Psychology and Neuroscience

Students sending a text for help

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 22:09:51 +0000

Students sending a text for help Rachel Sauer Thu, 09/17/2026 - 16:09

Tiffany Plate

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Assistant Professor Tamar Kodish is leveraging modern technology to break down barriers to mental health resources at community colleges

Mental health is a significant topic of concern on many college campuses these days. Recent estimates suggest that approximately one in three students at four-year colleges and universities experience mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

At community colleges, however, that number could be as high as one in two students.

“Community college students tend to face a lot more contextual stressors,” says Tamar Kodish, assistant professor in the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. “There are much higher rates of food insecurity and houselessness. And they are significantly more likely to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, or to be racial and ethnic minorities.”

Psychology and neuroscience Assistant Professor Tamar Kodish used a human-centered approach to design a text messaging strategy to encourage students to use free mental health resources. (Photo courtesy Tamar Kodish)

Through prior research, Kodish became interested in exploring different strategies to encourage community college students to access available mental health resources on campus. She began asking, “What can we do to try to improve engagement in mental health services for people who might be at risk of not getting care that they need?”

That question led to a research study, recently published in the journal JMIR Formative Research, examining how the right text messages, sent to students at the right time, could be key to ensuring valuable mental health resources reach the students who may need it most.

Taking a STAND for mental health

Kodish, who received her PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA, received funding for the pilot project through UCLA’s STAND ALACRITY Center, a research center under the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge (DGC). The Center’s aim is to improve the mental health care available to community college students through a new model called STAND. Center researchers are studying how to improve/optimize STAND through a research program at East Los Angeles College.

STAND—which is short for Screening and Treatment for Anxiety and Depression—is an adaptable, scalable system of care that includes screening, treatment and ongoing monitoring of mood and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Students who choose to engage with STAND first answer different questions about their mental health through an online assessment; based on their responses, they’re triaged into one of three levels of treatment.

Students who have mild symptoms of depression and anxiety are given a self-guided, online wellness program, while those with moderate symptoms receive a digital mental health program, including peer-to-peer coaching support from certified STAND coaches.

Students with severe symptoms are eligible to get clinical therapy—sometimes with psychiatric support—that’s delivered remotely. DGC researchers are testing new approaches to allocating treatment by creating a data-driven algorithm that accounts not only for symptom severity but also for other social and structural factors, like food and housing security.

An example of a text message Kodish’s team developed—alongside community college students—to help identify the barriers and stigmas around receiving mental health care. Students would then receive tailored responses based on their selection. (Illustration courtesy of Tamar Kodish)

Research has shown that the STAND approach works. In a 2023 study, more than 500 UCLA students who engaged with one of the three levels of care showed measurable improvement in depression and anxiety scores.

Encouraging uptake, increasing engagement

Those 500 students, however, were just a portion of the 3,500-plus students who initially took the online screening.

“We found that only 14% of students who were eligible for STAND services actually got started with treatment, so we were losing tons of people along the way,” says Kodish. That led her and her colleagues to explore new ways of keeping people from falling off the continuum of care.

Kodish was also interested in seeing how this engagement might differ at a community college, since the previous study, like many others, was only conducted at a four-year university. "We don't know nearly as much about community college students,” says Kodish. “They're a super underrepresented, and super diverse, group.”

So Kodish headed to East Los Angeles College (ELAC)—where the STAND at ELAC program had been underway since 2022—armed with a new idea for reaching students where they are. “I got really interested in text messaging as a potential approach based on what I had seen in the literature, and from what I knew from talking to college students.”

She began by inviting students on campus to focus groups and asked open-ended questions about what they saw as barriers to engaging with the STAND resources. The goal was to find ways to communicate with students who either dropped off in the middle of taking the STAND screening or completed the screening but didn’t engage with the resources that were delivered to them.

A blueprint for eye-catching texts

“Overall, students were really enthusiastic about using text messaging,” says Kodish. “They felt like it was feasible, it was easy, it was convenient and it would fit into their lives.”

After the focus groups, she asked a subset of those students—19 in all—to help design the messages themselves. “They definitely wanted something that was multimedia,” says Kodish. “They said, ‘They can't be too long, they can't be too spammy, and they need to have imagery and videos to draw you in and differentiate them from other random messages.’”

Kodish’s team took their directives, drafted the look and content of the messages and then returned them to the students for further input before incorporating them into the STAND protocol.

While the current study doesn’t explore how to keep students engaged once they’re in treatment, Kodish says she believes this initial “uptake” phase of the process is still vitally important. “If you don't get people's foot in the door, then sustainment doesn't even matter,” she says.

Personally, Kodish hopes as many students as possible at least take the online screening offered by the program. “They’re getting really valuable information,” says Kodish. “Even if they have mild symptoms or no symptoms, they're getting some information about their mental health status that they might not otherwise have.”

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Assistant Professor Tamar Kodish is leveraging modern technology to break down barriers to mental health resources at community colleges.

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Top photo: Eugene Chystiakov/Unsplash

Visualizing the brain with 3D-printed models

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:59:07 +0000

Visualizing the brain with 3D-printed models Rachel Sauer Tue, 09/15/2026 - 09:59

Blake Puscher

3D-printed model brains are more accessible and ethical than conventional alternatives, says ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Jennifer Stratford

When studying anatomy, students often use models, which recreate the structure of an organ or other part of the body in a form that is easy to study.

Although donor bodies are generally considered the gold standard in higher education because they are the only resource that allows students to directly study real anatomy, the number of donor bodies is limited, making them difficult to access, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Models are somewhat more accessible, but if they are anatomically accurate, similar challenges apply, because they must be based on real donor anatomy to provide educational value. Accurate models are also expensive. However, if educators could 3D print their own models, cost would be less of a barrier, says Jennifer Stratford, a University of Colorado Boulder teaching professor of psychology and neuroscience.

Jennifer Stratford is a ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� teaching professor of psychology and neuroscience.

In a recent analysis conducted with colleagues in the CU Anschutz Modern Human Anatomy Program as well as other institutions, Stratford details the learning benefits of 3D printing brain models.

Why brain models?

Neuroanatomy, or the anatomy of the brain and other parts of the nervous system, is a challenging yet important area of study, according to Stratford. Clinical specialties like neurology, psychiatry, anesthesiology, radiology, physiotherapy and more rely in part on knowledge of the brain to correctly diagnose and treat patients. However, Stratford explains, “the human brain is much more difficult to understand than other organs.

“If I showed you a model heart, you could make some educated guesses about how the heart works,” she continues. On the other hand, “if I give you a model of a brain, and I asked you how you think it works just by looking at it, it is almost impossible to guess. That makes learning neuroanatomy tricky,” Stratford adds, and it makes resources that can help students learn particularly valuable.

“I think a lot of people do not realize all the effort, expense and ethical considerations that go into a human brain model,” Stratford says. “It can cost hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars to buy that model from a company.” Additionally, “a lot of original brain models were created without asking for permission,” whether from cadavers that a lab had access to or from bodies that were donated without specific consent to make models based on the brain.

While brain models are more accessible than donor brains, they can still be difficult to obtain, especially in large enough numbers for a whole class of students. 3D printing addresses this by giving educators the option to produce anatomical models themselves at a reduced cost, either using brain scans they take themselves or data from open-access repositories like the CU Modern Human Anatomy Hub, which was created by the research team behind the paper. Putting scan data online comes with additional ethical considerations, but the authors provide ways of managing these, such as data anonymization, and online resources make it possible for people all over the world to create their own models.

“What 3D models help us do is to give students, other educators and the public the opportunity to hold some of these specimens in their hands,” Stratford says.

