đđ This genetic trick could stop some brain disorders in humans with crispr.
The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories donât persist in adults.
Category: neuroscience – Page 358
Alfred North Whiteheadâs Process Philosophy, the Mystery of Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem (2016)
.
Compilation by Michael Schramm.
Background Music by Michael Schramm.
.
Speakers & Quotations:
Charles Birch, Susan Blackmore, David J. Chalmers, Daniel C. Dennett, Freeman Dyson, David Ray Griffin, Charles Hartshorne, Nicholas Humphrey, Christof Koch, Colin McGinn, Thomas Nagel, Karl R. Popper, John R. Searle, Rupert Sheldrake, Galen Strawson, Alfred North Whitehead.
Tags:
panpsychism, consciousness, mind-body problem, process philosophy, process metaphysics, materialism, (property) dualism, quantum physics, indeterminism, free will.
.
I have uploaded the resource document again and added a new link. Thanks for the interest!
Resources (new link):
https://theology-ethics.uni-hohenheim.de/fileadmin/einrichtuâŠources.pdf.
.
How can we increase our lifespan by over two decades?
In this video, we dive into a comprehensive study involving over 700,000 U.S. veterans that reveals the immense power of eight healthy lifestyle habits.
These habits are not only vital for your longevity but also key to enhancing your personal wellness and contributing to public health.
Cognitive dysfunction in aging is a major biomedical challenge. Whether treatment with klotho, a longevity factor, could enhance cognition in human-relevant models such as in nonhuman primates is unknown and represents a major knowledge gap in the path to therapeutics. We validated the rhesus form of the klotho protein in mice showing it increased synaptic plasticity and cognition. We then found that a single administration of low-dose, but not high-dose, klotho enhanced memory in aged nonhuman primates. Systemic low-dose klotho treatment may prove therapeutic in aging humans.
Scientists adding a human intelligence gene into monkeys â itâs the kind of thing youâd see in a movie like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But Chinese researchers have done just that, improving the short-term memories of the monkeys in a study published in March 2019 in the Chinese journal National Science Review. While some experts downplayed the effects as minor, concerns linger over where the research may lead.
The goal of the work, led by geneticist Bing Su of Kunming Institute of Zoology, was to investigate how a gene linked to brain size, MCPH1, might contribute to the evolution of the organ in humans. All primates have some variation of this gene. However, compared with other primates, our brains are larger, more advanced and slower to develop; the researchers wondered whether differences that evolved in the human version of MCPH1 might explain our more complex brains.
Article from 2019
https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/6/3/480/5420749
Other scientists are concerned and ethical questions linger over where the research on brain genes may lead.
The earlier that Alzheimerâs disease and other similar conditions can be spotted, the better the treatment options are, and scientists have discovered a blood biomarker that could signal the risk of dementia many years in advance.
A team from the National Institute on Aging, the University of Texas, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, as well as other institutions across the world, looked at data on 10,981 individuals collected across the course of 25 years.
In particular, the researchers analyzed the proteome of these individuals: the complete set of proteins expressed in a body, driving all kinds of biological processes from cell communication to hormone levels.
The use of âsmart drugsâ to enhance productivity in academic and workplace settings is on the rise. A recent study published in Science Advances examined the effects of three popular smart drugs â methylphenidate, modafinil, and dextroamphetamine â on real-life tasks. The researchers hypothesized that these drugs, which affect dopamine and norepinephrine, would influence motivation and effort, ultimately leading to improved performance.
The study involved forty participants between the ages of 18 and 35. The participants were randomly assigned to four groups and attended four testing sessions. In each session, they were given one of three popular smart drugs or a placebo. The drugs were administered in a double-blinded manner, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew which drug was being given.
The researchers used a task called the âknapsack taskâ to evaluate the participantsâ cognitive performance. This task involves solving a complex optimization problem where participants have to select items with certain weights and values to maximize the overall value while staying within a weight limit. The difficulty of the task was designed to simulate real-life complex tasks that people encounter.
The weaponization of the scientific and technological breakthroughs stemming from human genome research presents a serious global security challenge. Gene-editing pioneer and Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna often tells a story of a nightmare she once had. A colleague asked her to teach someone how her technology works. She went to meet the student and âwas shocked to see Adolf Hitler, in the flesh.â
Doudna is not alone in being haunted by the power of science. Famously, having just returned home from Los Alamos in early 1945, John von Neumann awakened in panic. âWhat we are creating now is a monster whose influence is going to change history, provided there is any history left,â he stammered while straining to speak to his wife. He surmised, however, that âit would be impossible not to see it through, not only for military reasons, but it would also be unethical from the point of view of the scientists not to do what they knew is feasible, no matter what terrible consequences it may have.â
According to biographer Ananyo Bhattacharya, von Neumann saw what was happening in Nazi Germany and the USSR and believed that âthe best he could do is allow politicians to make those [ethical and security] decisions: to put his brain in their hands.â Living through a devastating world war, the Manhattan Project polymath âhad no trust left in human nature.â
Regulate scientists for hire and corporations especially. Regulate everyone as religion could be used as an excuse from exemption. Thereâs a local motorcycle gang that set to their club house in the town I live and it was listed as a religion. Thatâs a loophole.
Devices that can record and change brain activity will create privacy issues that challenge existing human-rights legislation, say researchers.
Maintenance of mRNA and protein localization in motor neurons is a potential therapeutic avenue for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), report researchers from The Francis Crick Institute and the University College London (UCL). A new study shows how the extensive changes in mRNA and protein in ALS motor neurons are linked to mutations in an ATPase called VCP. These mutations may contribute to the mislocalization of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) that tend to clump together and the redistribution of the mRNAs they are bound to. Inhibition of VCP partly restored mRNA and protein localization and other ALS phenotypes. These results show how RBP mislocalization and mRNA redistribution in motor neurons are linked to ALS and how VCP inhibition could be used as a treatment.
The study âNucleocytoplasmic mRNA redistribution accompanies RNA binding protein mislocalization in ALS motor neurons and is restored by VCP ATPase inhibitionâ was published today in Neuron.
âFor the patients I see, itâs devastating that there arenât yet impactful treatments available for ALS,â said Rickie Patani, PhD, senior group leader of the Human Stem Cells and Neurodegeneration Laboratory at the Crick, professor at UCL, and consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology. âThis research represents a shift in our thinking about what causes ALSâit doesnât involve abnormal movement of just a few proteins, but the abnormal localization of hundreds of proteins and mRNAs. This opens new avenues for research and potential therapies.