Image of the Week: The Cocaine Brain

Experiments with mice show how much cocaine exposure physically changes the brain.

How does marijuana affect brain function?

The main active ingredient in marijuana alters the normal communication between cells and circuits in the brain.

Animal Research Advances Effort to Develop Vaccines Against Cocaine, Heroin Abuse

To block the effects of abused drugs, scientists recruit the immune system.

Opiates

Humans have used opiate drugs, such as morphine, for thousands of years, but these are often highly addictive and dangerous to one's health.

Marijuana

Marijuana distorts perception and alters the sense of time, space, and self. Researchers have made some progress in uncovering the reasons for these responses.

Club Drugs

Ecstasy, herbal ecstasy, rohypnol (“roofies”), GHB (gamma hydroxy-butyrate), and ketamine are among the drugs used by some teens and young adults as part of raves and trances. Recent research, however, is uncovering the serious damage that can occur in several parts of the brain from use of some of these drugs.

Psychostimulants

Psychostimulants, including cocaine and amphetamines, have become increasingly popular in the United States. In 2009 an estimated 4.8 million people age 12 and older had abused cocaine.

Addiction: An Overview

Drug abuse is one of the nation’s most serious health problems. About 9 percent of Americans, more than 22 million people, abuse drugs on a regular basis. Drug abuse, including alcohol and nicotine, is estimated to cost the U.S. more than $600 billion each year.

Alcohol

Although legal, alcohol is addictive. Together, alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction — sometimes referred to as alcoholism or alcohol dependence — are among the nation’s major health problems.

Nicotine

Despite definitive proof that smoking can be fatal, nicotine still is one of the most widely abused substances. In fact, tobacco kills more than 440,000 U.S. citizens each year — more than alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, and HIV combined.

David Jentsch: Commitment to Science

Scientist targeted by animal rights activists asks about the ethics of inaction.

The Brain, and the Actions of Cocaine, Opiates, and Marijuana

Teaching packets for teachers, aimed at secondary school students. Learn how the brain's reward center works, and what happens in the brain when a person uses cocaine, opiates (heroine), or marijuana.

BrainU

Making Neuroscience Fun

This website offers a collection of PowerPoint presentations (with scripts) designed for teaching students (pre-primary to higher primary) about the brain and the nervous system.

Alcohol and Its Impact on the Brain

In this lesson by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, students learn how alcohol affects different parts of the brain, which in turn affects behavior.

NIDA for Teens

The National Institute on Drug Abuse created this website to educate 11 to 15 year-olds — as well as their parents and teachers — on the science behind drug abuse.

Mice and Other Animal Models of Addiction

This Web resource highlights the valuable role that animals play in biomedical research. The anatomy of the reward pathways in the human brain and the rat brain are compared to emphasize their similarities.

National Institutes of Health: Office of Science Education

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Curriculum Supplement Series provides interactive teaching units that combine cutting-edge science research discoveries from the NIH with state-of-the-art instructional materials. Each supplement is a teacher's guide to two weeks of lessons on science and human health.

Understanding Alcohol: Investigations into Biology and Behavior

Learn about the science underlying the effects of alcohol on human biology and behavior in this interactive teaching unit from the National Institutes of Health.

Brain Awareness Month from the Atlanta SfN Chapter

This website includes a menu of lessons to involve students in neuroscience and spread the word about brain research to the public.