Collecting and processing data

Stratford and her co-authors describe a five-step process that educators can follow to create and use a 3D model, beginning with selecting or acquiring a model of the brain. These models are ready to use, but if an educator wants a custom model, it can be created from patient data or a physical, donated specimen.

A revised Bloom's taxonomy applied to 3D prints of neuroanatomy, explaining learning objectives at each step of the taxonomy. (Infographic courtesy the paper authors)

Patient data includes CT and MRI scans of the brain or other nervous-system structures. A 3D object can be extracted from this data using a process called segmentation.

“All the patient data, at least that we use, is digitally created with a computer, but it does not have all the brain structures picked out,” Stratford says. “It is not very clean, so one of the goals of extraction is to clean up the 3D rendering of the brain, both making it more crisp, but also highlighting different areas.”

This process also can be described as “removing artifacts.” In this context, artifacts are errors introduced by the way information is captured, such as a lens flare in a photograph.

Additionally, the different regions of the brain are not easily distinguishable from raw data, so highlighting some of them can make the final product a better teaching tool. According to Stratford, while some programs can segment data automatically, they are still new and error prone, so most people currently do segmentation by hand, and it can be one of the more labor-intensive parts of the rendering process.

Physical specimens can also be turned into 3D models using scanning technology, including commercial 3D scanners or even digital cameras or smartphones. Scanners make models by measuring the distance between the scanner and the surface of the object, while cameras algorithmically combine a series of photos in a process called photogrammetry. Scanning also introduces some artifacts, so digital editing is necessary either way, and it is considered the second step in the process.

Thirdly, Stratford and her co-authors recommend licensing the model with a Creative Commons license and making it open access online. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has developed free copyright licenses designed to help content owners reserve some rights while waiving others. In this case, a Creative Commons license would allow the owner or owners to retain control over how their work is used while making it free to access. According to open access principles, research literature and especially medical resources should be free so that healthcare providers are not prevented from taking advantage of potentially vital information by paywalls or other such barriers.

An example of 3D brain prints by printing level. (Infographic courtesy of the paper authors)

Printing and using models

The fourth step is to actually 3D print the model. This requires converting data collected in the first step into instructions the printer can use, which is done by software applications called “slicers,” referencing how most 3D printers create physical objects by laying down material in layers or “slices” of the object.

“That’s what we do in 3D printing in general,” Stratford says, “not just for brains. It is like you are printing multiple sheets every time, and each sheet is made of little bumps in different places, and then you push those together to make a 3D rendering.”

This step can vary significantly in terms of cost and complexity depending on the model of printer and type of materials used. To reflect this, Stratford and her colleagues split the printing process into three difficulty levels ranging from beginner to advanced. According to Stratford, while the beginner level is cheapest and requires only a basic 3D printer, it limits the product to a single color.

“They are really cheap and easy to make, so those are the type I typically use when I do outreach. If somebody drops something, I am not worried if they get damaged, and I am not looking for a ton of detail there.

“From there, you can get more sophisticated. Different 3D printer models that are more expensive can print, for instance, in two colors,” she continues, allowing different parts of the brain to be color-coded. “For instance, you could highlight what is called the spinothalamic tract. That is one of the classic pathways in the brain, but anatomically, it is hard to pick out on its own.”

Multiple colors help with this by creating contrast. The most expensive 3D printers allow for the use of more than two colors.

“One of the things we used to 3D print” at Anschutz, Stratford says, “was taste buds from your tongue. In your taste buds, there are lots of different cell types, and so we could make each cell type a different color and then have that printed in the 3D model. It was really cool to see how that looked.”

Besides different colors, printers can use different filaments (the materials the models are made from), some of which are easier to work with than others. A beginner print may use bioplastic (PLA) filament, which is less expensive and does not have a strong odor, but models made from PLA can be brittle. Advanced printing may involve multiple materials or higher-quality materials like resin. However, both require more expensive printers, and liquid resin releases toxic fumes, so personal protective equipment is needed when working with it.

Finally, once the model has been printed, it can be used for education.

“One of the things they are really useful for,” Stratford explains, “is when you want to teach the overall structure of the brain. That is called gross neuroanatomy. Being able to give individual groups of students their own models can be helpful. Because traditional models are so expensive, most classrooms cannot afford to have more than maybe two or three.”

Because 3D-printed models are cheaper, the ratio of models to students can be better. “For instance, in my class of about 45, we had 15 models to work with, so even though people had to triple up, it is much better than having only one or two models for people to look through.

“Another aspect is, you are generating models based on real brains, whereas if you buy an anatomical model from a company, that is more like a cartoon of the brain. So, what is nice is that you can show a student what your brain actually looks like. Students really do identify with that. I will ask students, ‘What is the biggest thing that sticks out in your mind from this semester?’ And many of them will say it is the 3D models, because it seems so personal.”

For example, models can show what different neurological diseases and types of brain damage look like as well as how they differ from each other.

“It addresses so many different needs. It is better from a teaching perspective, the ethics are better compared to past options, and it is just more widely available,” Stratford says. “Growing up and as a young person, I did not have a lot of access to these things, just because they were so expensive. So, I am really excited about the opportunities this provides to people.”

James P. Lister, Andrew Cale, Zach D. Stetter, Jamie E. Cronin, Steven R. Summers, Paul G. McMenamin and Maureen E. Stabio are co-authors of this paper.

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3D-printed model brains are more accessible and ethical than conventional alternatives, says ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Jennifer Stratford.

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What does a scientist look like?

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:05:47 +0000

What does a scientist look like? Rachel Sauer Thu, 08/20/2026 - 17:05

Cody DeBos

In STEM, the stereotypes go beyond gender, asserts PhD candidate Sheba Aikawa

Ask a kindergartner to draw a scientist, and there’s a good chance a male figure will appear below the tip of a crayon. Decades of research have documented this tendency. Its persistence despite strong efforts to increase diversity in STEM fields points to something stubbornly embedded in the way society imagines who belongs in science.

Sheba Aikawa, a sixth-year social psychology PhD candidate in the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, wanted to push the established literature further.

“We wanted to understand whether adding race would change how people perceive who ‘fits’ the scientist stereotype,” she says.

Sheba Aikawa is a sixth-year social psychology PhD candidate in the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

The answer, it turns out, is that stereotypes of who “should” be a scientist and how scientists look aren’t limited to gender.

Who fits the mold?

Aikawa’s interest is in exploring ideas of identity, perception and belonging.

“Broadly, my research examines what factors promote welcoming spaces and how negative stereotypes may lead to hostile environments across healthcare, academia and workplace settings,” she says.

Working under Eva Pietri, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, Aikawa’s latest study builds on earlier work establishing that traits associated with scientists are more strongly linked to men than women.

Published in the journal Group Processes & Intergroup Relations and co-authored by graduate student Nadia Floyd and Bernadette Park, professor emerita of psychology and neuroscience, the study asks whether that pattern holds when race is added to the conversation.

“We focused on scientists specifically because we wanted to examine whether the gender bias identified in previous research would hold when considering race. But our findings also have broader implications for understanding STEM bias more generally,” Aikawa says.

Across four experiments involving more than 1,100 white and Black participants, the results were consistent.

What the data reveals

Participants were asked to estimate what percentage of Black men, Black women, white men and white women society views as possessing scientist traits. This includes both positive traits like being analytical or meticulous as well as negative ones like being robotic or unsociable.

Across every study and across both white and Black participant groups, white men were perceived as most likely to possess scientist traits. Aikawa wasn’t surprised by this, but what the data revealed next was more interesting.

“What we found was that Black men and Black women were viewed similarly on scientist-related traits,” Aikawa says. “This suggests that racial stereotypes may be a particularly important factor shaping perceptions of who is seen as belonging in science.”

The gender gap documented in prior research, with men outpacing women in perceived scientific fit, essentially disappeared among Black individuals. Along the same lines, scientific perception of both Black men and Black women was rated lower than white women.

