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Category: neuroscience – Page 367

face_with_colon_three This new gold rush with AI will bring new jobs for even Psychiatry and Therapists which is already leading to new bots with human like therapists in texts. This could lead to even better mental health for the global population.

“Psychotherapy is very expensive and even in places like Canada, where I’m from, and other countries, it’s super expensive, the waiting lists are really long,” Ashley Andreou, a medical student focusing on psychiatry at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera.

“People don’t have access to something that augments medication and is evidence-based treatment for mental health issues, and so I think that we need to increase access, and I do think that generative AI with a certified health professional will increase efficiency.”

The prospect of AI augmenting, or even leading, mental health treatment raises a myriad of ethical and practical concerns. These range from how to protect personal information and medical records, to questions about whether a computer programme will ever be truly capable of empathising with a patient or recognising warning signs such as the risk of self-harm.

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Our guest is Nita Farahany, a Distinguished Professor at Duke University where she heads the Science, Law, and Policy Lab. The research she conducts in her lab specifically focuses on the implications of emerging neuroscience, genomics, and artificial intelligence; and, as a testament to her expertise, there is a long, long list of awards and influential positions she can lay claim to, including an appointment by Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

In this episode, we explore Nita’s recent publication, provocatively entitled, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology. This takes us on our tour of the current neurotechnology that exists, the upcoming ways in which this tech will be integrated into our daily products, how it will shape our decision making, the profound list of ethical considerations surrounding cognitive liberty, and much more.

See more about Nita at nitafarahany.com or follow her at twitter.com/NitaFarahany.

Learn more about Singularity: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠su.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Host:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Steven Parton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by: Amine el Filali.

Continue reading “Thinking Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology | Nita Farahany, ep102” | >

Summary: Scientists present a hypothesis dubbed “Cytoelectric Coupling” suggesting electrical fields within the brain can manipulate neuronal sub-cellular components, optimizing network stability and efficiency. They propose these fields allow neurons to tune the information-processing network down to the molecular level.

Comparatively, this process is akin to households arranging their TV setup for optimal viewing experience. The theory, open for testing, could significantly enhance our understanding of the brain’s inner workings.

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Summary: Neurons in the hippocampus vary in function depending on their exact genetic identity. The study revealed these neurons, once believed to be homogeneous, are quite diverse and encode task-related information differently based on their location. This newfound understanding of neuronal diversity could lead to better comprehension of brain functions, memory capacity, and potentially advance disease treatment strategies.

Key Facts:

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The Mediterranean diet has become famous far beyond its namesake sea, as research increasingly supports its longstanding reputation for boosting health and longevity.

Studies have shown that people on the Mediterranean diet – which emphasizes plant-based foods and fish, and not so much red meat or dairy – tend to be healthier in multiple ways, with lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and overall mortality.

But why? Despite strong evidence for health benefits, it remains unclear how exactly this mix of foods, at the cellular level, can lengthen lifespan.

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Tactile stimulation improved motor performance, reduced phosphorylated tau, preserved neurons and synapses, and reduced DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

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Summary: The neuroscience of consciousness explores the fundamental aspect of wakefulness and the higher-level cognitive perceptions, such as thinking and understanding.

Various theories, like the Global Neuronal Workspace Theory and the Integrated Information Theory, attempt to provide an explanatory framework for the conscious experience.

The advent of technologies like fMRI and EEG has further enabled us to identify neural correlates of consciousness, enhancing our understanding of this complex phenomenon.

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