Researchers unexpectedly found traces of cocaine in the mummified brain tissue of 17th-century people buried in a crypt in Milan.
Category: neuroscience – Page 18
As people age, their memory and thinking skills naturally decline. Approximately 15% of older adults experience mild cognitive impairment, a major risk factor for dementia and other forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Since cognitive decline and dementia are growing public health concerns, scientists are working to better understand the risk factors and find ways to reduce them. One emerging area of research suggests that oral health may play a role in brain health.
Now, a new study suggests that the bacteria living in the mouth may influence cognitive function as people age, with some harmful bacteria possibly contributing to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Light therapy is emerging as a promising, non-pharmacological treatment for Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that primarily affects older adults, leading to memory loss, cognitive decline, and behavioral changes. It is the most common cause of dementia. The disease is characterized by the buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, which disrupt cell function and communication. There is currently no cure, and treatments focus on managing symptoms and improving quality of life.
This study highlights how neurons communicate over long distances within the brain, solving a mystery about how signals from distant synapses reach the nucleus to trigger gene expression.
Unlocking the Secrets of Brain Cell Communication
A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals how brain cells transmit vital signals from their outer branches to their nucleus, triggering the activation of genes essential for learning and memory.
Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area have a role in modulating aggression in adult male mice, and this effect of dopamine depends strongly on fighting experience.
Teaching healthy lifestyle behaviors to very young children is foundational to their future habits. Previous evidence suggests that philosophical thinking (PT) can help children develop moral values, cognitive skills, and decision-making abilities.
A recent study published in BMC Public Health explores the role of PT in assisting preschoolers to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors. Some of these habits include being physically active, eating healthy, washing hands properly, having respect for one’s body, being aware of one’s needs, feelings, abilities, and responsibilities, getting sufficient sleep, and sharing one’s thoughts with others.
A paradox at the heart of quantum physics has been tested in an extraordinary fashion, pushing the boundaries of human intuition beyond breaking point by measuring a pulse of light in 37 dimensions.
Led by scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China, a team of researchers developed a method of testing a type of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox according to strict criteria using a fiber-based photonic processor.
Their findings clarify how quantum weirdness operates on a fundamental level, potentially informing future applications in quantum technology. Not to mention reaffirming just how useless our brains are at understanding the operations manual for our Universe’s engine.
Using light-sensitive drugs, they identified a promising neural pathway that could lead to more effective, safer anxiety treatments.
Targeting Anxiety with Brain Circuit Research
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have identified a specific brain circuit that, when inhibited, reduces anxiety without causing noticeable side effects — at least in preclinical models. Their findings highlight a potential new target for treating anxiety disorders and introduce a broader strategy for studying drug effects in the brain using a technique called photopharmacology.
LinkedIn: Reflections of Professor Bernard J Baars Professor Baars is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego where he is currently an Affiliated Fellow
Posted in biotech/medical, chemistry, evolution, food, neuroscience | Leave a Comment on LinkedIn: Reflections of Professor Bernard J Baars Professor Baars is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego where he is currently an Affiliated Fellow
He has written five well received books on consciousness and developed the Global Neural Workspace model of Consciousness What follows bellow are some of Professor Baars’ observations, Questions (often rhetorical), Quotations, comments, reflections on career and his own theories and my comments (RS) to them as posted to LinkedIn platform. Bernard’s text is in italics. Comments to comments are indicated with ‘BB]’ and responses to those with ‘RS]’. ======== ======== ======== t aware of. ‘ +In the case of non-human animals, we have to get a little bit more creative. We have to decide what behaviors can be used similar sorts of markers as their own form of report.” — David Edelman RS] Or we could ask ~ “is the form of communication between animals sufficient for their needs?” and follow up with “is there Evolutionary Pressure for forms of communication beyond utility?” Those who follow discussion forums may appreciate that what takes an excited discussant 10 paragraphs and 1,000 flaming words can be achieved by a dog with a couple barks and the bearing of teeth ~ which is the more efficient communicative format? BB] Humans seem to have a larger repertoire of uses for consciousness — including language and longer-term planning, self-monitoring and self-reflection, inner speech, metaphor, symbolic representation of experience and deliberate use of imagery. When it comes to sensory consciousness, however, the brain shows little difference between humans and many other mammals. RS] Utility is the key ~ what are those faculties good for? Take them away, individually, and see what we end up with. As such surgical or other intervention is not a practical option we might turn to clinical conditions where patients have such deficits. We may look to Autism, where