Lifeboat Foundation

Memories are stored in all different areas across the brain as networks of neurons called engrams. In addition to collecting information about incoming stimuli, these engrams capture emotional information. In a new study, Steve Ramirez, a neuroscientist at Boston University, discovered where the brain stores positive and negative memories and uncovered hundreds of markers that differentiate positive-memory neurons from negative-memory neurons.

In 2019, Ramirez found evidence that good and bad memories are stored in different regions of the hippocampus, a cashew-shaped structure that holds sensory and emotional information necessary for forming and retrieving memories. The top part of the hippocampus activated when mice underwent enjoyable experiences, but the bottom region activated when they had negative experiences.

His team also found that they could manipulate memories by activating these regions. When he and his team activated the top area of the hippocampus, bad memories were less traumatic. Conversely, when they activated the bottom part, mice exhibited signs of long-last lasting anxiety-related behavioral changes. Ramirez suspected this difference in effect was because the neurons that store good and bad memories have different functions beyond simply keeping positive and negative emotions. However, before he could unravel this difference, he needed to identify which cells were storing good and bad memories. The results were published in the journal Communications Biology.

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. The gradualism of evolution has explained and dissolved life’s mysteries—life’s seemingly irreducible complexity and the illusion that living things possess some sort of mysterious vitalizing essence. So, too, evolution is likely to be key to demystifying the seemingly inexplicable, ethereal nature of consciousness.

First, what does it even mean to say that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”? If the chosen topic is human consciousness, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa come quickly to mind. But then what does the term “evolution” contribute to the discussion of the origin of human consciousness? Is it something useful or something theorists are stuck with, come what may?

Science theories should make predictions. Who predicted either King or Mother Teresa?

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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about incredible discoveries about the human brain.
Links:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2204900119
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05277-w.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARHGAP11B
https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/corticallabs.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1654-9
Synthetic cells: https://youtu.be/OxVZPKmm58M
#brain #biology #neuroscience.

Continue reading “Groundbreaking Discoveries About The Human Brain and Our Neurons” »

They were created to imitate neural networks within the human brain.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) mimic biological neural networks in the human brain. ANN consists of an input layer, a hidden layer, and an output layer.

Also called neural nets, ANNs are used daily in healthcare, social media when suggesting people you might know, and in marketing when recommending products to consumers.

Continue reading “Artificial neural network: Here’s everything you need to know about black box of AI” »

Many children grow up gazing up at the night sky, dreaming of becoming astronauts who boldly go to the Moon – and beyond.

But in order to get that elusive job, would-be astronauts must make it through a competitive selection process. For NASA’s 2021 class of astronauts, the space agency said it chose just 10 candidates from more than 12,000 applicants.

Continue reading “Here’s How NASA Determines Which Applicants Make It to Be Astronauts” »

With the help of an AI, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in designing synthetic DNA that controls the cells’ protein production. The technology can contribute to the development and production of vaccines, drugs for severe diseases, as well as alternative food proteins much faster and at significantly lower costs than today.

How genes are expressed is a process that is fundamental to the functionality of cells in all living organisms. Simply put, the genetic code in DNA is transcribed to the molecule messenger RNA (mRNA), which tells the cell’s factory which protein to produce and in which quantities.

Researchers have put a lot of effort into trying to control gene expression because, among other things, it can contribute to the development of protein-based drugs. A recent example is the mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, which instructed the body’s cells to produce the same protein found on the surface of the coronavirus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgLo4gmEraU

Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist, co-inventor of loop quantum gravity, and a contributor of many interesting ideas to cosmology, quantum field theory, the foundations of quantum mechanics, theoretical biology, and the philosophy of science. He is the author of several books including one that critiques the state of physics and string theory called The Trouble with Physics, and his latest book, Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum.

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Continue reading “Lee Smolin: Quantum Gravity and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution” »

Sound waves, like an invisible pair of tweezers, can be used to levitate small objects in the air. Although DIY acoustic levitation kits are readily available online, the technology has important applications in both research and industry, including the manipulation of delicate materials like biological cells.

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have recently demonstrated that in order to precisely control a particle using ultrasonic waves, it is necessary to take into account both the shape of the particle and how this affects the acoustic field. Their findings were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Sound levitation happens when sound waves interact and form a standing wave with nodes that can ‘trap’ a particle. Gorkov’s core theory of acoustophoresis, the current mathematical foundation for acoustic levitation, makes the assumption that the particle being trapped is a sphere.

There is a deep root of mathematics within biology. How this came to be, you’ll have to watch the video to find out.

Created by Prompt Suathim (2nd year undergrad, Integrated Science, UBC)

Continue reading “Using math to decode biology’s programming language” »