Lifeboat Foundation

Defining computational neuroscience The evolution of computational neuroscience Computational neuroscience in the twenty-first century Some examples of computational neuroscience The SpiNNaker supercomputer Frontiers in computational neuroscience References Further reading

The human brain is a complex and unfathomable supercomputer. How it works is one of the ultimate mysteries of our time. Scientists working in the exciting field of computational neuroscience seek to unravel this mystery and, in the process, help solve problems in diverse research fields, from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to psychiatry.

Computational neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary and thriving branch of neuroscience that uses computational simulations and mathematical models to develop our understanding of the brain. Here we look at: what computational neuroscience is, how it has grown over the last thirty years, what its applications are, and where it is going.

Scientists have developed a noninvasive AI system focused on translating a person’s brain activity into a stream of text, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The system, called a semantic decoder, could ultimately benefit patients who have lost their ability to physically communicate after suffering from a stroke, paralysis or other degenerative diseases.

A new system was able to capture exact words and phrases from the brain activity of someone listening to podcasts.

A group of scientists at Harvard Medical School are the pion-ears of innovative developments in hearing loss treatment.

Researchers at the school’s Mass Eye and Ear hospital claim to have developed a groundbreaking solution to hearing loss, one of the music community’s most vexing and elusive problems.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers formulated a “drug-like cocktail” comprising various molecules that regenerate the inner ear hair cells responsible for relaying sounds to the brain.

Computer simulations of a human brain under the influence of LSD show that entropy increases the most in regions responsible for processing vision and integrating sensory information.

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

The Dark Tetrad personality traits of sadism, narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism have long been associated with perpetrating negative behavior, but can they also put someone at higher risk for victimization? A study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggest that these traits may be associated with higher rates of being the victim of bullying.

Bullying is a serious and pervasive problem that can be associated with many negative outcomes for victims, including depression, anxiety, substance use, and even suicidality. Due to these potentially grave outcomes, research has attempted to delve into the dynamics surrounding bullying, including what makes people more likely to become a perpetrator and/or a victim of bullying.

The Dark Tetrad traits are typically linked with antisocial and criminal behaviors. They are personality traits that are frequently associated with a lack of empathy, increased manipulation, and a disregard for other people.

The study parrots engaged in various social behaviors that researchers would often see amongst groups of birds or in the wild, including dancing and singing together.

Parrots are socially complex animals, outperforming 6-and 7-year-old children in puzzle activities and memory skills. When kept as pets, these birds frequently lack suitable stimulation to meet their high social, cognitive, and emotional needs.

A recent study by the University of Glasgow and Northeastern University looked at this issue by using 18 pet parrots to see if video calls could help them meet their social demands.

Summary: Our brain consumes a significant amount of energy, accounting for about 20% of the body’s total energy consumption. Most of this energy is used for information processing.

While research shows that increased mental activity does lead to slightly higher energy consumption, this increase is minimal, region-specific, and often offset by energy decreases in other areas.

Feeling exhausted after mental activity is likely due to mental stress rather than actual energy depletion. Pacing yourself can help avoid mental overload, stress, and fatigue.

What the human genome is lacking compared with the genomes of other primates might have been as crucial to the development of humankind as what has been added during our evolutionary history, according to a new study led by researchers at Yale and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

The new findings, published April 28 in the journal Science, fill an important gap in what is known about historical changes to the human genome. While a revolution in the capacity to collect data from genomes of different species has allowed scientists to identify additions that are specific to the human genome —such as a gene that was critical for humans to develop the ability to speak—less attention has been paid to what’s missing in the human genome.

For the new study researchers used an even deeper genomic dive into primate DNA to show that the loss of about 10,000 bits of genetic information—most as small as a few base pairs of DNA—over the course of our evolutionary history differentiate humans from chimpanzees, our closest primate relative. Some of those “deleted” pieces of genetic information are closely related to genes involved in neuronal and cognitive functions, including one associated with the formation of cells in the developing brain.