Category: biological – Page 15
What AI Reveals About the Brain
Can AI become smarter than humans?
In this episode, I talk to Chris Summerfield about the frontier of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, LLMs, AI agents, memory, and superintelligence.
We discuss why models like ChatGPT and Claude can feel so human, why today’s AI still does not learn like the brain, and why continual learning may be one of the most important unsolved problems in AI. Chris explains how human memory works, why sleep matters for learning, and what AI research is teaching us about intelligence itself.
We also discuss the future of work, education, creativity, and whether AI could lead to a more human world — or a much stranger one.
Topics covered:
• Artificial intelligence and the human brain.
• LLMs, ChatGPT, Claude and AI agents.
• AI memory and continual learning.
• AI alignment, safety and misalignment.
• . Superintelligence and self-improving systems.
• Hallucinations, reasoning and intelligence.
• . Education, jobs and the future of work.
• . Why AI may change how humans understand themselves.
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The First Brain Upload Just Made Simulation Theory Real
The first real brain upload just happened — and it might be the strongest evidence yet that simulation theory isn’t just philosophy anymore. A startup called Eon Systems copied a complete biological brain (139,255 neurons, 54 million synapses) into a physics simulation, and the digital fly started walking, grooming, and feeding on its own. No training. No AI. Just the copied wiring on a laptop.
We break down how they did it, why a billion euros in previous brain simulation projects failed, what Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument actually says, and why a fruit fly on a laptop just moved the needle on whether our own reality could be simulated. We also look hard at the limitations — this work is not yet peer reviewed — and what it would actually take to scale this to a human brain.
Eon Systems announcement: https://theinnermostloop.substack.com… model paper: Shiu et al. (2024) Nature 634 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158… FlyWire connectome paper: Dorkenwald et al. (2024) Nature 634 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158… #simulationtheory #brainupload #consciousness.
Brain model paper: Shiu et al. (2024) Nature 634 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
FlyWire connectome paper: Dorkenwald et al. (2024) Nature 634 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
#simulationtheory #brainupload #consciousness
Merging Humans and AI: The Rise of Biological Computers
It’s no secret that tech companies are racing to build “artificial general intelligence,” or AI that can match a human brain without needing a lifeline. But our brains already do the same heavy lifting with just a fraction of the resources. Whether it’s energy, water, land, components, or, you know… money… human brains are just way cheaper. Right now, you can either buy a human brain cell-based computer… or rent time on a remote one. Yep, even brainpower’s got a subscription plan these days. So what can these living computers actually do? How do they work? And, most importantly, should we be freaking out a little bit?
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Beyond frozen snapshots, protein ‘breathing’ comes into view with combined imaging methods
Advances in structural biology have allowed scientists to determine molecular structures with atomic-level detail, sometimes yielding static snapshots that do not reflect the dynamism of proteins. However, these motions are often crucial for biological function. Researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), together with international collaborators, have now combined several methods to shed light on how proteins “breathe” and how some experimental techniques freeze their motion. The findings—which could boost protein design approaches and improve AI-based structural prediction tools—are published in Nature Chemistry.
Despite serving as structural biology’s central pillar for more than half a century, protein crystallography has yielded static molecular structures—like still frames from a video—far from the buzzing life inside cells.
“How much can these ‘frozen snapshots’ of protein structures really tell us about their true biological functions and bustling molecular environments?” asks Lea Becker, the study’s first author and a Ph.D. student in Professor Paul Schanda’s group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA).
New atlas reveals more about how the body’s ‘master gland’ really works
A new study has created a detailed map of the pituitary gland, often called the body’s “master gland” because it controls important functions such as growth, stress and reproduction. Researchers from the Center for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology combined data from many studies to build a single, clearer picture of how this gland works. They created the Consensus Pituitary Atlas, along with an easy-to-use website where scientists can explore the data and analyze their own.
Over the past 10 years, scientists have used a method called single-cell RNA sequencing to measure how genes work in individual cells. This method has also been used to study the pituitary gland. Since 2018, researchers have collected data from 1.3 million pituitary cells across nearly 40 studies.
However, these studies were often small, used only a few animals, usually male, followed different analysis methods, and employed inconsistent naming conventions for cell types. This made results hard to compare and sometimes unreliable.
Everything You Need to Know About the Biological Great Filter and Galactic Civilizations
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New water-based material could store solar energy, power reactions in darkness, then recharge
Northwestern University scientists have developed a new liquid material that charges like a battery, transforms like a living organism and then resets itself in open air. Traditionally, harvesting energy, storing it and using it require separate materials or devices. The new platform merges all three functions into a single material, opening the door for adaptive, clean, renewable systems that don’t require plastics or metals.
The study is published in Chem. It marks the first report of a material that stores energy by physically rebuilding itself.
To design the material, the researchers drew inspiration from the cytoskeleton —a cell’s dynamic internal scaffold that enables it to maintain its shape, move and divide. Unlike animals’ rigid skeletons, cytoskeletons constantly build, dismantle and rebuild themselves. Northwestern’s new material behaves in a similar way, repeatedly assembling and disassembling as it stores and releases energy. But instead of running on biological fuels, it is powered by electrons harvested from sunlight, electricity, X-rays and other energy sources.
The Transmachinist Far Future
An exploration of the possibility of machines wishing to become human and biological in the far future.
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Hardy ice plant’s optical innovation inspires reflective design possibilities
Nature is filled with remarkable visual phenomena created by microscopic surface structures that interact with light in fascinating ways. The iridescent wings of butterflies, the shimmering feathers of birds and the glossy surfaces of flower petals are all examples of how living organisms control the reflection, absorption and scattering of light. These optical effects are not only visually striking but also serve important biological functions, including attracting pollinators, communication, camouflage and protection from environmental stress. Understanding these naturally occurring photonic structures has become an important area of research, as they provide inspiration for the development of advanced biomimetic materials and optical technologies.
One such example is the hardy ice plant, Delosperma cooperi, a perennial succulent native to South Africa and widely cultivated in Japan. The flower’s petals display a striking glossy appearance, prompting researchers to investigate the mechanism responsible for this effect.
Researchers from Shinshu University, led by professor Hiroshi Moriwaki, conducted this study to understand how the petals generate gloss and whether their surface structure could inspire the design of novel reflective materials. Kazuma Tanabe also was part of the research team. The findings are published in the journal Optical Materials.