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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 898

Oct 7, 2015

Human mini-brains may solve cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, health, life extension, neuroscience
[From CNN]

Human ‘mini brains’ grown in labs may help solve cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s

mini_brain

  • Ohio State biomedical research team grows nearly complete human ‘mini brain’
  • Brain organoids can be used to learn more about diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
  • Brain organoids could yield autism breakthrough within 10 years, researcher says

| Video Source: CNN
Read the full story CNN

Oct 6, 2015

Nanobots could turn us into GODS

Posted by in categories: computing, internet, nanotechnology, neuroscience, Ray Kurzweil, singularity

Computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, founder of the California-based Singularity University, claims that by 2030s humans could be using nanobots to connect our brains to the cloud.

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Oct 6, 2015

Celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of book The Singularity Is Near

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, Ray Kurzweil, singularity, virtual reality

Ray Kurzweil’s singularity of human superintelligence is a polar opposite of the singularity described by Vinge, Hawking, and Bostrom:

“The singularity will be a merger of our bodies and minds with our technology. The world will still be human, but transcend our biological roots. There will be no distinction between human and machine, nor between physical and virtual reality.”


Dear readers,

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Oct 5, 2015

This Prosthetic Could Restore Memory In Dementia Victims

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, electronics, information science, neuroscience

Memory loss is a truly devastating part of dementia, but this invention aims to fix that by bypassing the damage, and repairing long term memory.

Alzheimer’s and dementia are complex diseases, and there’s currently no effective treatment. Given the unpleasant nature of the disease, there’s an urgent need for results. Instead of taking the usual biological route, one team has constructed a prosthetic made up of a small electrode array — which can help re-encode short term memory into long term.

Built using decades of research, the device operates using a new algorithm based on accumulated neural data. New sensory information is normally translated into a quick memory and transported as an electrical signal through the hippocampus, potentially for long term storage. If this region is damaged then the process is disturbed, and new experiences fail to be encoded. Alzheimer’s patients can often remember childhood events, but struggle with recent experiences; specifically because of this hippocampal damage.

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Oct 5, 2015

Computer algorithm created to encode human memories

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, neuroscience

Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that mimics the brain’s electrical signalling and helps memory. The FT reports.

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Oct 3, 2015

How Do Brain Stem Cells Age? Their Damage Filter Breaks Down

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Could discovering how neural stem cells protect themselves from damage lead to treatment that helps combat aging?

We now know that stem cells in the brain do in fact divide, and that this regenerative capacity begins to falter with age. The majority of our cells don’t divide, and the bulk of division falls to stem cell niches dotted across our body. Stem cell populations do age, but they’re more resistant than ‘normal’ cells are, and they produce higher levels of telomerase — enabling them to divide for years.

How do brain stem cells remain free of damage?

Continue reading “How Do Brain Stem Cells Age? Their Damage Filter Breaks Down” »

Oct 3, 2015

Mental Noise Makes Your Brain Slow With Age

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Brain speed declines for most people with age, and new data shows it may be because of increasingly busy, noisy circuits.

The human brain takes in a lot of information. Everyone has to deal with a slog of incoming data every day, and add it to an ever expanding bank of knowledge. Your brain re-organises itself pretty well, but new research suggests this clutter begins to have effects as it builds up.

A clouded brain.

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Oct 2, 2015

New prosthesis bypasses brain damage

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Cortical memory prosthesis uses internal brain signals (e.g., spiketrains) as inputs and outputs, bypassing damaged region (Dong Song et al.)

A brain prosthesis designed to help individuals suffering from memory loss has been developed by researchers at USC and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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Oct 2, 2015

NIH and Kavli Foundation invest $185 million for BRAIN Initiative research

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, neuroscience

Scientists funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative hope to diagram all of the circuits in the brain. One group will attempt to identify all of the connections among the retina’s ganglion cells (red), which transmit visual information from bipolar cells (green) and photoreceptors (purple) to the brain. (credit: Josh Morgan, Ph. D. and Rachel Wong, Ph. D./University of Washington)

The National Institutes of Health and the Kavli Foundation separately announced today (Oct. 1, 2015) commitments totaling $185 million in new funds supporting the BRAIN Initiative — research aimed at deepening our understanding of the brain and brain-related disorders, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

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Oct 2, 2015

Worriers Are More Perceptive and More Intelligent

Posted by in categories: futurism, neuroscience

A propensity to worry indicates a strong ability to consider the past and future in precise detail, perhaps explaining why worriers also tend to be more intelligent.

While worriers have often been considered a liability to groups of professionals and friends alike, due to their apparent lack of confidence, they may be better at learning from past mistakes than others, and preparing for future threats.

Researchers have recently found that worriers are better at telling when others are lying and are quicker at detecting threats, such as smoke in the room caused by a fire elsewhere. Now, a survey of one hundred students at MacEwan University has shown that worrying goes hand in hand with having a higher intelligence.

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