Part of the Progress and Visions in Consciousness Science online seminar series organized by AMCS, MESEC, and OMCAN.
Category: neuroscience – Page 196
Cameron County Preparing For Possible SpaceX Launch
Scientists have used gene-editing techniques to boost the repair of nerve cells damaged in multiple sclerosis, a study shows. The innovative method, which was tested in mice, supports the development of cells that can repair the protective myelin coating around nerves, restoring their ability to conduct messages to the brain.
The findings, now published in Nature Communications, offer a potential route for future treatments to stop disability progression, experts say.
Our bodies have the ability to repair myelin, but in multiple sclerosis (MS), and as we age, this becomes less effective. There are currently no treatments to boost this process.
Anil Seth’s “Being You? A New Science of Consciousness”
Anil Seth, Neuroscientist, Author, and Public Speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than 20 years.
Moderated by Susan Schneider, Ph.D., William F Dietrich Distinguished Professor of Philosophy in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters; Member of the Brain Institute. Schneider is founding director of the Center for the Future Mind.
What does it mean to \.
The Consciousness Explosion: A Mindful Human’s Guide to the Coming Technological and Experiential Singularity
The pace of engineering and science is speeding up, rapidly leading us toward a “Technological Singularity” — a point in time when superintelligent machines achieve and improve so much so fast, traditional humans can no longer operate at the forefront. However, if all goes well, human beings may still flourish greatly in their own ways in this unprecedented era.
If humanity is going to not only survive but prosper as the Singularity unfolds, we will need to understand that the Technological Singularity is an Experiential Singularity as well, and rapidly evolve not only our technology but our level of compassion, ethics and consciousness.
The aim of The Consciousness Explosion is to help curious and open-minded readers wrap their brains around these dramatic emerging changes– and empower readers with tools to cope and thrive as they unfold.
How Brain Cells Identify Smells and Related Images
Summary: A recent study reveals that specific brain cells respond not only to smells but also to images and written words related to those scents, providing deeper insight into human odor perception. Researchers found that neurons in the olfactory cortex and other brain regions, like the hippocampus and amygdala, distinguish between different smells and associate them with visual cues.
This research, using data from epilepsy patients, bridges a gap between animal and human studies on olfactory processing. Remarkably, individual neurons responded to scent, image, and word, suggesting that smell processing integrates visual and semantic information early on. These findings could lead to future innovations in “olfactory aids.” The study emphasizes the interconnected nature of smell and visual memory in the human brain.
Parkinson’s Discovery Suggests We Already Have an FDA-Approved Treatment
Researchers have discovered how a cell surface protein called Aplp1 can play a role in spreading material responsible for Parkinson’s disease from cell-to-cell in the brain.
Promisingly, an FDA-approved cancer drug that targets another protein called Lag3 – which interacts with Aplp1 – blocks the spread in mice, suggesting a potential therapy may already exist.
In a recent paper, an international team of scientists describes how the two proteins work together to help harmful alpha-synuclein protein clumps get into brain cells.
Landmark Study Identifies Potential New Way To Treat Depression and Anxiety
Researchers highlight LXRβ as a potential target for treating depression, anxiety, and autism. While promising, further studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness in humans.
In a state-of-the-art Bench to Bedside review published in the journal Brain Medicine (Genomic Press), Dr. Xiaoyu Song from the University of Houston and Professor Jan-Åke Gustafsson from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute explore the therapeutic potential of liver X receptor beta (LXRβ) in treating depression and anxiety. Their comprehensive analysis represents a major advancement in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying mental health disorders, with the potential to transform future treatment approaches.
LXRβ, a nuclear receptor initially known for its role in cholesterol metabolism and inflammation, is now emerging as a crucial player in neuroscience and psychiatry. The review synthesizes recent breakthroughs in understanding LXRβ’s regulation and function in behaviors relevant to depression and anxiety, derived from studies using animal models that capture specific features of these disorders.
Uncovering Genetic Links to Psychiatric Disorders in the Brain
Summary: Scientists have identified how genetic variants influence the risk of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and autism. Using live neural cells and DNA sequencing, researchers discovered thousands of “non-coding” genetic variants with context-dependent functions, activated during brain development.
These variants act like switches, turning genes on or off depending on cellular pathways. This research offers new insights into the biological mechanisms behind psychiatric disorders and could lead to personalized treatments based on genetic profiles.
Emergence And Consciousness
The primary question we will attempt to investigate in this article is whether consciousness is a fundamental property of nature, or is it an emergent phenomenon. The nature of consciousness is shrouded in mystery. Although we understand a lot about how the world works from a third person perspective, we don’t understand the source of consciousness, even though everything we know is due to consciousness. Our conclusion is that consciousness is likely an emergent phenomenon. Consciousness emerges from physical matter (due to the arrangement of and interactions between physical matter), and ordered complexity is simply a fortunate product of random processes. We claim that defining consciousness as a fundamental property of the universe is not scientific. We also provide some evidence as to why it is likely that consciousness is emergent from physical matter.
In this article, we will also be addressing the question of whether we need fundamentally new kinds of laws to explain complex phenomena, or can extensions of the existing laws governing simpler phenomena successfully explain more complex phenomena. It is crucial to understand this question in order to obtain a better understanding of the way complexity arises from simplicity. This question is interdisciplinary in nature and would possibly have an effect on less fundamental sciences (like medical sciences), other than physics. The question involves chaos theory, emergence and many other concepts.