“The finding that race mattered more than gender did not necessarily surprise me,” Aikawa says.

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Sheba Aikawa and her colleagues found that although there was no difference between white women and Black men and women on negative scientist traits, study participants rated white women as higher on positive scientist traits than Black men and Black women.

She points to multiple studies from her lab consistently supporting the idea that race plays a “powerful role in shaping perceptions across different contexts, including healthcare.”

“We know there are pervasive stereotypes that portray Black people as less competent, which could affect perceptions of both Black men and Black women,” Aikawa adds.

More than a number

The real-world implications of Aikawa and her team’s findings are huge. Stereotypes and perceptions about who looks like a scientist shape the decisions made by people in positions of power and determine who gets an opportunity to carry out important research or further their education.

“Even people who value diversity may unknowingly hold assumptions about who looks like a scientist or who seems naturally suited for STEM,” Aikawa says. “Awareness does not necessarily mean that people recognize how those beliefs influence their own judgments and behaviors.”

Those biases emerge early, even in children as young as five to six years old, and have persisted across generations. However, she sees signs of societal change moving in the right direction.

“We’re seeing more diverse representations of scientists in children’s media through characters like Doc McStuffins and Ada Twist, Scientist. Increasing visibility of diverse scientists helps broaden children’s understanding of who belongs in STEM.”

She also has a longer outlook.

“I’m optimistic that these perceptions of scientists can change. In fact, I would hope that if someone replicated our studies 100 years from now, they would find very different results.”

And though the findings might appear disheartening at first, Aikawa feels they could be empowering. The feeling of not fitting in, she argues, is not a verdict on a person's potential. By shifting the focus away from individual shortcomings and onto broader societal perceptions, she hopes minorities in STEM see that they do belong.

“The problem is not that Black women are less capable of being scientists; the problem is that society's image of a scientist has historically been narrow and exclusionary,” she says.

Who gets to be a scientist?

For any Black woman who has ever walked into a lab and felt like she didn't quite belong, Aikawa has a message to share.

“If you have ever felt like you don’t fit the stereotypical image of a scientist, that feeling is not simply a reflection of your abilities or potential,” she says. “If you've ever questioned whether you belong in STEM, our findings suggest that those feelings may stem from societal stereotypes rather than from a lack of talent, intelligence or potential.”

In many ways, expanding and redefining what a scientist looks like is exactly how these stereotypes change over time.”

On an individual level, Aikawa also reminds prospective Black scientists that they don’t have to fit society’s mold.

Addressing these stereotypes, though, requires more than individual awareness. Changing perceptions, both internally and societally, takes a collective effort.

Aikawa experienced this firsthand through the Boulder Black Blossoms program at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. Led by Christina Alston, director of the Office of Graduate Access and Retention and faculty affiliate in the School of Education, the program creates a community for Black women in STEM and education graduate programs.

“What I appreciated about this program is that it did not just focus on individual resilience—it focused on creating belonging, connection and support within an academic environment. Those types of structural and community-level supports are critical for helping historically underrepresented groups thrive in STEM,” Aikawa says.

Ultimately, Aikawa sees the work of dismantling harmful stereotypes in STEM as an ongoing, collaborative effort. She says being aware of the stereotypes is an important first step. Increasing diversity in STEM fields and building supportive communities and mentorship networks is equally important.

Over time, she notes, these efforts compound to reshape society’s perspective on who gets to be a scientist.

“In many ways, expanding and redefining what a scientist looks like is exactly how these stereotypes change over time.”

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In STEM, the stereotypes go beyond gender, asserts PhD candidate Sheba Aikawa.

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Top image: scientists Albert Einstein, Rebecca Lee Crumpler, George Washington Carver and Marie Curie

Live from the Octagon with Michel Jarjour

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 26 May 2026 18:48:54 +0000

Live from the Octagon with Michel Jarjour Rachel Sauer Tue, 05/26/2026 - 12:48

Kayleigh Wood

Undergraduate student balances passion for high-risk combat sports with neuroscience studies, aiming to make mixed martial arts safer for all fighters

Michel Jarjour knows what it’s like to love something that could hurt him. Even after years of avid mixed martial arts (MMA) fandom, the third-year undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder still finds the UFC scary. “You look at these fights, and they’re getting kicked and punched to the head. It’s terrifying.”

Though an active participant himself in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai at the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Rec Center, Jarjour insists that a career in professional fighting is off the table. “You’re putting your body through hell and back. You’re taking so much damage,” says Jarjour. “I’m not willing to give my life to that… My brain is a little important [to me].”

A junior on the pre-health track, Jarjour is pursuing a degree in neuroscience with minors in Spanish, sports media and biochemistry. He balances his studies and involvement in the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program with his passion for high-risk combat sports, which he shares with listeners in a live monthly radio show on Radio 1190, Join the Octagon. “There is something so beautiful, something so adrenaline-based about the live commentary that I absolutely love,” he says.

Michel Jarjour is a rising senior on the pre-health track, pursuing a degree in neuroscience with minors in Spanish, sports media and biochemistry. (Photo: Michel Jarjour)

Beyond the octagon

Since Fall 2024, Jarjour’s radio show has covered main card, pay-per-view UFC events that occur roughly once a month. In January, the UFC removed traditional pay-per-view events and ended its partnership with ESPN, relocating its live broadcasts to the streaming service Paramount+. Jarjour shares that these changes have led to scheduling disruptions that have put Join the Octagon on a temporary pause. “It’s unfortunate,” he says, “and it’s also made me recognize that I want to do more with the Join the Octagon brand.”

Jarjour credits the leadership skills he has gained as director of CU GOLD with helping him guide Join the Octagon in new, expanded directions. CU GOLD, which stands for “Gaining Opportunities through Leadership Development,” is a free leadership development program that is open to all CU students. Beyond events and conferences, the program provides both introductory and advanced leadership courses.

After leading a group of over fifteen people at CU GOLD, Jarjour says he is confident that he can effectively manage a team and delegate tasks. With a recently assembled team of like-minded volunteers tackling everything from marketing to betting analysis to social media, an official Join the Octagon website is now under construction, and plans for a research-backed podcast are in the works.

With the new, extended platform, Jarjour strives explore UFC events through the lens of his others passions: “I would love to combine my love for neuroscience with my love for UFC and MMA, and the best way I’m going to that is either by have a conversation [and] putting it into the show, the podcast, the radio show, social media, whatever, and [then], by becoming a sports neurologist.”

'I want to become a sports neurologist'

The UFC, which was founded in 1993, is still a relatively new organization. For MMA fighters, medical practitioners and combat sports enthusiasts alike, growing fears parallel the growing awareness of the long-term effects of brain damage.

Jarjour, who has been tuned into the UFC for years, addresses the difficulty of watching a former MMA fighter’s health deteriorate in real time: “You can just tell [something is wrong by] the way they’re talking and acting, and it’s scary… UFC fans are seeing [the] news and are generally worried.”

As a sports neurologist, Jarjour says he hopes to help UFC fighters recover from persistent symptoms associated with traumatic brain injuries. While some medical doctors for the UFC serve ringside, making calls on whether a fighter is stable enough to compete and continue a fight, Jarjour stresses that his pursuits transcend octagon-side intervention.

“It’s not just a split-[second] decision that I want to make. It’s an ‘I want to be able to be in your life and help you out and make sure that you’re living a long and healthy life’ [kind of thing].”

Michel Jarjour rappels down the side of a skyscraper. (Photo: Michel Jarjour)

In addition to his interest in sports neurology, Jarjour is minoring in Spanish, with the hope of connecting with more of his patients on a deeper level: “I would love to be a Spanish-speaking doctor who can help not only English-speaking patients, but also immigrants from Hispanic countries and Latino countries, to be able to make them feel more comfortable throughout the entire medical process.”

