Lifeboat Foundation

I wanted to focus on the animal testing portion of the Show and Tell. Neuralink representatives showed us videos of a pig that has a cortex and spinal chip in its body. It also has pin points on joints in its leg that are sending data to the Neuralink scientist. When the scientist stimulates a joint it creates an uncontrolled movement. The pig moves its leg without wanting too, but because someone else wanted it too, the pig did not want to move. That’s the focus of this video.

#neuralink #neuroscience #videoessay #yuvalnoahharari #elonmusk #podcast #neurology

Jeff Lichtman is Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard. He received an A.B. from Bowdoin (1973), and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis (1980) where he worked for 30 years before moving to Cambridge (2004). He is a member of Harvard’s newly established Center for Brain Science. Jeff’s research interests revolve around the question of how mammalian brain circuits are physically altered by experiences, especially in early life. He has focused on the dramatic re-wiring of neural connections in early postnatal development. More recently his research has focused on developing new electron microscopy methods to map the entire wiring diagram of the developing and adult brain. One of the principal aims of this “connectomics” approach is to uncover the ways information is stored in neural networks.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Continue reading “Connectomics: Jeff Lichtman at TEDxCaltech” »

David C. Van Essen is the Alumni Endowed Professor in the Anatomy & Neurobiology Department at Washington University in St. Louis. He has pioneered the use of surface-based analysis methods to characterize the structure, function, development, and connectivity of the cerebral cortex. He is Principal Investigator for the NIH Human Connectome Project, a large-scale effort to map brain circuitry and its relationship to behavior in healthy adults. His physiological and anatomical studies have provided deep insights into cortical functional organization. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuroscience, President of the Society for Neuroscience, and Head of the Anatomy & Neurobiology Department for 20 years. He is a fellow of the AAAS and received the Raven Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Louis Academy of Sciences and the Krieg Cortical Discoverer Award from the Cajal Club.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Continue reading “The Human Connectome Project — Relating Brain Circuits to Behavior: David Van Essen at TEDxCaltech” »

The reason your three-pound brain doesn’t feel heavy is that it floats in a reservoir of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which flows in and around your brain and spinal cord. This liquid barrier between your brain and skull protects it from a hit to your head and bathes your brain in nutrients.

Scientists have labored for decades to understand how brain structure and functional connectivity drive intelligence. A new analysis offers the clearest picture yet of how various brain regions and neural networks contribute to a person’s problem-solving ability in a variety of contexts, a trait known as general intelligence, researchers report.

They detail their findings in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

The study used “connectome-based predictive modeling” to compare five theories about how the brain gives rise to intelligence, said Aron Barbey, a professor of psychology, bioengineering and neuroscience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led the new work with first author Evan Anderson, now a researcher for Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. working at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Transplanting a patient’s own hematopoietic stem cells may defer the progression of disability longer in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) than treatment with other anti-inflammatory disease-modifying therapies (DMT), reports a study published in the journal Neurology “Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in People With Active Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis”.

“Hematopoietic stem cell transplants have been previously found to delay disability in people with relapsing-remitting MS, but less is known about whether such transplants could help delay disability during the more advanced stage of the disease,” said Matilde Inglese, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Genoa in Italy and senior author of the study. “Our results are encouraging because while current treatments for SPMS have modest or small benefits, our study found stem cell transplants may not only delay disability longer than many other MS medications, they may also provide a slight improvement in symptoms.”

Patients initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS, where periods of active flare-up of symptoms alternate spans of remission, eventually develop SPMS where the disease worsens gradually but steadily. The exact mechanisms leading to increased neurodegeneration in SPMS are unclear, but evidence suggests a major role of innate and adaptive immune mechanisms that drive inflammation in the brain parenchyma, the leptomeninges, and the cerebrospinal fluid.

You may have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” It’s no surprise that what you put into your body directly impacts how you feel and other aspects of your health, including cognitive function.

In fact, diets that contain certain amounts of minerals like sodium and potassium could have an effect on brain function, especially in older adults, according to a recent study published in Global Transitions.

Researchers from China found diets higher in sodium were associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline and poor and deteriorated memory. On the other hand, participants in the study who had more potassium intake in their diet were associated with higher cognitive function.

A new type of blood test can detect a hidden toxin behind Alzheimer’s disease years before a patient shows any symptoms of memory loss or confusion.

If the proof-of-concept can be further tested and scaled, the test could significantly speed up diagnosis, giving millions of patients answers and access to proper care long before their disease progresses.

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) created the novel blood test. It’s designed to pick up on a molecular precursor in the blood that can cause proteins to irregularly fold and clump in the brain, ultimately forming amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques.