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Feasibility of mapping the human brain with expansion x-ray microscopy

Hey folks, I’m excited to share a new essay with y’all on my proposed route towards nanoscale human brain connectomics. I suggest that synchrotron ‘expansion x-ray microscopy’ has the potential to enable anatomical imaging of the entire human brain with sub-100 nm voxel size and high contrast in around 1 year for a price of roughly $10M. I plan to continue improving this essay over time as I acquire more detailed information and perform more calculations.

For a brief history of this concept: I started exploring this idea during undergrad (working with a laboratory-scale x-ray microscope), but was cut short by the pandemic. Now, I’m working on a PhD in biomedical engineering centered on gene therapy and synthetic biology, but I have retained a strong interest in connectomics. I recently began communication with some excellent collaborators who might be able to help move this technology forward. Hoping for some exciting progress!


By Logan Thrasher Collins.

PDF version

Can I Prevent Dementia?

Step one for uploading your brain after the singularity… keep it cognitively functional until then.


It’s been estimated that one in three cases of dementia is preventable. You can’t do anything right now to stop or reverse the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, but you can do something about hypertension and vascular disease risk factors.

#dementia #alzheimer #doctor #healthylifestyle #health #intermittentfasting

Lithium Extends Human Lifespan In Two Studies

In this video we run through a recent study which analyzed data in the UK Biobank to see if patients taking lithium as an anti-psychotic saw extended lifespan of those using a different type of medication and they found that they did.

📃Papers in this video.
Lithium treatment extends human lifespan: findings from the UK Biobank.
_https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9925675/_
Low-dose lithium uptake promotes longevity in humans and metazoans.
_https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21301855/_

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Wireless, soft e-skin for interactive touch communication in the virtual world

Sensing a hug from each other via the internet may be a possibility in the near future. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently developed a wireless, soft e-skin that can both detect and deliver the sense of touch, and form a touch network allowing one-to-multiuser interaction. It offers great potential for enhancing the immersion of distance touch communication.

“With the rapid development of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), our visual and auditory senses are not sufficient for us to create an immersive experience. Touch communication could be a revolution for us to interact throughout the metaverse,” said Dr. Yu Xinge, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at CityU.

While there are numerous haptic interfaces in the market to simulate in the , they provide only sensing or . The uniqueness of the novel e-skin is that it can perform self-sensing and haptic reproducing functions on the same interface.

‘Electronic nose’ built with sustainably sourced microbial nanowires could revolutionize health monitoring

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced the invention of a nanowire, 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, which can be cheaply grown by common bacteria and can be tuned to “smell” a vast array of chemical tracers—including those given off by people afflicted with different medical conditions, such as asthma and kidney disease.

Thousands of these specially tuned wires, each sniffing out a different chemical, can be layered onto tiny, , allowing health-care providers an unprecedented tool for monitoring potential health complications. Since these wires are grown by bacteria, they are organic, biodegradable and far greener than any inorganic nanowire.

To make these breakthroughs, which were detailed in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectrics, senior authors Derek Lovley, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology at UMass Amherst, and Jun Yao, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering at UMass Amherst, needed to look no farther than their own noses.

Mystical and Insightful Psychedelic Experience May Improve Mental Health

Summary: Recent studies have explored the use of psychedelics for the treatment of a range of mental health disorders. A new study reveals more insightful and mystical “trips” while exposed to psychedelics may be linked to an enduring reduction of symptoms for those with anxiety and depression.

Source: Ohio State University.

A more mystical and insightful psychedelic drug experience may be linked to an enduring reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to a new study.

Resemble AI Creates Synthetic Audio Watermark to Tag Deepfake Speech

Synthetic speech and voice cloning startup Resemble AI has introduced an “audio watermark” to tag AI-generated speech without compromising sound quality. The new PerTh Perceptual Threshold) Watermarker embeds the sonic signature of Resemble’s synthetic media engine into a recording to mark its AI origin regardless of future audio manipulation, yet subtle enough that no human can hear it.


Audio Watermarking

Visual watermarking hides one image within another, invisible without a computer scanner in the case of particularly high-security documents. The same principle applies to audio watermarks, except it’s a very soft sound that people won’t notice but encoded with information that a computer could decipher. The concept isn’t new, but Resemble has leveraged its audio AI to make PerTh more reliable without compromising the realism of its synthetic speech creation.

Quiet sounds can be obliterated easily in most cases, but Resemble figured out a way to hide its identification tones within the sounds of speech. As people talking is the point of Resemble’s services, the audio watermark is much more likely to come through an edit unscathed. Resemble takes advantage of how humans tend to focus on specific frequencies and how louder sounds can hide quieter noises that are close in frequency. The combination masks and protects the watermark sound from humans noticing or being able to extract the audio watermark. Resemble’s machine learning model can determine where to embed the quiet sonic tag, generate the appropriate sound, and put it in place. The diagram below illustrates how the watermark hides in plain sight, or sound in this case.

Scientists grow electrodes in brain, thanks to a simple viscous gel

Blurring lines between man and machine.

A breakthrough has made way for a new paradigm in bioelectronics. Earlier, it took the implantation of physical objects to initiate electronic processes in the body. Humans have incorporated technology to enhance the human experience and take charge of their evolution. They’ve also integrated devices within them that could alternately function as organs when biological tissues fail.

Scientists have now developed a viscous gel that will be enough in the future.

Researchers at Linköping, Lund, and Gothenburg universities in Sweden have successfully grown electrodes in living tissue using the body’s molecules as triggers.


Thor Balkhed.

Earlier, it took the implantation of physical objects to initiate electronic processes in the body. Humans have incorporated technology to enhance the human experience and take charge of their evolution. They’ve also integrated devices within them that could alternately function as organs when biological tissues fail.

First-of-its-kind e-bandage speeds wound healing

The transient electronic bandage reduces inflammation, and dissolves into your body after use.

Northwestern scientists have created a groundbreaking medical device with the potential to revolutionize healing: an electrotherapy patch that accelerates wound recovery and safely self-dissolves when no longer necessary.

Cost-effective solution for closing wounds.


Norhtwestern University.

This innovative bandage was tested on diabetic ulcers in animal trials, showing over 30% faster healing than untreated lesions! It could be important for people who have diabetes whose sores can lead to debilitating outcomes like having limbs amputated or even death.