Lifeboat Foundation

Through experimentation with a highly promising anti-aging technique, scientists at the UK’s Babraham Institute have demonstrated a new way of turning back the clock in human skin cells. These cells functioned like cells 30 years younger, but in what represents an exciting advance in the field, were able to still retain some of their specialized functions acquired through age.

In 2012, Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka earned a Nobel Prize for his work in developing what are known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These start out as regular adult tissue cells that are harvested and exposed to four molecules called Yamanaka factors, which return them to an immature state. From here, the stem cells can theoretically develop into any cell type in the body.

We’ve seen scientists explore this potential in a number of exciting ways, implanting them in rabbits to restore vision, addressing dopamine deficiencies in animal models of Parkinson’s disease and repairing damaged heart muscles in pigs. The full reprogramming process involves subjecting the cells to the Yamanaka factors for around 50 days, but the Babraham scientists have found that shortening this process might bring some significant benefits to the table.

The furious debate over Aduhelm has now sparked controversy over the Alliance for Aging Research, which has seen half of its scientific advisory board members resign.

Cognitive dissonance in the government’s decision to approve Bay-du-Nord while professing to fight fossil fuel emissions responsible for climate change.

The decision to approve Bay-du-Nord is based on the low emissions intensity of the oil that will be produced with no accounting for end-use.

Summary: 15 newly discovered “hotspots” in the genome that either speed up or slow down brain aging could be new targets for the development of Alzheimer’s medications and therapies for other brain disorders.

Source: USC

Researchers from a USC-led consortium have discovered 15 “hotspots” in the genome that either speed up brain aging or slow it down—a finding that could provide new drug targets to resist Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative brain disorders, as well as developmental delays.

Tweaking it may delay development of the disease | Science & technology.

These chips might be the future of neuromorphic computing.

Honey could be the next material used to create brain-like computer chips. Its proven practicality marks another step toward creating efficient, renewable processors for neuromorphic computing systems, using biodegradable products.

Research engineers from WSU’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, Feng Zhao and Brandon Sueoka, first processed honey into a solid. Then they jammed it between two electrodes, using a structure design similar to that of a human synapse. They’re known as ‘memristors,’ and are proficient at learning and retaining information just like human neurons.

Continue reading “Honey might be the key to cooler, more efficient, biodegradable chips” »

Summary: Researchers have released a whole-brain projectome consisting of over 6,000 single neurons in the mouse prefrontal cortex.

Source: Chinese Academy of Science.

In a study published in Nature Neuroscience, scientists at the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with their collaborators, reported the first release of a whole-brain projectome comprising over 6,000 single neurons in the mouse prefrontal cortex (PFC), making it the largest database of a whole-brain, single-neuron mouse projectome to date.

The lethargy that many Alzheimer’s patients experience is caused not by a lack of sleep, but rather by the degeneration of a type of neuron that keeps us awake, according to a study that also confirms the tau protein is behind that neurodegeneration.

The study’s findings contradict the common notion that Alzheimer’s patients sleep during the day to make up for a bad night of sleep and point toward potential therapies to help these patients feel more awake.

The data came from study participants who were patients at UC San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center and volunteered to have their sleep monitored with electroencephalogram (EEG) and donate their brains after they died.

The Neuro-Network.

𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲

𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙’𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣… See more.

Continue reading “Neuroscientists Are Confident the Secret to Reversing Brain Damage Is Restoring Brain Plasticity” »