What changes have been made to the Mind and Brain forum?

  • Context: Medical 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Moonbear
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Forum Scope
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The Mind and Brain forum has been officially renamed to Medical Sciences, reflecting a shift in focus towards clinical and human health subjects. Threads previously categorized under Mind and Brain will be migrated to appropriate forums such as Social Sciences for psychology, Biology for neuroscience, and Philosophy for discussions on mind-brain dualism. The new scope emphasizes science-based discussions, allowing for inquiries into the science behind health and disease while prohibiting pseudoscientific claims. This change aims to foster collaboration among the general public, professional scientists, clinicians, and students in understanding health-related topics.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic neuroscience concepts
  • Familiarity with clinical and human health topics
  • Knowledge of forum guidelines regarding scientific discussions
  • Awareness of PubMed Central for accessing original research publications
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the implications of the new Medical Sciences forum structure
  • Research the guidelines for posting in Social Sciences and Biology forums
  • Learn about the science behind the placebo effect and its relevance in discussions
  • Investigate how to interpret original research publications from PubMed Central
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for general public members, professional scientists, clinicians, and students interested in health sciences and seeking to engage in informed discussions about human health and disease.

Moonbear
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
11,959
Reaction score
54
As people will undoubtedly notice, we've changed this forum from Mind and Brain to Medical Sciences.

At the time I am posting this, the threads posted under the subject of Mind and Brain have not been moved, but will be migrated, as appropriate, to more suitable forums here. If your thread moves and you miss the redirect, it may be in Social Sciences (for pure psychology questions), Philosophy, or Biology (many of the more "basic" neuroscience questions will wind up there).

This change in name also changes the scope of this forum, and eliminates some of the more ambiguous redundancies with other forums here. Now, all basic science type questions should be placed in the appropriate subject-specific forum. For example, topics about action potentials, how to measure their propagation, or how these apply to neural function would be best placed in Biology. Topics about purely psychological studies without obvious clinical relevance should be posted in Social Sciences. Discussions of such topics as mind-brain dualism should be placed within Philosophy.

Questions pertaining to clinical and human health subjects are appropriate here. This site is still science-based, therefore, pseudoscientific claims such as homeopathic medicine will not be permitted unless you'd like to discuss the science behind the placebo effect. Some topics, such as naturopathic medicines/herbal remedies will be given some leeway (at the mentors' discretion) as long as they focus on understanding the active ingredients and are not based on claims with no scientific evidence. (Links to sites selling these products are still prohibited by our rules against spam/advertising.)

Topics that are especially welcome include those that seek understanding of the science behind human health and disease. We hope this will be a place where the general public, professional scientists, clinicians, and students of the sciences can come together and assist each other in learning how and why specific symptoms are manifest in the disease state, pharmaceuticals treat these symptoms, and what the status of current research is on these subjects.

As a further example, original research publications are now available freely to the general public when the research has been publicly funded in the U.S. at PubMed Central. However, as these are publications written by scientists for scientists, it can be very difficult for members of the general public to understand the content and relevance to human health and medicine. This is a place where scientists can help the general public understand those publications through discussion where questions and confusion can be expressed and clarifications made. (Please remember our forum guidelines regarding copyright regulations - post a link to the original article, and do not copy entire articles to this site.)
 
Biology news on Phys.org


Thanks Moonbear,

The change in scope to Medical Sciences also attract the doctors from various fields, this could really become one of the most required forum for everyone who cares or relates to health.

Regards,

Homeopath.
 

Similar threads

Replies
1
Views
3K
Replies
58
Views
8K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
1K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
27K
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
7K
Replies
7
Views
3K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
12K