A small segment of human DNA boosts brain size and complexity, revealing both the origins of intelligence and its evolutionary costs.
Category: neuroscience – Page 266
Synchron BCI Home
The Synchron BCI system is designed to measure electrical brain activity corresponding with a person’s intention to move a body part, such as their arm, regardless of the body’s ability to move. This signal is then converted into a digital action, such as a click or scroll, on a smartphone, tablet, or computer.
One Stage of Sleep Seems Critical For Reducing Risk of Dementia
The risk of getting dementia may go up as you get older if you don’t get enough slow-wave sleep.
A 2023 study found that over-60s are 27 percent more likely to develop dementia if they lose just 1 percent of this deep sleep each year.
Slow-wave sleep is the third stage of a human 90-minute sleep cycle, lasting about 20–40 minutes. It’s the most restful stage, where brain waves and heart rate slow and blood pressure drops.
Zinc-transporting protein contributes to aggressive growth of brain tumor
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers detail their discoveries about why the brain tumor glioblastoma is so aggressive. Their findings center on ZIP4, a protein that transports zinc throughout the body and sets off a cascade of events that drive tumor growth.
About half of all malignant brain tumors are glioblastomas, the deadliest form of brain cancer with a median survival rate of 14 months.
“Surgery for glioblastoma is very challenging, and patients almost always experience a relapse,” said the study’s senior author. “By better understanding why these brain tumors are so aggressive, we hope to open up paths for new treatments.”
Brain Mapping and Neurofeedback Systems
BrainAvatar brain mapping live electroencephalographic imaging and neurofeedback
Coming to a Brain Near You: A Tiny Computer
Brain-computer interfaces are already letting people with paralysis control computers and communicate their needs, and will soon enable them to manipulate prosthetic limbs without moving a muscle.
The year ahead is pivotal for the companies behind this technology.
Fewer than 100 people to date have had brain-computer interfaces permanently installed. In the next 12 months, that number will more than double, provided the companies with new FDA experimental-use approval meet their goals in clinical trials. Apple this week announced its intention to allow these implants to control iPhones and other products.
Hormone cycles shape the structure and function of key memory regions in the brain
“To date, there was little understanding of how the estrous cycle affects neurons in living mice,” said Nora Wolcott, the paper’s lead author. Now, thanks to advanced microscopy techniques, Goard’s team was able to measure the structure and activity of neurons across multiple estrous cycles, thereby gaining insight into sex hormones’ role in brain plasticity and memory. Other authors on the paper include William Redman, Marie Karpinska, and Emily Jacobs.
Researchers observe how fluctuations in ovarian hormones shape the structure and function in the mouse hippocampus, with implications for neural plasticity in humans.