Lifeboat Foundation

Of all the advanced technologies currently under development, one of the most fascinating and frightening is brain-computer interfaces. They’re fascinating because we still have so much to learn about the human brain, yet scientists are already able to tap into certain parts of it. And they’re frightening because of the sinister possibilities that come with being able to influence, read, or hijack peoples’ thoughts.

But the worst-case scenarios that have been played out in science fiction are just one side of the coin, and brain-computer interfaces could also be a tremendous boon to humanity—if we create, manage, and regulate them correctly. In a panel discussion at South by Southwest this week, four experts in the neuroscience and computing field discussed how to do this.

Continue reading “Could Brain-Computer Interfaces Lead to ‘Mind Control for Good’?” »

Author Nick Humphrey shares 5 key insights from his new book, Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness.

1. The mind, brain, and body are inextricably linked

The idea that the mind and brain are separate is usually attributed to the 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, who was what philosophers now call a substance dualist. Descartes believed that the mind and body are made of different substances: the body of a physical substance, and the mind of some mysterious, nonphysical material.

Today, most neuroscientists reject this idea. Modern brain research suggests that the mind is made of matter and emerges from brain activity. Even so, most still study the brain in isolation, without taking the body into consideration.

Iain McGilchrist explains how we have misunderstood the nature of reality by over-relying on the left-hemisphere with its incomplete models of the world.

A wiring map diagrams more than half a million neuronal connections in the first complete connectome of Drosophila and holds clues about which brain architectures best support learning.

A small nucleus in the brainstem called locus coeruleus (literally the “blue spot,”) is the primary source of a major neuromodulator, norepinephrine (NE), an important mediator of the ‘fight or flight’ response in animals. However, very little is known about the local connections of this small albeit critically important group of neurons. A recent pioneering study published in eLife from the laboratory of Dr. Xiaolong Jiang, investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, now reveals the cellular composition and circuit organization of the locus coeruleus in adult mice.

“In this study, we undertook the arduous task of mapping local connections of NE-producing neurons in the locus coeruleus,” Dr. Jiang said. “This is the first study of such an unprecedented magnitude and detail to be performed on the locus coeruleus, and in fact, on any monoamine neurotransmitter system. Our study has revealed that the neurons in the locus coeruleus have an unexpectedly rich cellular heterogeneity and local wiring logic.”

Locus coeruleus (LC) is known to house the vast majority of norepinephrine-releasing neurons in the brain and regulates many fundamental brain functions including the fight and flight response, sleep/wake cycles, and attention control. Present in the pontine region of the brainstem, LC neurons sense any existential dangers or threats in our external environment and send signals to alert other brain regions of the impending danger.

Breakthroughs don’t often happen in neuroscience, but we just had one. In a tour-de-force, an international team released the full brain connectivity map of the young fruit fly, described in a paper published last week in Science. Containing 3,016 neurons and 548,000 synapses, the map—called a connectome—is the most complex whole-brain wiring diagram to date.

“It’s a ‘wow,’” said Dr. Shinya Yamamoto at Baylor College of Medicine, who was not involved in the work.

Continue reading “The First Complete Brain Map of an Insect May Reveal Secrets for Better AI” »

Baez-Lugo et al. show that increased functional brain connectivity between default mode network and amygdala in resting state after high emotional events is associated to higher anxiety, rumination and negative thoughts in older adults.

Two new effects on TikTok can give users sculpted cheekbones, plumped lips, or a younger look with the push of a button. But this hyper-realistic image-altering tech also spurs backlash. WSJ reporter Sara Ashley O’Brien joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss how these filters work and why some experts say they could damage users’ mental health. Photo: Storyblocks.