While Jarjour says his interest in the medical field in general began in middle school, the choice to pursue higher education was solidified in the summer after his senior year of high school. In the middle of the night, he recounts waking up to a knock at the door and the sight of his distressed neighbor. “[I’d] never interacted with her in my life,” he says, “but she’s clearly in a state of panic, and she’s like, help. Please, help. My husband is on the ground, I have no idea what to do… so I go over to the house, call 911, make sure that he’s comforted, okay and breathing and all that.”

Around twelve hours after the paramedics arrived to take Jarjour’s neighbor to the hospital for treatment, Jarjour and his mom went to check in. He recounts that moment in the hospital: “I sit down with him and talk with him for a while, and I hear about his life story and the experience and all that. And then a few weeks later, I go to his house, and I find out that he's been consistently going to the hospital ever since that moment, and [he] told me that he trusted me more than the doctors that he's been going and talking to. And I told him, well, you still need to trust your doctors. I'm not a doctor. Don't listen to me entirely. Go listen to the medical professionals.

“But at the same time, there was something about that. He basically said that I'm taking the time to listen to him and connect with him and understand what he's going through, and the fact that he said that– [it] was the last, final pillar that I needed to reassure myself, especially before going into university, a big, pivotal moment of my life, it was the last pillar that reassured me that medicine was for me.”

A surge of adrenaline

In high school, Jarjour spent two years on the Arapaho Rescue Patrol, a team of volunteer high-school students that responds to emergency calls in the Front Range. While Jarjour says the patrol teaches very basic medical knowledge, on that night when his neighbor was in need, it was more than helpful.

“I found myself realizing consistently that the medical component of the patrol was one of, if not my favorite, part of the patrol,” says Jarjour. “I love the rescuing; I love the searching. I love the hiking and camping and all that. But the medical component was always what drew me in.”

Beyond helping others through medical intervention, he admits that he loves the adrenaline rush. “I think I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie… Any time that [search and rescue] alarm goes off, you are just pumped with adrenaline, and it’s something I’ve always appreciated.”

Michel Jarjour (front, black cap) with colleagues recording a program for Radio 1190. (Photo: Michel Jarjour)

That ability to respond to pressure at a moment’s notice has been essential for his duties as an RA. In his experience, Jarjour has found that “a lot of people don’t like the ‘responding to incidents’ component of the position because it’s stressful, it’s tiring. You know, it could be the middle of the night, and you don’t want to be doing that.” Yet Jarjour says he appreciates the call to action: “I love [getting] the phone call… there’s something going on, please respond. I do appreciate that adrenaline rush. And, obviously, I want to make sure everyone’s safe. I’m not wishing for anyone’s downfall… I do like helping people out. It’s a very fundamental value of mine, just helping people out. And so, that’s what I’ve loved about the RA position–I’ve been able to do that.

“I’ve responded to poop on the floor, I’ve responded to residents vomiting, I’ve responded to people dead in the mountains. Especially since I want to be a doctor, I’m probably going to see the worst of the worst issues.”

'My love, my life, my hobby'

A key to navigating his very full calendar and the high-intensity situations to which he is drawn has been an awareness of and care for his mental health. “One thing that I tell people when they ask me (how I do it) is, find your Thing.” For Jarjour, the one activity that makes it all work for him is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “I’ve been doing it for 11 years of my life, and it is [the Thing]. It’s never going to end. I tell myself all the time,” says Jarjour, “Jiu-Jitsu is the one thing that I will do until the day I die. It’s my love, it’s my life, it’s my hobby.”

A hobby with risks…

At the age of 11, during a practice with the adult class, Jarjour learned how risky. “Someone rolled me, placed my hand on the mat, just [acting on] instincts, and crack, crack, crack.”

The aftermath was four broken fingers on his right hand, which he recalls were “floppy” and extremely painful. Yet, after about four months of healing, Jarjour was back in the gym with his parents’ full support: “I’ve just been a very athletic and energetic kid my entire life… [my parents] never really told me, like, hey, you’re not going back. They loved the community; they loved the gym.”

With support from his parents, Jarjour continued to immerse himself in Jiu-Jitsu: “The beauty of Jiu-Jitsu,” says Jarjour, “is that you think you learn it, you know a technique, and you know all there is behind one position and then boom, there’s about 700 million other techniques just for that one position alone. And then you find out there’s hundreds of positions that you can be in.” He likens the sport to a game of chess: “You have to be able to move your piece, know what each move could do, and at the same time, predict what your opponent’s going to do.”

These mental gymnastics happen every moment throughout a fight. Yet, within the confines of the controlled, regulated gym space, Jarjour finds the high-intensity sport relieving: “I’ve gone back through my middle school and high school years, [and] all that stress would have really put a toll on my mental health, as well as the fact that I’ve gone through traumatic events, tough moments with the patrols, for example, all of these super high-stress, impacting events. And the reason why I am able to sit in front of you right now, and [say], I’m more than okay and I’m happy in life is because I found my Thing.”

He adds that it may be the sport, it may be the community, it may be a blend between the two, “but I know for a fact that I will never leave that sport because of how much it’s impacted my life. I’ve walked into the gym, and I felt terrible. I’ve walked in saying I don’t want to go. I’ve walked in with tears in my eyes. I’ve walked in having experienced–I’ll get real with you for a second–a school shooting, and I’ve come out every time from those experiences feeling so much better.”

How does he do it?

In his own words, Michel Jarjour’s “system is systeming.” From hosting a radio show to directing CU GOLD to peer mentoring for both the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program (MASP) and the math department, not to mention responding to incidents around the clock as an RA and much, much more, it is fair to wonder if Jarjour sleeps at all. Here are just a few of the things that work for him:

Giving yourself grace

Jarjour stresses that comparison is unproductive: “Don’t compare yourself to me, and the reason I say that is because we all have different limitations. We all have our limits. We all have our aspirations, goals, values, etc., and that is a huge determinant on what you should be doing and how much you should be doing.”

Google Calendar

“People look at my Google Calendar and have a heart attack,” says Jarjour, and, yes, his Google Calendar is an explosion of overlapping color at seemingly all available hours of every single day, but it’s a system, it’s reliable and it works for him.

“It’s even like, if I literally just need to shoot [someone] an email, I will put it in my Google Calendar. [If] I need to call someone, put it in my Google Calendar… I have every single thing that I can possibly need to know in that Google Calendar, so that way, I’m always on top of it.”

ANDing

“ANDing is something that ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� actually taught me,” says Jarjour. “The whole concept of ANDing is that you literally take two things, or a couple of things that you’re passionate about, and you bridge the gap between those two. So, for me, that’s neuroscience slash medicine and sports, and that’s why I ANDed them together.”

Jarjour says that many people are already ANDing subconsciously, but finds “when you make it a known thing, you can actually go and seek it a little bit more. . . . Now I know that I can go do these things on a more consistent basis, and it’s allowed me to combine so many of my fields of study, my interests [and] my hobbies.”

Finding your “Thing,” finding a community

For Jarjour, training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the key to managing his busy lifestyle. He urges others to find the “Thing” that makes it all worth it, one that is tailored to each individual’s personal interests. With so many ways to get involved, Jarjour says it would be impossible for him to champion a single program above the rest. Regardless, whether it’s all things media, music and entertainment at Radio 1190, or what he describes as “the most amazing, tight-knit community I’ve ever been a part of in CU GOLD,” Jarjour remains adamant that mental health flourishes when individuals actively engage with their own communities, pursue personal interests and, as he puts it, find their Thing.

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Undergraduate student balances passion for high-risk combat sports with neuroscience studies, aiming to make mixed martial arts safer for all fighters.

