Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience

Britain’s oldest cave art may have been rediscovered in Bacon Hole cave

The oldest cave art in Britain may have been discovered, or more likely rediscovered, in a cave on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, possibly dating back around 17,000 years.

The red stripe markings on the walls of a cave called Bacon Hole were first spotted in 1912. They were hailed by their finders, Professor William Sollas and Henri Breuil, as the first Paleolithic cave art in the British Isles. However, skeptics dismissed the discovery, arguing that the markings were merely natural mineral deposits.

Over time, the claim and subsequent debate drifted out of public consciousness and have largely been forgotten about. That was until scientists decided to reexamine the marks.

Stress Can Literally Make You Lose Your Direction, According to New MRI Evidence

People under stress may find it harder to orient themselves in space, and researchers in Bochum have identified a possible reason why. The stress hormone cortisol appears to interfere with the brain system that helps people navigate. It weakens the activity of grid cells, which are important for

New study suggests the brain applies different standards of beauty to paintings and architecture

A recent study published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts provides evidence that the human brain applies different standards of beauty depending on the type of visual art it evaluates. By comparing the visual properties of historical building facades and artistic paintings, scientists found that architects and painters weigh aesthetic features like symmetry and complexity quite differently.

When people look at an image, their appreciation of its beauty relies on several visual variables. These variables include properties such as color, balance, symmetry, complexity, and the relationship between the main subject and its background. Psychological theories of visual perception propose that humans tend to prefer sensory properties that the brain can process easily.

“I have been interested in the Valuation System of the brain, the network that learns and deploys values for decision-making,” said Norberto Grzywacz, a professor of psychology at Loyola University Chicago. “In particular, I have had interests in aesthetic values, which this system also processes. At some point, I asked myself whether aesthetic values in a sensory domain, for example vision, are universal or specific to different domains.”

Brain cells fine-tuned to disappointment may inspire new therapies for depression and addiction

University of Oregon neuroscientists have identified a group of brain cells that essentially act as a “disappointment meter,” announcing when reality is falling short of expectations.

In a study published in Current Biology, the researchers describe a specific group of neurons in the mouse brain that become active when the animal anticipates a reward but earns less than expected, or nothing at all. The findings reveal that feeling let down is something that particular cells in the brain are designed to detect and record.

Deep brain stimulation induces white matter remodeling and functional changes to brain-wide networks

In a nonhuman primate model, Fujimoto et al. show that deep brain stimulation promotes white matter remodeling and reorganizes brain-wide functional networks, detailing a mechanism through which this neuromodulation therapy may treat depression.

Smaller nanoplastics trigger stronger changes in brain neuron activity

Smaller plastic particles have more effects on neurons, the key information processing cells of the brain, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. In the study, neuronal cells were exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics at low doses to study subtle changes.

Plastic production continues to rise, despite worldwide concerns. In addition to environmental implications, there is an increasing interest in how exposure to plastics may impact human health, but our understanding is still limited. Only recently it was shown that plastics can accumulate also in the human brain.

Plastic particles smaller than 5,000 nm in diameter are called microplastics, and the smallest plastic particles with a diameter of less than 1,000 nm are called nanoplastics. The small size of nanoplastics enables them to interact with various cell types, and other particles or biological mass, such as bacteria. Compared to microplastics, nanoplastics have larger adsorption capacity and penetrate through biological barriers more easily. This makes them potentially more harmful and a compelling target for research in the field of neurobiology.

The PROOF We’re In A Simulation Is Hiding In Plain Sight

ATT Business: Switch to AT&T Business at business.att.com.
Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impact.

Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In today’s episode, Tom Bilyeu dives deep into one of the most provocative questions facing science and philosophy: Do we really have free will, or are we all just highly sophisticated NPCs—non-player characters—running a program inside a vast, resource-efficient simulation? Drawing on groundbreaking neuroscience experiments, the story of Phineas Gage, quantum mechanics, and the work of leading thinkers like Robert Sapolsky, Tom Bilyeu challenges everything we think we know about choice, consciousness, and the true nature of reality.

But this isn’t an episode about nihilism. Instead, Tom Bilyeu reveals why embracing the truth of a stochastically deterministic universe can actually make life feel more meaningful, freeing us from the weight of the past and inspiring us to make the most of every moment—programmed or not. Get ready to question your assumptions and see the world from a whole new perspective.

00:00 — Intro.
01:38 — Part 1: It’s Biology All The Way Down.
14:22 — Part 2: Quantum Mechanics Bury the Notion of Free Will.
19:53 — Part 3: The Last Hiding Places of Free Will.
27:51 — Part 4: Why Being An NPC Is The Best News You’ll Ever Get.

Sign up for my AI Masterclass: https://tombilyeu.com/ai-masterclass.
Check us out wherever you get your podcasts:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1nARKz2…
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
Do you need my help?
STARTING a business: join me here inside ZERO TO FOUNDER (https://tombilyeu.com/zero-to-founder)
Get the exact systems, mindset shifts, and principles that built a $1B brand delivered straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe for free (https://tombilyeu.com)
Check out our Video game — Project Kyzen: (https://projectkyzen.io/)
Catch Me Streaming on Twitch — (/ tombilyeu)
Link to IT discord: / discord.
Tom’s Favorite Things List: https://amzn.to/41Ftt7e.

FOLLOW TOM:

Continue reading “The PROOF We’re In A Simulation Is Hiding In Plain Sight” | >

The impact of nanoplastics on neurons may depend on their size

Smaller plastic particles have more effects on neurons, the key information processing cells of the brain, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. In the study, neuronal cells were exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics at low doses to study subtle changes.

The study is published in the journal NanoImpact.

Plastic production continues to rise, despite worldwide concerns. In addition to environmental implications, there is an increasing interest in how exposure to plastics may impact human health, but our understanding is still limited. Only recently was it shown that plastics can also accumulate in the human brain.

Tiny brain probe reveals how deep-brain neurons can be measured and manipulated

A new breakthrough technology, co-developed by UCL scientists, that simultaneously records and manipulates neuron activity deep within the brain could transform our understanding of neural circuits and neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

The device, known as Neuropixels Opto and researched in mice, integrates two powerful but traditionally separate techniques—electrophysiology (the study of the electrical activity of living cells) and optogenetics (combining genetics and optics to control cells). They form a single probe, enabling unprecedented insight into how individual neurons in the brain function and interact.

Published in Nature Methods, the system allows researchers to monitor the electrical activity of hundreds of neurons while also selectively activating or silencing specific cells using light.

/* */