and Relationships,"  I interviewed Barry Komisaruk, a lovely and brilliant professor at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. While many researchers avoid sex and love experiments like the plague due to lack of funding and scientific prestige, Komisaruk and his lab have been studying what happens in the brain during orgasm for decades. He's a true pioneer…

(To read the rest of the article, click here).

Excerpt:

Soon after I married my Army officer husband, an acquaintance gave me a photocopied page of an old-school military spouse handbook as a lark. As part and parcel of being a “good” military spouse, it entreated new spouses to have at least two pairs of white gloves on hand at all times as well as a well-stocked stationery box. The first was deemed necessary to make the best possible impression on all the higher-ups a wife might meet as her husband made his ascent through the ranks.The second, of course, was recommended to help the new spouse stay connected with friends and family as she started her wonderful new adventure as a soldier’s rock and helpmeet…

(To read the rest of the post, click here).