A paralysed man has been able to walk simply by thinking about it, thanks to electronic brain implants

A collaborative project by Mass General Cancer Center researchers to bring the promise of cell therapy to patients with a deadly form of brain cancer has shown dramatic results among the first patients to receive the novel treatment.
Humans are innately capable of recognizing other people they have seen before. This capability ultimately allows them to build meaningful social connections, develop their sense of identity, better cooperate with others, and identify individuals who could pose a risk to their safety.
Several past studies rooted in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral science have tried to shed light on the neural processes underlying the ability to encode other people’s identities. Most findings collected so far suggest that the identity of others is encoded by neurons in the amygdala and hippocampus, two brain regions known to support the processing of emotions and the encoding of memories, respectively.
Based on evidence collected in the past, researchers have concluded that neurons in these two brain regions respond in specific ways when we meet a person we are acquainted with, irrespective of visual features (i.e., how their face looks). A recent paper published in Nature Human Behaviour, however, suggests that this might not be the case, and that individual neurons in the amygdala encode and represent facial features, ultimately supporting the identification of others.
This week, biologists discovered a new cellular organelle that’s like “a new recycling center within the cell.” Wild-growing tomatoes in the Galápagos are de-evolving. And geologists at the University of Southampton detected deep Earth pulses beneath Africa. Plus: Brain network functionality differs in people with psychopathic personality; sharks have a surprising vulnerability; and people with the highest measured IQ make better probabilistic predictions than people with the lowest IQ.
Cancer cells turbocharge themselves by stealing the energy-producing units from neurons in tumours, scientists report today in Nature 1. This act of thievery seems to give cancer cells a boost to help them survive when they metastasize, or spread to distant organs.
The findings show that cancer cells siphon off neurons’ mitochondria — organelles that generate most of a cell’s energy — through ultrathin tubes that grow between the two types of cell. The purloined mitochondria increase cancer cells’ ability to withstand the stress of shooting through blood vessels during metastasis.
“Now we have a new culprit for metastasis, which means we have a new target to block metastasis,” says study co-author Simon Grelet, a cancer neurobiologist at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. “And metastasis is what make cancers so deadly.”
The theft probably helps the cells to spread around the body, and preventing it could provide a path to treatment, researchers say.
Mark Hersam is a nanotechnologist who believes that understanding materials at the shortest of length scales can provide solutions to the world’s largest problems. Using an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of neuroscience and nanoelectronics, Hersam presents a solution to the greatest societal threat posed by AI.
Dr. Mark C. Hersam, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Director of the Materials Research Center, and Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Northwestern University, has made major breakthroughs in the field of nanotechnology. His research interests include nanomaterials, additive manufacturing, nanoelectronics, scanning probe microscopy, renewable energy, and quantum information science. Dr. Hersam has received several honors including the Marshall Scholarship, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, American Vacuum Society Medard Welch Award, U.S. Science Envoy, and MacArthur Fellowship. In addition, he is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Inventors and has founded two companies, NanoIntegris and Volexion, which are suppliers of nanoelectronic and battery materials, respectively.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.