Lifeboat Foundation

In the world of things we already know.

MooDFOOD, the largest randomized clinical trial to study the effects of nutritional strategies on the prevention of major depressive disorder concludes that daily intake of nutritional supplements cannot prevent depression.

An international group of researchers including biologists from the University of Maryland found that at least four species of marine ribbon worms independently evolved the ability to regrow a head after amputation.

Regeneration of amputated body parts is uncommon but does exist throughout the animal world—from salamanders, spiders and sea stars that can regrow appendages to a species of ribbon worm that can regenerate an entire individual from just a small sliver of tissue. But regenerative abilities were broadly assumed to be an ancient trait that some species managed to hold on to while most others lost through evolution.

This new study, which was published in the March 6, 2019 issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, turns that assumption on its head. In a survey of 35 species of marine ribbon worms, the researchers found that the ability to regenerate an entire head, including a brain, evolved relatively recently in four different species.

Continue reading “Scientists find worms that recently evolved the ability to regrow a complete head” »

I knew the future would be shocking but this is a whole other level.

Human memory happens in many parts of the brain at once, and some types of memories stick around longer than others.

Experts’ opinions on the new drug, designed for people suffering from the most extreme forms of treatment-resistant depression and administered in the form of a nasal spray, are split.

To make headway on the mystery of consciousness, some researchers are trying a rigorous new way to test competing theories.

We believe that when we are faced with the choice between two or more options of what to think about, non-conscious traces of the thoughts are there already, a bit like unconscious hallucinations,” Professor Pearson says. “As the decision of what to think about is made, executive areas of the brain choose the thought-trace which is stronger. In, other words, if any pre-existing brain activity matches one of your choices, then your brain will be more likely to pick that option as it gets boosted by the pre-existing brain activity.

A new UNSW study suggests we have less control over our personal choices than we think, and that unconscious brain activity determines our choices well before we are aware of them.

Published in Scientific Reports today, an experiment carried out in the Future Minds Lab at UNSW School of Psychology showed that free choices about what to think can be predicted from patterns of brain activity 11 seconds before people consciously chose what to think about.

Continue reading “Our brains reveal our choices before we’re even aware of them, study finds” »

After Anton Zeldin’s wife was involved in a fatal car accident, he chose to have her brain frozen with the hope that she can one day be brought back to life. Video Journalist: Irina Sedunova.

Native tribes used it to treat everything from sore muscles to headaches.