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Top photo: Michel Jarjour leads a CU GOLD activity. (Photo: Michel Jarjour)

Jennifer Stratford wins 2026 Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 04 May 2026 19:26:06 +0000

Jennifer Stratford wins 2026 Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction Rachel Sauer Mon, 05/04/2026 - 13:26

Stratford, a teaching professor of psychology and neuroscience, is recognized for her warmth, creativity and dedication to making science accessible to every student

Jennifer Stratford, a University of Colorado Boulder teaching professor of psychology and neuroscience, has been named the 2026 Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction winner.

The Cogswell Award is named in honor of and supported by a generous donation from Craig Cogswell, a three-time alumnus of ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. It recognizes outstanding instruction in the College of Arts and Sciences, honoring individuals for their inspirational qualities and teaching abilities.

Drawing on her past connections to the Modern Human Anatomy program, Jennifer Stratford is helping to develop accurate, detailed 3-D models of the human brain that anyone with an inexpensive 3-D printer can produce.

Stratford earned her MS and PhD degrees at Florida State University, where she researched sex differences in how sweets and fats are detected within the tongue. She then joined the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center at CU Anschutz Medical Campus as a postdoctoral fellow, eventually transitioning to a faculty position in the Modern Human Anatomy program at the CU School of Medicine, where she studied the interplay between taste and post-ingestive (gut) detection of food.

Guided by a lifelong love of teaching, Stratford left the CU School of Medicine in 2016 to pursue a full-time teaching career at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. Since joining the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, she has taught an unusually broad spectrum of courses, from large lower-division offerings such as General Psychology to advanced upper-level courses such as Clinical Neuroscience, and nearly every required class for the psychology major in between.

Her commitment to teaching also shapes her current research, which focuses on making neuroanatomy accessible to everyone. Drawing on her past connections to the Modern Human Anatomy program, Stratford is helping to develop accurate, detailed 3-D models of the human brain that anyone with an inexpensive 3-D printer can produce. While commercial brain models can cost hundreds of dollars, the models she is helping create can be made for a small fraction of that cost, making high-quality teaching tools more readily available to classrooms, students and curious learners.

In the classroom, Stratford is widely known for her kindness and enthusiasm, with a goal of making every class fun and memorable. For instance, students often comment that seeing and holding a real human brain in one of her courses is among the most memorable experiences of their college careers.

Her teaching philosophy is simple—make learning physical. Complicated biological processes, she believes, are far easier to understand when you can act them out, and she practices what she preaches. In a single day, she might help students mount brain tissue onto glass slides, get on her hands and knees to demonstrate how anatomical terms shift between humans (who walk on two legs) and other animals (who walk on four), and then join an impromptu class dance party to act out how neurons in the brain abnormally synchronize during an epileptic episode.

Above all, Stratford’s goal is to give students the knowledge and skills they need to advocate for themselves and the people they love.

“I'm honored and humbled to receive the Cogswell Award,” Stratford said. “There are so many gifted, devoted educators at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� that any recognition like this is partly a matter of luck, but I hope it draws attention to the care that passionate teachers bring to their work every day. More than anything, I see this award as an acknowledgment of the important, effective work that my students and I share in the classroom."

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Stratford, a teaching professor of psychology and neuroscience, is recognized for her warmth, creativity and dedication to making science accessible to every student.

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Drinking alone is a risky business

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:56:36 +0000

Drinking alone is a risky business Rachel Sauer Tue, 04/21/2026 - 13:56

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Solitary alcohol consumption is connected to poorer cognitive function among older adults, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Carillon Skrzynski finds

Studies regarding the potential risks—and benefits—of alcohol use have reached widely differing conclusions, from suggesting that moderate alcohol use may have benefits for health to arguing that any amount of alcohol consumption ultimately puts drinkers’ health at risk.

But researchers seem to agree on at least one thing: Drinking alone is a red flag.

“Solitary drinking is associated with many different negative consequences and correlates,” says Carillon Skrzynski, an assistant research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Health and Neuroscience, Genes, and Environment, or CU Change. “It’s a very risky drinking pattern.”

Carillon Skrzynski, an assistant research professor in the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Center for Health and Neuroscience, Genes, and Environment (CU Change), and her research colleagues studied solitary drinking in older adulthood, connecting it to poorer objective and subjective cognitive function.

She should know. She wrote her dissertation at Carnegie Mellon University on solitary alcohol consumption and has published two meta-analyses on the subject.

But to date, little research has examined solitary drinking specifically among older people. Despite that, Skrzynski says “there is a higher prevalence of drinking alone the older you get.”

Using a dataset collected to study cannabis and common complaints in older adults compiled by Angela Bryan, professor of psychology and neuroscience and co-director at CU Change, Skrzynski was able to analyze how solitary drinking affects cognitive function.

She and Bryan published the results of the study in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

“Our results expand knowledge of solitary drinking in older adulthood by connecting it to poorer objective and subjective cognitive function,” the authors concluded.

Skrzynski analyzed 342 individuals aged 60 or older who completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test—an objective measure of verbal memory involving word recall—and subjective cognition via the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function questionnaire, on which subjects self-assess their cognitive function.

The study compared these outcomes among older adults who drank alone, those who drank only socially and those who did not drink alcohol at all, among other aims. (Subjects who engaged in hazardous alcohol use were precluded from the study.)

“Those who drank only socially had better cognitive functioning than both those who drank solitarily and the non-drinking group,” she says. As noted in the paper, this may suggest a potential inverted U-shaped curve wherein both solitary drinking and non-drinking may be associated with poorer cognitive function compared to social-only drinking and therefore signal risk in this domain.

The research did not examine reasons why older adults may choose to consume alcohol alone.

“That’s a crucial point—what is motivating their behavior? Often people are using (alcohol) to cope with negative emotions,” she says. “The self-medication hypothesis suggests that using substances to heal oneself can be maladaptive.”

“People drink all kinds of ways for all kinds of reasons. Not every older person who is drinking alone is doing it in a harmful way. One person may have an occasional glass of wine by themselves with their dinner while another may drink an entire bottle of wine alone every night. These are very different scenarios,” says ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� scientist Carillon Skrzynski.

However, she emphasizes that solitary drinking does not necessarily imply that a person is engaged in problematic drinking or has an alcohol use disorder, especially among older adults.

“People drink all kinds of ways for all kinds of reasons. Not every older person who is drinking alone is doing it in a harmful way,” she says. “One person may have an occasional glass of wine by themselves with their dinner while another may drink an entire bottle of wine alone every night. These are very different scenarios.”

But Skrzynski notes that even if moderate social consumption of alcohol may have benefits for cognition, other research suggests any alcohol consumption at all may increase risks for cancer and other diseases.

“It’s a mixed bag,” she says.

Future research on the subject can be refined and expanded, the paper suggests, including examinations of data samples “with varied patterns of alcohol consumption, and cognitive functioning utilizing diverse subjective and objective measures over longer periods of time.”

“For example, the Rey (test) is objective, but it only measures one domain of objective cognition, verbal memory,” Skrzynski says. Another avenue of research is polysubstance use, or use of multiple substances, and how that is related to social context and outcomes. “How does co-use of alcohol and cannabis in solitary settings affect people?” Skrzynski wonders.

Overall, she says, solitary drinking seems to be a risky drinking pattern, even for older individuals who may be more likely to engage in it. Thus, further research on this population is necessary to continue to understand and ultimately mitigate any harm of alcohol consumption in this context.

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Solitary alcohol consumption is connected to poorer cognitive function among older adults, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Carillon Skrzynski finds.

