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Category: neuroscience

Scientists Have Discovered a Protein That Reverses Brain Aging in The Lab

Our brains age along with the rest of our bodies, and as they do, they produce fewer new brain cells. Now, researchers have found a key mechanism through which the typical age-related decline in neuron production might be slowed.

In later life, the neural stem cells (NSCs) that turn into fully fledged neurons become more dormant – almost as if they’re going into retirement after a long lifetime of service. As that happens, cognitive decline creeps in.

A major reason why NSC activity fades with age is the wear and tear on telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of DNA. Telomeres fray a little more each time a cell divides, and over time, this impairs cells’ ability to grow and divide, leading to increasing cell death.

The ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’—amazing cure or toxic illusion?

Miracle Mineral Solution, also known as MMS, has been marketed for years as a purported miracle cure for various conditions, including cancer, autism, and COVID-19. MMS is the marketing name for sodium chlorite (NaClO₂), a powerful disinfectant used, among other things, for water treatment. When sodium chlorite is acidified, chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) is formed. Its consumption can be hazardous to health.

A team of scientists from Wroclaw Medical University decided to investigate this.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, they analyzed the effects of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), from which ClO₂ is produced.

“The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis” by Michael Levin

This is a ~57 minute talk titled “The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis: development, regeneration, cancer, and beyond” which I gave at a UCSF seminar for an audience of graduate students and post-docs in Biophysics, Bioinformatics, and Chemical Biology. I covered the role of bioelectricity as cognitive glue underlying high-level adaptive plasticity in living tissue, recent progress in exploiting that interface, and new developments in research platforms for this field.

Michael Levin: Novel Embodiments of Mind: Natural, Bioengineered, and Hybrid Interfaces

This is an invited talk in BAMΞ’s Mathematical Phenomenology Sprint.
Cf. https://bamxi.org/research-activities/mathematical-phenomenology-sprint/

Organizing Institutions:
Bamberg Mathematical Consciousness Science Initiative (BAMΞ) https://bamxi.org.
& Association for Mathematical Consciousness Science (AMCS) https://amcs-community.org

Controlled ‘oxidative spark’ may serve as a surprising ally in brain repair

Oxidative stress is a direct consequence of an excess in the body of so-called free radicals—reactive, unstable molecules that contain oxygen. Free radicals are normal metabolic by-products and also help to relay signals in the body. In turn, oxidative stress (an overload of these molecules) can be caused by lifestyle, environmental, and biological factors such as smoking, high alcohol consumption, poor diet, stress, pollution, radiation, industrial chemicals, and chronic inflammation.

When this occurs, it creates an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the body’s antioxidant defenses, which are responsible for neutralizing them.

The brain on books: How reading reshapes language processing

Learning to read reshapes how the brain processes language. New research from Baycrest and the University of São Paulo shows that learning to read fundamentally changes how the brain responds to spoken language, even when no written words are present. While previous brain imaging studies have demonstrated that literacy strongly affects how the brain responds to written words, this study is among the first to show differences in brain activity during listening alone.

The findings confirm that as people learn to read, they develop a skill known as phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds that make up spoken words, a core foundation of reading. The study shows that learning to read improves how the brain processes spoken language by increasing sensitivity to these component sounds. This, in turn, strengthens short-term verbal memory, supporting the ability to learn complex skills and manage the cognitive demands of daily life.

The work is published in the journal Cortex.

The role of the Cer1 transposon in horizontal transfer of transgenerational memory

Could a hybrid biohardware using neural orgamoids and silicon make minduploading easier.

Animals face both external and internal dangers: pathogens threaten from the environment, and unstable genomic elements threaten from within. C. elegans protects itself from pathogens by “reading” bacterial small RNAs, using this information to both induce avoidance and transmit memories for four generations. Here, we found that memories can be transferred from either lysed animals or from conditioned media to naive animals via Cer1 retrotransposon-encoded virus-like particles. Moreover, Cer1 functions internally at the step of transmission of information from the germline to neurons and is required for learned avoidance. The presence of the Cer1 retrotransposon in wild C. elegans strains correlates with the ability to learn and inherit small-RNA-induced pathogen avoidance. Together, these results suggest that C.

Scientists identify key brain mechanism behind ayahuasca’s ability to reduce PTSD symptoms

A study in European Neuropsychopharmacology finds that ayahuasca helps rats learn that a previously dangerous environment is safe. This effect appears to rely on BDNF signaling within the infralimbic cortex, suggesting a potential biological pathway for treating trauma.

Multi-omic analysis of guided and unguided forebrain organoids reveals differences in cellular composition and metabolic profiles

The differences in guided and unguided forebrain organoids.

The differences arising from guided or unguided differentiation of human forebrain organoids is not well understood.

The researchers perform a multiomic analysis of forebrain organoids generated by these two key methods.

The researchers demonstrate that guided forebrain organoids contained a larger proportion of neurons, including GABAergic interneurons, whereas the unguided organoids contained significantly more choroid plexus, radial glia, and astrocytes at later stages.

They also show increased levels of oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid β-oxidation in the unguided forebrain organoids and a higher reliance on glycolysis in the guided forebrain organoids. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/guided-and-unguided-forebrain-organoids

Øhlenschlæger et al. perform a multi-omic analysis of forebrain organoids generated by two key methods, guided and unguided differentiation. They document significant differences in the cell type composition and metabolic profiles of the two forebrain organoid types, providing a resource and methodological guide for the neural organoid field.

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