Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: neuroscience – Page 1,009

Think of a situation where you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the other person could say no to your perfectly constructed argument and proposal. To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer.

And then the other person dug in his heels and refused to budge. He wasn’t swayed by your logic. Were you flabbergasted?

This is similar to what many negotiators do when they sit down at the table to hammer out a deal. They come armed with facts, and they attempt to use logic to sway the other party. They figure that by piling on the data and using reason to explain their side of the situation, they can construct a solution that is simply irrefutable—and get the other party to say yes.

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The U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State along with the Kavli Foundation; the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Global Partnerships Forum hosted the event that launched the brain initiative during the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly to elevate brain science as a foreign policy priority.

The International Brain Initiative aims to foster coordination of large-scale brain projects around the world in partnership with governments, research institutions, private sector, foundations, advocacy groups, and social innovators.

Toward this end, the United States with Japan, Germany, Argentina and the UN Conference on Trade and Development announced the launch of the International Brain Initiative, part of which is a virtual International Brain Station to enhance and facilitate global collaboration on both basic and disease-focused brain science research.

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A brief introduction about brain research.

The human brain is more complex and has far more capacity than a billion dollar computer. So far the research done on the brain is still in its nascent stages. What mysteries and secrets it holds for humanity in the future remains one of the big questions.

The 21st century has been called the “Century of the Mind”. Research into the functions and capabilities of the wonderful organ that is the human brain will skyrocket with duration as mankind enters a new era in discovery and invention.

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Microsoft has announced to solve’ cancer within the next decade by ‘reprogramming’ diseased cells like computer virus.

Researchers were able to prevent the death of neurons that causes ALS by introducing a genetic mutation to prevent the SOD1 protein from clumping.

The growing resistance of Gonorrhea, alarmed the researchers.

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Scientists at IBM have claimed a computational breakthrough after imitating large populations of neurons for the first time.

Neurons are electrically excitable cells that process and transmit information in our brains through electrical and chemical signals. These signals are passed over synapses, specialised connections with other cells.

It’s this set-up that inspired scientists at IBM to try and mirror the way the biological brain functions using phase-change materials for memory applications.

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Alan gatherer, editor in chief, comsoc technology news

After their article a couple of months ago, I asked the good folks at BWRC to expand on the work they are doing in implantable electronics, as well as its potential health implications. BWRC’s approach focuses not only on functionality but on battery-free, extreme miniaturization and wireless access for very specific quantification of the host health. They also point us toward a future where such devices might link up and literally talk about you behind (as well as under and inside) your back. Hope you enjoy, and comments as always are welcome.

Jan M. Rabaey and Rikky Muller, BWRC.

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Berkeley engineers have built the first dust-sized, wireless sensors that can be implanted in the body, bringing closer the day when a Fitbit-like device could monitor internal nerves, muscles or organs in real time.

Neural dust researchers have already shrunk them to a 1 millimeter cube – about the size of a large grain of sand – contain a piezoelectric crystal that converts ultrasound vibrations from outside the body into electricity to power a tiny, on-board transistor that is in contact with a nerve or muscle fiber. A voltage spike in the fiber alters the circuit and the vibration of the crystal, which changes the echo detected by the ultrasound receiver, typically the same device that generates the vibrations. The slight change, called backscatter, allows them to determine the voltage.

A major hurdle in brain-machine interfaces (BMI) is the lack of an implantable neural interface system that remains viable for a substantial fraction of a primate lifetime. Recently, sub-mm implantable, wireless electromagnetic (EM) neural interfaces have been demonstrated in an effort to extend system longevity. However, EM systems do not scale down in size well due to the severe inefficiency of coupling radio waves at mm and sub-mm scales.

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Alarms are being raised over the recent advancements in a new DARPA-funded technology known as “electroceuticals,” with the possibility that dark forces could be unleashed in a world where millions have hundreds of tiny neural dust sensors gathering and transmitting the most personal of information into external computer networks. The fears being that non-state actors, hostile nations, and could hack into the most secure and sensitive databases, gaining access to in-body telemetry from a head of state or sending nefarious commands directly into their brain unleashing havoc.

Engineers at UC Berkeley have cracked the millimetre barrier producing the first dust-sized wireless sensor small enough to implant into the body and be parked next to a muscle, nerve or organ. These motes are sprinkled thoughout the body, bringing closer the day when a Fitbit-like device could monitor internal nerves, muscles or organs in real time. The neural dust sensor is born from a DARPA funded weapons program. (DARPA is also the organization responsible for creating the Internet).

We already have zero ability to keep foreign actors, hostile groups, not to mention cybercriminals, from hacking into the most secure and sensitive databases. If they gained access to in-body telemetry from a head of state or sent nefarious commands directly into their brain, what havoc they could wreak.

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