Author J.M. Lanham

J.M. Lanham is an American author of science fiction, suspense, thrillers, and supernatural fiction.

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9 Million Americans Use Sleeping Pills, Says CDC

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Trouble sleeping? You’re not alone.

A 2013 study by the CDC shows over 9 million Americans use sleeping pills to get a good night’s rest.

And that study was three years ago.

Sleeping pills by the clock.
Are we too quick to reach for pills?

The proliferation of drugs to treat everything from dry eyes to receding hairlines has taken America by storm, and sleeping medications are no different. If you’ve got a problem, you can certainly find a pill to treat it.

What does the CDC’s study say about society? Are we too quick to rush to our doctors, asking for a prescription at the first sign of problems in our lives? Are pills the answer to conditions like insomnia, or are there better ways to get through those restless nights?

When you get a moment, check out the CDC’s findings in the article listed below.

CDC: 9 Million Americans Use Prescription Sleeping Pills

Happy Friday!

 – J.M. Lanham

Book Signing: The Book Loft at Amelia Island, Florida

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Book signing day is here!

J.M. Lanham will be signing copies of his sci-fi thriller The R.E.M. Effect at The Book Loft on Amelia Island Wednesday, December 14th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. If you happen to be in the Fernandina Beach Historical District on Amelia Island today, be sure to stop by.

If you can’t make it, you can always pick up a copy of The R.E.M. Effect on Amazon.com. Kindle Unlimited subscribers read for free. You can also download a free book sample by visiting the Amazon product page.

More signing details:

The Book Loft

214 Centre Street

Fernandina Beach, Florida, 32034

(904) 261-8991

We hope to see you at The Book Loft!

– J.M. Lanham

The Role of Serendipity in Drug Discovery

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Have you ever started looking for one thing, only to find something else altogether?

Alexander Fleming postage stamp.
Postage stamp commemorating Alexander Fleming.

It’s called serendipity, and it happens when we begin to look for A, only to find B. And occasionally, B turns out to be a lot more useful than the thing we were searching for in the first place.

We’re all familiar with how this works around the house, like searching for the remote control only to find a handful of pennies under the couch cushions.

But this also happens in drug discovery, and more often than you might think. Were not for Alexander Fleming’s moldy petri dishes, penicillin might have taken decades to come across the medicinal radar. The same goes for insulin, a late 19th century discovery that started with the removal of a dog’s pancreas to study the role of the organ in digestion.

And then there’s the Viagra story, a medication originally intended to treat hypertension. We all know how that one turned out.

When you get a moment, check out the article below.

The Role of Serendipity in Drug Discovery

Happy Friday!

 – J.M. Lanham

The R.E.M. Effect 25 eBook Giveaway

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In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m giving away 25 copies of my pharmaceutical/sci-fi thriller The R.E.M. Effect for Kindle.

I set the odds for 1 in 25 entries to win. Hopefully it’s your lucky day!

All the gooey details are below.

See this #AmazonGiveaway for a chance to win: The R.E.M. Effect (Kindle Edition). https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/3142056a7ef36fff NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends the earlier of Dec 23, 2016 11:59 PM PST, or when all prizes are claimed. See Official Rules http://amzn.to/GArules.

Good luck!

– J.M. Lanham

Friday Science Break: Brain Waves vs. Radio Waves

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Radios are incredible, aren’t they?

Think about how radios work for a minute. Vibrating electrons create radio waves that race through the air at the speed of light, crashing into receiving antennas where they are fine-tuned for our listening pleasure.

 Most people already know radios work by decoding radio waves plucked right out of the air, but did you know our brains produce similar waves?

 Brain waves are the radio waves inside our heads. Both are forms of electromagnetic radiation, albeit with a few notable differences.

 So what if you could “tune in” to the brain waves of another person? What would you find? Is picking up on low-frequency brain waves even possible?

 The researchers at the MIT School of Engineering posed this question, and it’s the topic of this Friday’s science break.

 Can Brain Waves Interfere with Radio Waves?

 Enjoy!

 – J.M. Lanham

Friday Science Break – What is Network Neuroscience?

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If you want to raise eyebrows in the scientific community, just bring up the subject of mind control.

Mind control has fascinated humans for as long as humans have had the ability to contemplate such a feat. It is also a subject that has traditionally fallen under the category of science fiction.

Few people would disagree that pressing a finger to your temple and staring into the eyes of a stranger would only lead to awkward feelings . . . and perhaps a little aggression.

But there are legitimate studies taking place right now that are exploring the possibility of mind control by hacking into the most advanced network in the known universe: the neural network.

This is known as network neuroscience, and it’s getting a lot of attention at a little college up in Cambridge called MIT.

So next time you get a break, take a minute to check out the following article:

How Network Neuroscience is Creating a New Era of Mind Control

Happy Friday!

– J.M. Lanham