Lifeboat Foundation

𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨. 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙖, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚.

Studies exploring the neural processes involved in cell regeneration are of crucial importance, as they could pave the way towards the development of more effective treatments for many pathologies associated with the mutations or deterioration of cells. Microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, become active in response to pathologies, sometimes leading to chronic inflammation and the scarring of tissue.

Continue reading “Study unveils neural pathway promoting regeneration after traumatic injuries” »

It was once thought that inflammation and immune responses in the brain were limited; that is was a so-called immune privileged organ. But there is increasing evidence to the contrary. New research has shown that immune cells called mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAITs) can serve critical roles in the brain that reduce the levels of damaging reactive oxygen species, which prevents neuroinflammation, and protects learning and memory. The findings have been reported in Nature Immunology.

In this study, researchers genetically engineered mice so MAITs would no longer be produced. These mice were compared to a normal group and mice and while cognitive function was the same in both groups to start with, difference appeared as the mice approached middle age. The MAIT-deficient mice had difficulty forming new memories.

Love and hate light up most of the same brain regions, say researchers – but a key difference explains why hate is calculatingly cold.

But even junk has hidden treasures. Studies found variations in these unsequenced regions were intricately involved in human health, from aging to conditions like cancer and developmental disorders like autism. In 2022, a landmark study finally resolved the genomic unknown, completely sequencing the remaining eight percent of undeciphered DNA remaining.

Now, scientists are discovering that some genetic sequences encode proteins that lack any obvious ancestors, what geneticists call orphan genes. Some of these orphan genes, the researchers surmise, arose spontaneously as we evolved, unlike others that we inherited from our primate ancestors. In a paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports, researchers in Ireland and Greece found around 155 of these smaller versions of DNA sequences called open reading frames (or ORF) make microproteins potentially important to a healthy cell’s growth or connected to an assortment of ailments like muscular dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease affecting the eyes.

“This is, I think, the first study looking at the specific evolutionary origins of these small ORFs and their microproteins,” Nikolaos Vakirlis, a scientist at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming” in Greece and first author of the paper, tells Inverse. It’s an origin, he says, that’s been mired in much question and mystery.

Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have discovered that the energy management of inhibitory brain cells is different than that of excitatory cells in our brain. Why is that the case and what is the link with multiple sclerosis?

Brain cells are connected to each other by axons, the parts of the neuron that transmit electrical signals. To do this efficiently, axons are wrapped in myelin, a lipid-rich material which increases the speed at which electrical pulses are conducted. The importance of myelin becomes apparent in diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), where myelin is broken down, which has detrimental effects on brain function.

As a result of myelin loss, the conduction of electrical signals is disrupted, which also means that the energy costs of this process become much higher.

It has been shown in epidemiological studies that the immediate postnatal period has a significant influence on the development of our microbiota. A change in postnatal microbiota has long-term implications on neurocognitive outcomes and mental health. Currently, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying critical windows of microbial influence.

About the Study

A recent Brain, Behavior, and Immunity study investigated the role of the early-life gut microbiota in determining neurodevelopmental outcomes. The current study used a mouse model to evaluate the long-term impact of gut microbial disruption during the critical windows of development.

Summary: Study reveals how various brain regions and neural networks contribute to a person’s problem-solving abilities and general intelligence.

Source: University of Illinois.

Scientists have labored for decades to understand how brain structure and functional connectivity drive intelligence.

During deliberation, as we quietly consider our options, the neural activities representing the decision variables that reflect the goodness of each option rise in various regions of the cerebral cortex.^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} If the options are depicted visually, we make saccades, focusing gaze on each option. Do the kinematics of these saccades reflect the state of the decision variables? To test this idea, we engaged human participants in a decision-making task in which they considered two effortful options that required walking across various distances and inclines. As they deliberated, they made saccades between the symbolic representations of their options. These deliberation period saccades had no bearing on the effort they would later expend, yet saccade velocities increased gradually and differentially: the rate of rise was faster for saccades toward the option that they later indicated as their choice. Indeed, the rate of rise encoded the difference in the subjective value of the two options. Importantly, the participants did not reveal their choice at the conclusion of deliberation, but rather waited during a delay period, and finally expressed their choice by making another saccade. Remarkably, vigor for this saccade dropped to baseline and no longer encoded subjective value. Thus, saccade vigor appeared to provide a real-time window to the otherwise hidden process of option evaluation during deliberation.

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If you don’t like the background music, we published a version with it all removed here — https://anchor.fm/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/Music-R…on-e1sf1l7

Continue reading “Prof. DAVID CHALMERS — Consciousness in LLMs [Special Edition]” »