Join the late, renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel C Dennett on a captivating journey of intellectual exploration through his own life.
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The neurons that produce a sick feeling and food aversion are distinct from those that induce a feeling of fullness.
By Mariana Lenharo & Nature magazine
Next-generation anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy can melt away weight — but they can also cause intolerable nausea. Now scientists have pinpointed a brain pathway that is involved in this common side effect, raising the prospect of effective weight-loss drugs that don’t make people sick1.
Toddlers engage more regions of their brains around 16-months to help them develop important cognitive skills enabling them to follow simple instructions and control impulses. Findings from the study, led by the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, and published in Imaging Neuroscience, suggests 16 months is a critical period for brain development.
A child’s first two years of life are crucial for developing cognitive skills, particularly executive functions that help adjust thoughts, actions, and behaviours for everyday life.
Inhibitory control is one important executive function. This particular skills allows individuals to stop themselves from doing something out of impulse, habit or temptation. It’s already known that inhibitory control begins to develop in infancy and grows into early childhood. However, until now, the brain mechanisms involved in its development were unclear.
A study investigating the effect of sleep on brain performance has found a link between an individual’s preference for morning or evening activity and their brain function, suggesting that self-declared “night owls” generally tend to have higher cognitive scores.
Researchers at Imperial College London looked at data from more than 26,000 people to find out how different aspects of sleep—including duration, patterns, and quality—affected mental sharpness and overall cognitive ability.
Using data from the extensive UK Biobank database, they analyzed information on U.K. adults who had completed a number of cognitive tests—including whether people described themselves as a “morning person” or an “evening person,” referring to which time of the day they felt more alert and productive.
Why did the experience of consciousness evolve from our underlying brain physiology? Despite being a vibrant area of neuroscience, current research on consciousness is characterised by disagreement and controversy – with several rival theories in contention.
A recent scoping review of over 1,000 articles identified over 20 different theoretical accounts. Philosophers like David Chalmers argue that no single scientific theory can truly explain consciousness.
We define consciousness as embodied subjective awareness, including self awareness. In a recent article published in Interalia (which is not peer reviewed), we argue that one reason for this predicament is the powerful role played by intuition.
To create one-time cures for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers are investigating the application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing for novel therapies. Cutting and pasting genes is difficult with current technology, but CRISPR gene editing may help later stages or those individuals with hereditary mutations. Variants in the lipid transport protein apolipoprotein E (APOE4) have been associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, with a three-to twelve-fold increase in risk.
Researchers engineered the Christchurch gene variation into mice bearing human APOE4 using CRISPR. After that, these mice were crossed, resulting in progeny that carried one or two copies of the modified variation.
The group discovered that mice bearing a single copy of the APOE4-Christchurch variation exhibited a partial defense against Alzheimer’s disease. The disease did not exhibit typical symptoms in mice carrying two copies. The work mimics the advantageous effects of the Christchurch mutation to propose possible treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s disease associated with APOE4.
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The Omega Point cosmo-teleology emerges from the intersection of quantum cosmology, teleology, and complex systems theory. Originally conceptualized by French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Omega Point envisions the universe evolving towards a state of maximum complexity and consciousness (Teilhard de Chardin, 1955). Such a state represents the ultimate goal and culmination of cosmic evolution, wherein the convergence of mind and matter leads to a unified superintelligence.
The Omega Point theory postulates that the universe’s evolution is directed towards increasing complexity and consciousness, a teleological process with a purposeful end goal (Teilhard de Chardin, 1955). The concept was further refined by physicists and cosmologists, including John David Garcia (Garcia, 1996), Paolo Soleri (Soleri, 2001), Terence McKenna (McKenna, 1991), Frank Tipler (Tipler, 1994), and Andrew Strominger (Strominger, 2016).
A complementary perspective to the Omega Point theory is found in the Holographic Principle, which posits that all information within our universe is encoded on its boundary. Such an idea suggests our three-dimensional reality is a projection from this two-dimensional surface (Bekenstein, 2003). In the holographic universe, everything we perceive is a reflection of data encoded at the cosmic edge, which could imply that our entire universe resides within a black hole of a larger universe (Susskind, 1995). This perspective aligns with the concept of maximum informational density at the Omega Point and highlights the profound interconnectedness of all phenomena, blurring the boundaries between mind, matter, and the cosmos into a singular, computational entity.
Did you know that the nervous system can help to build and repair bone?
Researchers identify a key brain-derived hormone that repairs bone in both sexes and critically maintains bone density in lactating female mice.
Researchers have found that a brain hormone called CCN3, produced by specific…
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“Forget about essences.” Philosopher Daniel Dennett on how modern-day philosophers should be more collaborative with scientists if they want to make revolutionary developments in their fields.
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