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Historical novel marks latest chapter for ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumna

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:21:46 +0000

Historical novel marks latest chapter for ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumna Rachel Sauer Mon, 04/13/2026 - 14:21

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumna Rebecca Rosenberg with her historical novel Silver Echoes, which is based on the story of Colorado's own Silver Dollar Tabor. (Photo: Rebecca Rosenberg)

Megan Clancy

Author Rebecca Rosenberg’s latest book continues her literary work highlighting the often-overlooked stories of remarkable women

With the release of her newest historical novel, University of Colorado Boulder alumna Rebecca Rosenberg (Engl; Psych'76) is adding another chapter to a writing career focused on uncovering the lives of extraordinary women that history has often overlooked.

The award-winning novelist’s latest work, Silver Echoes, tells the story of Silver Dollar Tabor, the daughter of Elizabeth McCourt Tabor, better known at Baby Doe Tabor. This newest historical novel builds on Rosenberg’s first book, Gold Digger, the rags-to-riches-to-rags story of Baby Doe, who navigated the worlds of wealth, power, politics and scandal in the wild days of western mining.

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumna Rebecca Rosenberg with her historical novel Silver Echoes, which is based on the story of Colorado's own Silver Dollar Tabor. (Photo: Rebecca Rosenberg)

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� laid foundation for writing career

Rosenberg credits growing up in Colorado and her time spent at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� with nourishing her interest in the American West, particularly stories about pioneers in the Centennial State.

“I grew up in Colorado,” says Rosenberg, “and being in Boulder and in Hallett Hall, looking out at the mountains all the time, it was just really inspiring in terms of just living in Colorado and the pioneers and the people that came before us there and their incredible stories.”

Rosenberg was a theater and psychology major while on campus but was drawn to classes in multiple departments.

“I loved my humanities courses. I got a bigger perspective,” she says. “I think that got me excited about the whole world and the stories of the world. And pretty soon I realized that people don't tell stories about women. They tell stories about men. So that's where I got my inkling that I would like to tell those stories.”

After graduation, Rosenberg continued to feel the pull toward story. She eventually found her way to a two-year novel-writing course at Stanford University, where she learned how to combine her interest in storytelling and her background in psychology.

“A novel is always about conflict,” she says. “Every scene is what is the conflict and what does each character want? What do they desire? So yeah, psychology is instrumental in that.”

From her time at Stanford, and the work of 10 years after, came her first book, Gold Digger, which brought to life the story Baby Doe Tabor, a beautiful young woman who married the son of a wealthy miner in 1878 to save her family from poverty. The book won plaudits for its mix of historical detail and fiction, with the Historical Novel Society calling it “a gripping story of female grit and resilience.”

Since then, Rosenberg has gone on to win accolades for her novels The Secret Life of Mrs. London, Champagne Widows and Madame Pommery. Rosenberg and her husband, Gary, are lavender farmers in Sonoma Valley, California, and they are co-authors of the nonfiction pictorial book Lavender Fields of America: A New Crop of Farmers.

In Silver Echoes, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumna Rebecca Rosenberg (Engl; Psych'76) continues the Tabor story she began in her novel Gold Digger, based on the rags-to-riches-to-rags story of Baby Doe Tabor.

Telling the overlooked story of Silver Dollar Tabor

In Silver Echoes, her most recent novel and Gold Digger’s sequel, Rosenberg uses her psychology background even more extensively, finding the story she wanted to tell through a discovery about one of history’s most misunderstood women, Silver Dollar Tabor. Silver Echoes is told through a dual timeline, following Silver Dollar, Baby Doe’s daughter, in 1920s Chicago and Baby Doe in 1930s Colorado searching for answers to her daughter’s disappearance.

“It's really an intense novel because I feel like Silver had DID, or dissociative identity disorder, what used to be called split personality,” Rosenberg says. “I found that in my research of the letters between mother and daughter, how dissociated Silver was from several realities. Every time she'd write a letter, she'd write about a whole different reality in her life.”

For her first novel, Rosenberg studied Baby Doe's diaries and the letters between her and Silver Dollar, who was in Chicago in the speakeasies and an actress in movies. She noticed the mother’s worry over Silver and knew there was a story to tell there.

“I was reading these letters and I saw that Silver Dollar was asking her mother to write her a letter under a different name to a different address in Chicago every other week. And so I thought, ‘What is going on there?’” says Rosenberg. “Nobody had really explored that. Everyone was saying that she just fell into being a prostitute. But I didn't see that. I saw that she was telling her mother that she was going to open a flower shop with this girlfriend and that she was working for Marshall Fields. And then she was a hat check girl at a speakeasy and all these different things. And then she would be engaged to one guy and she was going to get married and then you never heard about him again.”

Rosenberg started studying what Freud and Jung wrote about multiple personalities. She noticed that all of Silver’s inconsistencies—paired with a childhood filled with multiple traumas—pointed to DID. With that diagnosis, Rosenberg proceeded to tell the story of Silver Dollar Tabor with new insight and creativity.

“I always do really extensive author's notes, telling exactly what's true and not true and where I'm making a leap,” she says. “No one ever diagnosed Silver Dollar as having DID because they hadn't even identified it then. But throughout the book, I have segments of what Sigmund Freud says during that time and what Jung says about women that sound exactly like her. I made the leap that she had that. And that's definitely a leap. No one has ever said it before.”

It's these deep dives and creative exploration of story that Rosenberg enjoys most about writing historical fiction. Finding the unknown stories and uncovering what’s remained untold until now.

“I will always write about extraordinary women,” she says. “They fascinate me. The research takes me a long time. I have to read a lot of books about their background before I can even start on a project. It's a very fun and very satisfying kind of work if you love to research and telling stories.”

Rosenberg’s newest book, License to Thrill, is set for release this month. Another dual timeline novel, the book tells the story of Lily Bollinger, the “Dame of Champagne,” who refused to surrender to the Nazis during WWII and to other enemies for decades more.

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Author Rebecca Rosenberg’s latest book continues her literary work highlighting the often-overlooked stories of remarkable women.

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Does cannabis cause anxiety? It depends

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:54:20 +0000

Does cannabis cause anxiety? It depends Rachel Sauer Fri, 03/27/2026 - 08:54

Blake Puscher

Research suggests that cannabis may cause anxiety when it is strong enough or taken in large enough quantity to produce an immediate effect

Cannabis is an increasingly common drug, with more than 64 million people reporting use in 2024 in the United States alone, according to Statista—more than double the amount in 2010. Despite this, its effects are not well understood. For example, some people use cannabis for relief from anxiety, but there is also evidence that it can cause or worsen anxiety depending on the individual, how much is taken and other factors.

Determining what effect cannabis has on anxiety requires a better understanding of how it affects the endocannabinoid system. To this end, researchers from CUChange (Center for Health and Neuroscience, Genes and Environment), including Renée Martin-Willett, Carillon Skrzynski, Ethan Taylor and Cinnamon Bidwell, with assistance from Jost Klawitter and Cristina Sempio of the University of Colorado Anschutz, assessed the biochemical changes that occurred when people with anxiety took different cannabis products.

Endocannabinoids

The endocannabinoid system is a biological system that extends throughout the whole body. “It’s not just in our brains,” Martin-Willett says; “it’s also in the peripheral nervous system, which is just a fancy way of saying it’s all over the body.”

Renée Martin-Willett (left) and Carillon Skrzynski (right), along with their CUChange research colleagues, assessed the biochemical changes that occurred when people with anxiety took different cannabis products.

The system uses two receptors: CB1 and CB2. In biology, receptors are chemical structures that contribute to a biological effect when they bind with compatible chemical messengers. Whether a receptor and messenger will be able to bind depends on their structure, similar to a lock and key, except that the structure is chemical. When a messenger binds to a receptor and the receptor uses the signal (by relaying or amplifying it, for example), the messenger is considered an agonist—as opposed to an antagonist, which is like a key that fits in a lock but, instead of opening that lock, prevents the correct key from being inserted.

