One of the great biological mysteries of the human body is how hundreds of complex, origami-like proteins, many of which are crucial for normal body function, come to assume their final, correct shape.
Category: neuroscience – Page 15
Super Humanity | How AI Will Transform Us
Super Humanity — Imagine if your brain could interface directly with AI.
Super Humanity explores the revolutionary intersection of neuroscience and technology, revealing a future where artificial intelligence integrates effortlessly with human thought.
Super Humanity (2019)
Director: Ruth Chao.
Writers: Ruth Chao, Paula Cons, Alphonse de la Puente.
Genre: Documentary, Sci-Fi.
Country: Portugal, Spain.
Language: English.
Release Date: December 27, 2019 (Spain)
Synopsis:
The convergence of human brains and AI will create a new breed of humanity—often described as ‘super-humanity.’
By enabling brain-machine interfaces, human cognitive powers will be amplified, marking the dawn of enhanced humans. Connected minds will unlock advanced synthetic telepathy, offering not only the ability to perceive others’ thoughts but also to influence them. Yet, what are the advantages and dangers posed by these groundbreaking advancements?
Neurotechnology stands at the threshold of a societal transformation, reshaping our concepts of identity and reality itself. The establishment of neuro-rights will be crucial, requiring laws that protect the privacy of our conscious and even subconscious minds.
Mind Forward delves deeply into the potential of this new frontier.
DNA ‘glue’ could help prevent and treat diseases triggered by ageing
Macquarie University researchers have discovered a naturally occurring protein found in human cells plays a powerful role in repairing damaged DNA — the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for building and maintaining living things.
The discovery, published in the journal Ageing Cell, could hold the key to developing therapies for devastating age-related diseases such as motor neuron disease (MND), Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
Hope: Dr Sina Shadfar, pictured, and colleagues discovered a protein which they have shown for the first time acts like a ‘glue’, helping to repair broken DNA, which is widely accepted as one of the main contributors to ageing and the progression of age-related diseases.
The research, conducted by neurobiologist Dr Sina Shadfar and colleagues in the Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre, reveals a protein called protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) helps repair serious deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage. This breakthrough opens new possibilities for therapies aimed at boosting the body’s ability to fix its own DNA — a process that becomes less efficient as we age.
Tree-shrew study finds specific brain circuit linking nighttime light exposure and depression
A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that chronic exposure to artificial light at night (LAN) can trigger depression-like behaviors by activating a specific neural pathway in the brain.
The study, conducted on tree shrews—diurnal mammals genetically close to primates that are active during the day like humans—offers critical insights into how nighttime light may disrupt mood regulation, potentially affecting human mental health in increasingly illuminated urban environments.
The research team, led by Prof. Xue Tian from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Prof. Yao Yonggang of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Prof. Zhao Huan of Hefei University, exposed tree shrews to blue light (comparable to bright indoor lighting) for two hours each night for three weeks.
Two brain cell types that determine whether smells are pleasant or unpleasant identified
You wouldn’t microwave fish around your worst enemy—the smell lingers both in kitchen and memory. It is one few of us like, let alone have positive associations with. But what makes our brains decide a smell is stinky?
A new study from UF Health researchers reveals the mechanisms behind how your brain decides you dislike—even loathe—a smell. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Or as first author and graduate research fellow Sarah Sniffen puts it: How do odors come to acquire some sort of emotional charge?
Scientists can now target the cells at the center of ALS
ALS is a cruel disease. It robs the body of its ability to control itself—the ability to move, the ability to communicate. While there are currently no effective treatments to reverse its debilitating symptoms, Allen Institute researchers have opened a window of hope.
For the first time ever, scientists have developed a precise genetic toolkit that can target the exact nerve cells destroyed by the disease and potentially deliver therapies where they are needed most—a discovery that could dramatically speed up the quest for a cure. The findings were recently published in the journal Cell Reports.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and devastating disease that gradually kills off motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. As these neurons die, people with ALS lose the ability to move, speak, and eventually breathe. Despite decades of research, there’s still no effective treatment or cure. Unlike many other brain cells, motor neurons in the spinal cord have been extremely hard to reach with genetic tools. This has slowed down research and made it hard to test new treatments in the cells that matter most.
New Enzyme Target Strategy Offers Hope for Neuroblastoma Therapy
Neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the nervous system, remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in young children, particularly when the disease has spread. Despite aggressive treatment regimens that include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, metastatic neuroblastoma often proves incurable, largely because the cancer can evade or resist standard therapies.
One approach, known as differentiation therapy, attempts to coax immature neuroblastoma cells into developing into mature, noncancerous nerve cells. But current differentiation treatments, such as retinoic acid (RA), are only partially effective: many patients fail to respond, and nearly half of those who do eventually relapse due to resistance.
Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University in Sweden have identified an alternative approach—targeting the antioxidant enzymes PRDX6 and GSTP1—that may sidestep the limitations of RA. The study, “Combined targeting of PRDX6 and GSTP1 as a potential differentiation strategy for neuroblastoma treatment,” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that dual inhibition of these enzymes not only kills some neuroblastoma cells but also transforms others into healthy, active neurons.