Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: neuroscience – Page 1,116

The EU-funded COLUMNARCODECRACKING project has successfully used ultra-high fMRI scanners to map cortical columns, a process that opens the door to exciting new applications, such as brain-computer interfaces.

Cortical columnar-level fMRI has already contributed and will further contribute to a deeper understanding of how the brain and mind work by zooming into the fine-grained functional organization within specialized brain areas.

By focussing on this, the project has stimulated a new research line of ‘mesoscopic’ brain imaging that is gaining increasing momentum in the field of human cognitive and computational neuroscience. This new field complements conventional macroscopic brain imaging that measures activity in brain areas and large-scale networks.

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If I am not mistaken she edited The Three Body Problem, she did not write it.

In what seems like a story ripped straight from the pages of an Isaac Asimov novel, a recently deceased Chinese woman named Du Hong just had her brain cryogenically frozen in hopes that, in the future, the technology to bring her back to life will be created. No joke. Hong, a science fiction author herself, paid upwards of $120k to have her brain sent from China to Scottsdale, Arizona to undergo a freezing procedure at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Her idea is that while modern tech doesn’t allow for the reanimation of her brain today, inevitable advancements in cryonics will one day bring her back to life.

Before passing away last May from pancreatic cancer, the 61-year-old Du decided she wanted to allow her brain to be the subject of experiments after her death. Though it took some time before the team at Alcor actually conducted the procedure, doctors in Beijing prepped Du’s brain after her official time of death on May 30. Despite the Alcor Life Extension Foundation agreeing to freeze Du’s brain, the organization made it clear that it wouldn’t be the one to actually attempt to bring Du back to life in the future.

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A few years ago, researchers from Germany and Japan were able to simulate one percent of human brain activity for a single second. It took the processing power of one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to make that happen.

Hands down, the human brain is by far the most powerful, energy efficient computer ever created.

So what if we could harness the power of the human brain by using actual brain cells to power the next generation of computers?

As crazy as it sounds, that’s exactly what neuroscientist Osh Agabi is building. Koniku, Agabi’s startup, has developed a prototype 64-neuron silicon chip.

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Chinese scientists have developed a nano-sized electric generator that can disappear without a trace inside the human body over time, a breakthrough they claim will bring biodegradable implants on microchips closer to reality.

The technology, reported on the latest issue of Science Advances journal, will have a wide range of applications as it can generate electric pulses to repair damaged neurons and power “brain chip” implants for soldiers in the future, pundits said.

At present, most implants must be surgically removed at the end of their lifespan. To address this issue, a number of small electric devices made from biodegradable materials that can absorbed by the human body after use have been developed around the world.

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This is interesting; especially for us who have been engaged in the Cyber Security Warfare for a while. In the 90’s, the top hackers at the time got much of their training out of a known network ring of hackers in Denmark. In fact, they had an underground monthly magazine I believe it was called “Hacker 77” or something like that. Anyway, now Demark is setting up an academy to teach others to combat hackers.

The Danish security and intelligence service PET has announced plans to recruit talented IT nerds interested in helping the Danish state with its cyber espionage against foreign powers like terrorist organisations.

The agency has today launched a marketing campaign for what the media is calling a “hackers’ academy” with the slogan: “Have you got what it takes to become a member of a secret elite unit?”

READ MORE: Cyber warfare heats up.

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A new study suggests environmental interventions do increase intelligence — but the effects are temporary.

In the investigation, University of California, Santa Barbara, psychologist Dr. John Protzko analyzed an existing study to determine whether and how environmental interventions impacted the intelligence levels of low birth weight children.

The key finding: Interventions did raise intelligence levels, but not permanently. When the interventions ended, their effects diminished over time in what psychologists describe as “the fadeout effect.”

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