Unlike keys, which either work or do not, chemical messengers can have effects of different strength. For example, THC (delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, is only a partial agonist of CB1. According to Martin-Willett, CB1 is mostly concentrated in the brain, whereas CB2 is mostly in the gut. The other main component of cannabis is CBD (cannabidiol), which modulates CB1 and CB2, making the effects they produce when activated by agonists weaker without preventing agonists from binding to the receptors.

These chemicals act on the endocannabinoid system because they have chemical structures like endocannabinoids, which are neurotransmitters that are produced by the human body. The two most-studied endocannabinoids are AEA (N-arachidonoyl ethanolamide) and 2-AG (2-arachidonoylglycerol), and they are the focus of this study for that reason.

“2-AG has a really high concentration, and it’s mostly in the brain,” Martin-Willett explains. “It binds with CB1. Then AEA, which has much lower concentrations, is more in the periphery. It’s implicated in implantation and the hormonal cycle for women and is increasingly being linked to anxiety and other kinds of mood disorders.” AEA is associated with positive feelings, and the receptors it binds with, CB1 and CB2, are thought to play a role in whether people view their environment in a positive or negative way. Therefore, AEA may ameliorate feelings of anxiety.

Although some simple facts about the endocannabinoid system are understood, many details remain unexplained. In particular, there is a question as to the effect of cannabis on the endocannabinoid system. This includes how THC and CBD may affect the concentration of AEA and 2-AG in the body, which has implications for what effect cannabis has on anxiety and other aspects of people’s mental state. “Sometimes I tell people the endocannabinoid system is like the Mariana Trench of biomedicine,” Martin-Willett says, “because it was only really discovered in the mid-‘90s. How did we not know about this entire, full-body system until the ‘90s?”

The study

Because this study was intended to determine the effect of cannabis use on anxiety, the participants all had scores on the GAD-7 (generalized anxiety disorder) screener that indicated at least mild anxiety. The participants were split up into four groups: one-fourth of the participants were in the control group (meaning they did not use any cannabis), one-fourth used THC-dominant products, one-fourth used CBD-dominant products and one-fourth used products that combined THC and CBD in a 1:1 ratio.

Some people use cannabis for relief from anxiety, but there is also evidence that it can cause or worsen anxiety depending on the individual, how much is taken and other factors. (Photo: Unsplash)

The study found that the people in the THC-dominant and 1:1 groups had higher AEA levels than those in the control group when cannabis was taken during an acute administration session (meaning in a single dose that is strong enough to produce an immediate effect as opposed to administration over the course of weeks). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the effects of THC on AEA are caused by competitive binding between the two chemicals at CB1.

“THC might affect AEA in a couple of different ways,” Martin-Willett explains. “THC will bind to CB1 in a ‘normal’ way at the synapse, but it will also permeate the lipid bilayer of the cell itself. The results from our paper support that first idea that THC is competitively binding with AEA at CB1. It is kind of fighting AEA to bind and winning more often than AEA is.”

The basic idea is that whenever THC binds to a receptor, it takes away an opportunity for AEA to bind, causing fewer receptors to be activated by AEA. Even though THC and AEA are both partial agonists of CB1, it is possible that the effects they create upon binding are different. “One idea,” Martin-Willett continues, “is if more AEA makes you less anxious, and in the moment, THC binds competitively with CB1 and keeps AEA from interacting, maybe that is contributing to the paranoia or anxiety after acute use of THC. That is speculative, though. We do not have good human studies on that yet.”

2-AG levels did not change when administered acutely. This could be because 2-AG has higher concentrations in the human body than AEA, making the consequences of introducing THC less significant in the short term. However, in the THC-dominant group, it increased from baseline after two weeks before decreasing to reach a near-baseline level by week four. While AEA is thought to be associated with positive feelings, the association between 2-AG is mostly unknown.

Catching up with the market

Since the Controlled Substances Act of 1971, cannabis has been classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States, which means that it faces special restrictions on the federal level. That may change soon because of the Department of Health and Human Services’ 2023 recommendation that cannabis be reclassified as a Schedule III drug and because of President Trump’s 2025 executive order on the subject. Despite this, and even in states where cannabis has been legalized, the current classification puts limits on studies like this one.

For example, second author Carillon Skrzynski says, “In a lot of our studies, we are not allowed to tell people how much to use, or what to use in some circumstances. That really puts a damper on any kind of causal conclusion.” Ordinarily, scientists keep all variables that could affect the phenomenon they want to understand constant except for one, called the independent variable, which they vary in a controlled manner. This makes the relationship between the independent variable and the phenomenon clear. If multiple variables change at the same time, it becomes almost impossible to say how much each variable contributes to the phenomenon, or even if they would have an effect individually.

“I think there are two really exciting areas that the field needs to move towards,” Martin-Willett adds. “Number one, we need to account for age. We know that the endocannabinoid system changes a lot when we get older. People talk about reduced tone, which just means you have fewer receptors, but we do not really know what that means—if it has a greater effect or a lower effect. And I think the other piece of it is sex assigned at birth. Like I mentioned, more and more the endocannabinoid system is being viewed like the endocrine system, or like the hormonal system, and these things are intertwined, especially AEA and the reproductive system.”

Martin-Willett and Skrzynski both plan to look into these areas. Additionally, their center, CUChange, has multiple studies running and is actively looking for research participants. That is important not only because the different effects of cannabis are unknown, but because it is already being used on a large scale. “A lot of this is really unregulated right now,” Martin-Willett says, “and I think the market is way ahead of the science. People are already using cannabinoids for anxiety, for sleep, for pain, for other kinds of mood problems, and so they can make their voices heard to the government, that this is someplace they want research money to go.”

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Research suggests that cannabis may cause anxiety when it is strong enough or taken in large enough quantity to produce an immediate effect.

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Young musicians tend to keep playing later in life

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:38:58 +0000

Young musicians tend to keep playing later in life Rachel Sauer Wed, 03/25/2026 - 12:38

Clint Talbott

But their path is not linear, with many starting, stopping and resuming in adulthood; genetics and home environment play differing roles, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� research finds

Those who played a guitar, piano or ukulele as kids are more likely than average to play as an adult—though perhaps not as likely as you might expect.

That’s one finding of a new study led by University of Colorado Boulder researcher Dan Gustavson, which sheds light on how children’s early interactions with music shape—but don’t determine—their musical lives decades later.

The findings, recently published in the journal Developmental Science, draw on nearly 40 years of data from surveys of 1,900 people in The Colorado Adoption/Twin Study of Lifespan Behavioral Development and Cognitive Aging (CATSLife).

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Dan Gustavson led a recently published study that sheds light on how children’s early interactions with music shape—but don’t determine—their musical lives decades later.

Gustavson and his colleagues analyzed measures of “music engagement”—being interested in and skilled at musical instruments—of participants at ages 7, 10, 12 and 16, then compared them with the same individuals’ music-playing habits in their 30s. The result: Early music engagement predicts adult instrument playing, but far less strongly than expected.

Many participants started and stopped music throughout adolescence, and some took up music later in life.

“We found more change than stability,” says Gustavson, assistant research professor at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Institute of Behavioral Genetics. “Kids don’t follow a single linear path. A lot of them start, stop and restart music as they grow.”

The study also highlights shifting genetic and environmental influences. In childhood, shared environmental factors—such as family resources, school access and neighborhood programs—played a major role in determining who “engaged” with music. By adolescence, however, genetic influences grew stronger, probably reflecting teens’ increasing autonomy in the activities they pursue.

“Adolescence is a time where you start to get a lot more freedom over your own behavior,” Gustavson says. “Your interests become less influenced by your parents and more by what you’re exploring. People who are just more naturally tuned to figuring out musical instruments are going to find themselves in those environments more.”