self reflection, especially in the social context, is lacking. Psychopathy, where there is no inner voice reflecting on social morals. Various other deficits leave individuals with greatly reduced capacity to strive in a community and so we may reflect on the many cognitive faculties we have that appear to have little if any use for the isolated individual. To test this we may examine those who were completely isolated for a significant period of their maturation. There have been cases of children lost in the forest (or dumped there) who survived. Without social stimulation some of heir faculties never matured ~ are these the same faculties that Bernard mentions above? BB] Perhaps half a second after you glance at a word on a page it is converted into a semantic code, to interpret its meaning, guided by the rules of grammar. Going from words to meaning requires a large, unconscious mental lexicon. The lexicon of educated speakers of English contains about 100,000 words. We can understand each one instantly, as soon as it is shown in a sentence that makes sense. Words are complicated things! The OxfordEnglish Dictionary, for example, devotes 75,000 words to clarifying the many different meanings of the word set. RS] The way words are interpreted gives us insight into the how the brain works. If approached in the follow manner we can see what is happening: For each noun there is a denotation and a connotation (the cold dictionary definition and the feeling the word evokes eg ‘Home’). There is a stand alone and contextual meaning of a word that may differ significantly eg “child” and “What are parent-child tree structures in SQL?” The ‘connotation’ is used by the brain to link words into sentences more so than the denotation. If there is a universal background language in the brain, then, it would be based on connotation, not denotation. Why? Because the connotation is innate already and words are appended to pre-existing ‘connotation’ made up of emotion, drives, feelings of all kinds. Watch a child as they acquire their first words ~ they at first use all kinds of signals to convey their intent, their intent is made up of drives, cravings, feelings etc and these become the connotations behind the words they eventually use. s BB] How does the metaphor of a theater help us think about consciousness? RS] The key to many of these approaches, and possible the downfall of at least some of them, is ‘evolvability’. We assume, from our own intuitive experience and logical deduction, that there must be a primary central control. This is a ‘top-down’ approach. But evolution must, by necessity, be ‘bottom-up’. Thus we would expect even the simplest ganglion to have at least some of the properties of consciousness in its own right. Snakes that must rely on different ‘consciousnesses’ for various functions, for instance the pursuing of prey, the killing of prey and the eating of the prey all come from processes so separate that if a mouse after a poisonous bite staggers around and ends up under the snake’s nose the snake will follow the scent trail until it ends up at the mouse, the visual and feeding systems not being able to share information. That system is evolvable, the top-down, apart from religious models, is not evolvable. Thus instead of a separate central process looking down at the senses we consider how the senses and other contributors to cognition swirl together like the funnel of a tornado to form a central consciousness that, in reality, has no independent neural underpinnings of its own due to its emergent nature. Note that ‘life’ also has this nature in that life exists when a collection of chemical reactions ‘swirl’ together, principally in a negative feedback driven homeostatic process, which is most probably also what consciousness actually is… And so we observe how the tornado’s funnel moves around the possible contributors, the audience in the analogy given, rather than a separate process that looks at individual members of the audience. Note that the separate process must consume the information on offer and process it, a ‘infinite regress’ with no end. But the swirling tornado, so to speak, is its own end and does not require any subsequent processes or processing… Note also that any collection of neurons, brain modules or even collections or communities of people can initiate this process.
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Loneliness isn’t just about being alone—it can happen even in relationships. People in unhappy marriages or toxic relationships can suffer from emotional loneliness despite having a social network, showing that quality of relationships matters more than quantity.
Understanding loneliness as multidimensional has significant implications for clinical practice. EL is more strongly associated with mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. In contrast, SL is less directly linked to psychological distress but remains an indicator of social disconnection. Meta-analyses of loneliness interventions have shown that generic approaches often fail because they do not differentiate between EL and SL, leading to inconsistent results. Cross-sectional studies indicate that EL contributes to depressive symptoms more than SL, and longitudinal research suggests that EL has a stronger predictive value for long-term mental health deterioration. In contrast, SL can often be addressed through social interventions that encourage group participation and community engagement.
Loneliness has profound implications for physical health and mortality risk. Longitudinal studies show that EL, in particular, is associated with increased mortality rates, even after controlling for medical conditions and demographic factors. One explanation is that EL triggers chronic stress responses, leading to adverse physiological effects such as inflammation and weakened immune function. For example, a five-year study of nursing home residents found that EL, but not SL, was a significant predictor of earlier mortality, reinforcing its unique impact on health. While SL also presents health risks, its impact on mortality appears to be less severe than that of EL.