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Penrose’s theory of consciousness supported by new quantum evidence

Roger Penrose argued that human thought does things no computer can, so the mind must make use of non-computable quantum mechanics. The idea remains fringe. Most scientists think that in warm, wet environments like the brain, quantum states collapse into classical states far faster than neurons fire, and so cognition must be governed by classical physics. But neuroscientist Mike Wiest argues that new evidence challenges this assumption: stable quantum states are now being observed at far higher temperatures than previously thought possible. And consciousness, he suggests, has structural features that make quantum mechanics a natural place to look for an explanation, so critics should stop accusing Penrose of simply piling one mystery on top of another. The time has come to give this neglected proposal another look. I.

Smart probiotics can sense high blood sugar and release GLP-1 on demand

In a recent study published in Nature, scientists from the Shanghai Academy of Natural Sciences (SANS) in China developed an oral living drug, GIFT, made from engineered probiotic bacteria. The bacteria carry a built-in molecular glucose sensor, created using a gene circuit controlled by a sensor protein called HexR.

Impaired behavioral inhibition in Fmr1 KO mice is linked to disrupted visual cortex theta oscillations

Zimmerman et al. show loss of behavioral inhibition correlated with attenuated theta activity in the primary visual cortex, hippocampus, and deficient top-down control from the prefrontal cortex in the Fmr1 KO mice. These findings shed light on circuit-level impairments underlying behavioral deficits in Fragile X syndrome for potential therapeutic interventions.

Declining star formation not caused by simple ‘fuel crisis,’ new measurements suggest

The universe has been having fewer and fewer stellar “babies.” Over the past 4.5 billion years, the rate of star birth has crashed to less than half of what it once was. But here’s the twist: the most essential “fuel” for making stars has barely decreased.

This finding comes from an international team led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) project. They used China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) to make high-precision measurements of cosmic neutral atomic hydrogen over the past 4.5 billion years.

The study reveals that while cosmic star formation has declined dramatically over this period, neutral atomic hydrogen (HI)—a vital gas reservoir for galaxies—has decreased only slightly.

The challenge and promise of studying human antigenspecific T cells Reviews Immunology

Antigen-specific T cells underpin immunity, cancer surveillance and autoimmunity, yet remain difficult to study. This Review describes the technologies and computational approaches that are helping to link T cell receptor specificity with function, revealing how intrinsic T cell properties shape immune outcomes across infection, vaccination and disease.

20 Years Ago, Women Got a Preventative Cancer Treatment. Now It’s Protecting Men Too

It is highly likely that a preventative cancer treatment, originally targeted at women, is now also protecting men.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is the first medicine in the world developed specifically to prevent cancer by targeting a virus.

It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2006, but at first, it was only given to girls and women.

The New Era Of SMA — From Gene Therapy to Living Without Limits | Dr. Tracey Dawson

A New Era for SMA — Dr. Tracey Dawson, PhD, — SVP and U.S. Therapeutic Area Head of Neuroscience, Novartis.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has undergone one of the most remarkable transformations in modern medicine. A disease that once carried devastating consequences, particularly in its most severe forms, can now be treated with therapies designed to dramatically alter its course — especially when treatment begins early.

But medical progress creates a fascinating new question. What happens when you don’t just change the disease — you change what’s possible for the person living with it?

Because today’s SMA community includes children treated before symptoms emerge, young adults who have grown up in this new treatment era, and adults who have lived with SMA for decades and carry the consequences of disease that occurred before these therapies existed.

And that’s where our conversation today gets particularly interesting. Because the next challenge may not simply be developing better medicines. It may be helping people take full advantage of the lives those medicines make possible.

Continue reading “The New Era Of SMA — From Gene Therapy to Living Without Limits | Dr. Tracey Dawson” | >

CMV — The Virus Lurking Inside Us That Can Threaten Transplant Patients | Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD

The Hidden Organ Transplant Threat — CMV — Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD, FRCPC — Head, Marketed Products and Neuroscience, Global Medical Affairs, Takeda.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world receive life-saving organ transplants — new hearts, kidneys, lungs, and livers that offer patients a second chance at life.

But transplantation is only the beginning of the journey.

Because preventing organ rejection requires suppressing the immune system, transplant recipients become vulnerable to infections that most healthy people never even notice.

One of the most important — and least understood — is cytomegalovirus, or CMV.

Continue reading “CMV — The Virus Lurking Inside Us That Can Threaten Transplant Patients | Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD” | >

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