Gender differences emerged as well. Girls were somewhat more likely to engage with music in childhood, though boys showed slightly higher heritability for music engagement at younger ages. These differences disappeared by adolescence.

“Girls were more likely to play music than boys . . . but in boys, there was slightly higher heritability in childhood for music engagement. That actually evened out by adolescence,” Gustavson says.

Playing and listening

Perhaps surprisingly, listening to music in adulthood was largely unrelated to playing music in childhood. Playing and listening appear to be distinct traits. “Passive listening is its own thing,” Gustavson notes. “It doesn’t track neatly with who played instruments as kids.”

“Music may be uniquely positioned to support language development, cognitive growth and even resilience against risky behaviors. But kids can’t benefit from it if they don’t have access,” says ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Dan Gustavson. (Photo: Dzmitry Shepeleu/Unsplash)

Gustavson is now exploring whether music engagement at key developmental windows—especially around age 12—may help protect teens from later substance use. Preliminary evidence suggests early adolescent music engagement is linked to lower rates of alcohol use and fewer substances tried in late adolescence, five to 10 years later.

He notes that scientists take a developmental perspective on how behaviors can affect health. “You can’t just look at one time point when you want to understand how behaviors relate to important health outcomes. You have to think about the developmental stage. . . . There may be specific windows where things matter a lot more.

“Adolescence is when people start experimenting, and putting yourself in a music environment might be most protective during this time,” he says. Ultimately, Gustavson hopes the research might strengthen arguments for restoring music programs in schools.

“Music may be uniquely positioned to support language development, cognitive growth and even resilience against risky behaviors,” he says. “But kids can’t benefit from it if they don’t have access.”

CATSLife twin studies and other longitudinal twin research help scientists discern the influences of genetics vs. environmental factors by comparing identical twins (who have 100% shared genes) and fraternal twins (with 50% shared genes).

As a student, Gustavson became interested in the power of such studies: “I had friends growing up who were twins, and we always talked about what makes twins similar or different. Taking courses here, I found it really exciting to unpack which aspects of things are explained by genetics and which by the environment.”

Music itself strikes a chord with Gustavson, who plays guitar and drums and was a professional musician for a couple of years before he earned his PhD. “I’ve been really grateful that I’ve been able to integrate this into my research program now.

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But their path is not linear, with many starting, stopping and resuming in adulthood; genetics and home environment play differing roles, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� research finds.

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Can concussions cause fear of movement?

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:12:43 +0000

Can concussions cause fear of movement? Rachel Sauer Wed, 03/18/2026 - 11:12

“It is possible that individuals who have experiences with prior injuries understand the recovery process and have developed resilience against the negative aspects of fear of movement,” says ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� researcher Alexander Wiegman. (Photo: John Torcasio/Unsplash)

Alexandra Phelps

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� neuroscience student Alexander Wiegman’s research finds that a history of concussions doesn’t necessarily lead to later kinesiophobia

Stadium lights stream over the field. It’s Friday night, and over the course of the football game touchdowns have been scored, penalty flags have flown and countless plays have been run. However, on the next play, something goes awry. A player is down on the field and they’re helped to the medical tent. Upon further observation, medics diagnose a concussion.

In sports, injury is always a possibility. A misstep or collision can cause an athlete to need a period of recovery, changing not only their physical health but also their relationship with movement. For Alexander Wiegman, a former football player and an undergraduate University of Colorado Boulder neuroscience student, a similar reality became personal and, later, scientific.

Alexander Wiegman, a former football player and an undergraduate University of Colorado Boulder neuroscience student, studies how concussions can lead to kinesiophobia, a debilitating fear of movement that usually results from an injury or re-injury.

Wiegman’s recently published research in the journal Brain Injury examines how concussions can lead to kinesiophobia, a debilitating fear of movement that usually results from an injury or re-injury.

Individuals who’ve experienced kinesiophobia, a fear of movement due to the possibility of pain, can have decreased physical activity levels, stemming from the fear and hesitancy of activity. Research such as Wiegman’s, which looks into the mental recovery from a concussion, seeks to predict which patients are more likely to develop severe kinesiophobia. Building a broader understanding of the mental effects of concussions can help providers to optimize care and provide recommendations for how individuals can recover from kinesiophobia.

Working with Dr. David Howell, Dr. Julie Wilson and the team of researchers in the Colorado Concussion Research Laboratory (CCRL) at the University of Colorado Anschutz, Wiegman initially predicted that if a patient experienced a lower initial symptom severity as well as a lower number of prior concussions, they would have lower kinesiophobia scores. However, the research findings suggested the opposite.

From the field to the lab

Wiegman played football for as long as he can remember, and like many athletes, he experienced injuries, including concussions. Even after going through his recovery care with the help of a concussion specialist, he was still unsure about moving his body again. This fear inspired him to begin his research.

As an undergraduate, he has had an opportunity to bring his experience with concussion care full circle. Working alongside his co-researchers, Wiegman transformed his initial experience with concussions into a hypothesis. He notes that he was allowed “to take the reins with my project. We began by discussing my experience with concussions because I've been through it. The fear of movement and the fear of getting back to activity is something that I really struggled with.

“I was always a math and science person, and by the time I got to high school, I knew I wanted to study something in that realm. But by the time I got to college, I knew I wanted to go into medicine.”

Understanding the fear of movement

Kinesiophobia is a response that has been documented across many types of injuries, though it's been less studied in people diagnosed with concussions. With numerous injuries, kinesiophobia can contribute to other symptoms even after the injury itself has healed. Understanding kinesiophobia is important because it can affect the severity of initial injuries, including concussions. A patient’s quality of life and recovery times are all aspects that can be impacted.

To better understand this gap in kinesiophobia research with concussions, Wiegman collaborated with CCRL researchers. Participants completed one assessment within 21 days of their injury and another between 30 and 90 days post-concussion.

From a clinical perspective, "the first thing you think about is getting someone physically healthy," Wiegman explains, adding that he and his co-researchers examined "the broader idea of mental health after concussions" in an attempt to enhance the care that can be provided after a concussion. Wiegman and his research colleagues looked at the period post-concussion because typically this is when the physical injury has recovered. Focusing on this window of time allowed them to better understand how patients were recovering both physically and mentally from their injury.

What looking under the hood revealed

Contrary to Wiegman’s hypothesis that patients who had a more extensive injury history would exhibit more severe kinesiophobia, these patients actually displayed less-severe kinesiophobia.

However, after analyzing patient data, Wiegman concluded that those who had previously recovered from injuries were less fearful in moving their body again. “It is possible that individuals who have experiences with prior injuries understand the recovery process and have developed resilience against the negative aspects of fear of movement,” he says.

The research found that there was no evidence to suggest that age, sex, or prior concussions were independently associated with kinesiophobia. Wiegman concluded that prior injury and the experience of recovery may be one of the most influential factors in how a patient may or may not develop kinesiophobia.

Looking ahead

As a senior, Wiegman is pursuing a route to medical school. Interning as an athletic trainer with ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� track and football teams, as well as working as a phlebotomist, he’s had hands-on experience with athletes and their injuries. As Wiegman was completing his research and defending his senior thesis, he also studied for and took the MCAT.

Wiegman hopes to learn more about the relationship between kinesiophobia and concussions. “In my mind, I wanted to find some definitiveness, especially with this being intended to be used in a clinical setting; I really wanted to have the answer,” he says. “It was hard to wrap my head around [the fact] that we have data, but we don’t have an answer per se.” He explains that this research is a step in the right direction and hopes to continue on to further research of kinesiophobia and other mental health disparities following concussions.

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� neuroscience student Alexander Wiegman’s research finds that a history of concussions doesn’t necessarily lead to later kinesiophobia.

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Top photo: John Torcasio/Unsplash

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