He advanced the field of medical genetics, spoke out about reducing the stigma associated with mental illness, and captured attention for asserting that scientific evidence failed to demonstrate that life begins at conception.
Absence of human contact is associated with declines in cognitive function. But as the COVID-19 pandemic brings concerns about the potential harms of isolation to the fore, researchers are still hunting for concrete evidence of a causal role as well as possible mechanisms.
A meta-analysis of more than 80 studies from the past four decades finds weak evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis to treat anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.
The UCSD psychiatry researcher championed the concept of mental illness as a neurobiological condition and helped form the US government’s Decade of the Brain initiative.
The neuronal coverings that mediate synaptic changes are involved in everything from memory to psychiatric disorders, affecting autism, Alzheimer’s, and addiction.
Presentations at the Society for Neuroscience meeting point to changes in neurons and connectivity between brain regions as potential components of the enigmatic condition.