Dr. Tim Brown.
Taking…
Axon-mimicking Materials for Computing https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2024/09/axon-mimicking-mat…uting.html.
Biology does things differently: some signals in the brain are also transmitted across centimeter distances, but through…
A method using semi-stable edge of chaos in LaCoO3 enables continuous signal amplification in metallic conductors without separate amplifiers, potentially revolutionizing electronic chip design.
Spatiotemporal data consisting of measurements gathered at different times and locations is challenging to analyse due to variability and noise impact across different scales. The authors propose a statistical approach that delivers models of large-scale spatiotemporal datasets applicable to data-analysis tasks of forecasting and interpolation.
Researchers at SWC have mapped how the brain transforms sensations into action.
Read the story: https://sainsburywellcome.org/web/research-news/brain-wide-d…discovered.
Full paper in https://nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07908-w.
This study explores how the brain connects…
Brain-wide recordings in mice show that learning leads to sensory evidence integration in many brain areas simultaneously, allowing sensory input to drive global movement preparatory dynamics, which collapse upon movement onset.
Past neuroscience studies have consistently highlighted the profound changes that the human brain undergoes throughout childhood and adolescence. These efforts have uncovered various stages of development, during which the brain’s organization evolves to support increasingly complex cognitive functions, gradually shifting from a focus on somatosensory/motor and visual processing to more advanced mental capabilities.
These stages of brain development and their underlying neurobiological processes have been closely studied and are now relatively well-understood. In contrast, the contributions of specific functional networks (i.e., interconnected brain regions that collectively serve specific functions) to the brain’s maturation process remain poorly delineated.
Researchers at Yale University, National University of Singapore and Beijing Normal University carried out a study investigating the extent to which individual functional networks contribute to the maturation of the brain and the gradual acquisition of new cognitive abilities before adulthood.
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurological disorders can be seen as “dirty brain” diseases, where the brain struggles to clear out harmful waste. Aging is a key risk factor because, as we grow older, our brain’s ability to remove toxic buildup slows down. However, new research in mice demonstrates that it’s possible to reverse age-related effects and restore the brain’s waste-clearing process.
“This research shows that restoring cervical lymph vessel function can substantially rescue the slower removal of waste from the brain associated with age,” says Douglas Kelley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester. “Moreover, this was accomplished with a drug already being used clinically, offering a potential treatment strategy.”
Kelley is one of the lead authors of the study, which appears in the journal Nature Aging, along with Maiken Nedergaard, codirector the University’s Center for Translational Neuromedicine. The study is one of many collaborations carried out by researchers at Rochester’s Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences and the Medical Center.
Researchers mapped changes in the brain’s architecture before, during and after propofol sedation, guided by functional magnetic resonance imaging, enabling them to monitor blood flow to areas of the brain during the (un)conscious state.
Also discussed is a comparison between analog computing and digital in the context of computational biology. In this video I am reading a recent discussion of my notes with Self Aware Networks.
In hospital operating rooms and intensive care units, propofol is a drug of choice, widely used to sedate patients for their comfort or render them fully unconscious for invasive…
Propofol works quickly and is tolerated well by most patients when administered by an anesthesiologist.
But what’s happening inside the brain when patients are put under and what does this reveal about consciousness itself?
Investigators at Michigan Medicine, who are studying the nature of consciousness, have successfully used the drug to identify the intricate brain geometry behind the unconscious state, offering an unprecedented look at brain structures that have traditionally been difficult to study.
Every cell in our body contains the same DNA, yet liver cells are different from brain cells, and skin cells differ from muscle cells. What determines these differences? It all comes down to gene regulation; essentially how and when genes are turned on and off to meet the cell’s demands. But gene regulation is quite complex, especially because it is itself regulated by other parts of DNA.
Could buy patients more time to survive critical injuries and diseases, even when disaster strikes far from a hospital.
Donepezil, an FDA-approved drug to treat Alzheimer’s, has the potential to be repurposed for use in emergency situations to prevent irreversible organ injury, according to researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
Using donepezil (DPN), researchers report that they were able to put tadpoles of Xenopus laevis frogs into a hibernation-like torpor.