The headset transmits the player’s brain activity data to the app, which responds by changing the color of the water around the jellyfish, providing the player with real-time feedback on their mental state. Image: Elva Darnell
Category: neuroscience
Electron-Ion Collider’s radiofrequency controls system passes first real-world test
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has reached a key early milestone in developing radiofrequency control systems for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC)—a next-generation research facility that will collide electrons with ions to reveal how the building blocks of matter are held together.
At the heart of any particle accelerator are radiofrequency (RF) systems, which use electromagnetic waves to accelerate particle beams to near-light speed and keep them tightly controlled. The system tested here—known as low-level radiofrequency (LLRF)—acts as the “brain,” precisely controlling those RF fields to ensure stable and accurate operation.
This milestone marks the first successful test of the newly built EIC common platform-based LLRF electronics on a real accelerator cavity. The common platform is a shared hardware and control system for accelerator operations, allowing teams to use the same technology rather than create separate electronics for each system.
Your heartbeat quietly shapes how your brain processes information
Your brain is not processing the world in isolation.
A new Science article highlights a growing idea in neuroscience: the heartbeat may subtly shape how the brain processes information. Every heartbeat sends signals through the body and brain, creating heartbeat-linked neural activity that can influence perception, attention, and even self-related processing.
This does not mean the heart “controls” thought. The point is more subtle: internal body rhythms may change the brain’s moment-to-moment state, making certain signals easier or harder to detect depending on timing.
That matters for neuroscience research. Many experiments treat heartbeat, breathing, and other physiological rhythms as noise or artifacts. But if these rhythms affect neural excitability and perception, they may be hidden variables that help explain trial-to-trial variability in EEG, MEG, fMRI, and behavioral studies.
The bigger takeaway: cognition is embodied. The brain is constantly integrating external information from the world with internal information from the body. Understanding perception, attention, emotion, and consciousness may require studying the brain and body as one coupled system—not as separate machines.
In neuroscience, the “background” physiology may be part of the signal.
The Neuroscience of Intelligence | MIT 2026
What neuroscience reveals about how intelligence actually works — and how those insights are informing the next generation of AI architectures.
Alexander Wissner-Gross, David Rock, Simran Chana, Manolis Kellis.
✌️ Subscribe! http://bit.ly/ImaginationInAction-You… info: https://www.imaginationinaction.co/ 🐦 Join the conversation! #ImaginationInAction ====== Leading in an Intelligent World On April 10th, 225 speakers across 6 stages joined Imagination in Action at MIT Media Lab to explore how intelligence is built, deployed, governed, and directed toward the world’s hardest problems — alongside 60 startup pitches and 2 AI agent workshops with 500 participants. ======
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Pan-cancer neurotransmitter receptor alterations define neuroregulatory subtypes with prognostic significance
Luo et al. characterize a comprehensive molecular portrait of neurotransmitter receptor genes across 33 cancer types using multidimensional omics data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and other independent cohorts. They identify clinically relevant neuroregulatory subtypes with distinct molecular features, advancing the emerging field of cancer neuroscience.
Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) on X
Scientists have identified a reversal of the long-standing Flynn effect—the roughly 200-year trend of rising average intelligence (measured via IQ and cognitive tests) across generations. For the first time in modern recorded history, Generation Z (born roughly 1997–2012) shows lower performance than previous generations in key cognitive domains, including attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, executive function, problem-solving, and general IQ—despite spending more years in formal education than ever before. Neuroscientist and educator Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD, MEd, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on January 15, 2026, highlighting this shift. In his written testimony, he stated that cognitive development in children across much of the developed world has stalled or reversed over the past two decades, with declines evident in international assessments (e.g., PISA, TIMSS) and other large-scale data starting around the mid-2000s and accelerating post-2010. Horvath attributes the primary driver not to reduced schooling, but to the widespread integration of digital screens and educational technology (EdTech) in classrooms. He argues that human brains evolved for deep, focused learning through face-to-face interaction and sustained attention, not fragmented skimming or constant task-switching encouraged by devices. Key points from his testimony include: — Teens now spend over half their waking hours on screens, with significant portions in school involving computers or tablets—often leading to off-task behavior and shallower processing. — Evidence from meta-analyses and national/international studies shows a consistent pattern: higher classroom screen exposure correlates with weaker outcomes in reading, math, science, and higher-order reasoning. — Digital tools may aid narrow, repetitive skill practice in controlled settings, but in core academic contexts, they tend to reduce depth of understanding, retention, and critical thinking. Horvath describes this as a “structural mismatch” between human cognition and how digital platforms are designed (to capture and fragment attention), warning that unchecked EdTech adoption risks long-term harm to workforce skills, innovation, and societal reasoning. [Horvath, J. C. (2026). Written testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. U.S. Senate]
Specific cognitive abilities are highly heritable independent of general intelligence
A massive new meta-analysis reveals that individual cognitive abilities, like reading and math, rely on inherited DNA just as much as overall intelligence, suggesting people possess heavily customized genetic cognitive profiles independent of general smarts.
