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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 513

Feb 8, 2020

Intel’s Latest Chip Mimics the Way Your Brain Works

Posted by in categories: biological, computing, neuroscience

Up to 1,000 times faster than traditional CPUs!


Codenamed ‘Pohoiki Beach,’ the new chip processes data like a biological brain by simulating a whole network of neurons, allowing the silicon to process information ‘up to 1,000 times faster.’

Feb 8, 2020

Scientists Plugged a Bionic Eye Directly Into This Woman’s Brain

Posted by in categories: biological, computing, cyborgs, neuroscience, transhumanism

Bernardeta Gómez has been blind for 16 years. But using a bionic eye developed by Spanish neuroengineer Eduardo Fernandez, she was able to see again — without using her biological eyes at all.

The system, which Fernandez is honing at his University of Miguel Hernandez lab, comprises a few different parts, as detailed in a newly-published story in MIT Technology Review.

First, there’s a pair of glasses fitted with a camera that connects to a computer. The computer translates the camera’s live video feed into electronic signals. Those signals are then sent via a cable to a port that Fernandez surgically embedded in the back of Gómez’s skull. That port connects to an implant in the visual cortex of Gómez’s brain.

Feb 8, 2020

Study Finds The Best Exercise To Stretch Your Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

A recent study has found that there could be an easy, and highly beneficial way, of keeping your brain healthy, and it doesn’t involve a single crossword.

Feb 7, 2020

Embrace human genome editing

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, government, neuroscience, time travel

Imagine then, the emancipatory potential of genome editing for these millions.

Realizing this potential, however, will require that genome editing meet with societal approval. The typical response right now when you talk to someone about genetic engineering or reproductive technology is a reference to ‘designer babies,’ eugenics, Nazism, and other evils. These arguments have a very powerful emotional hold over many people, but in my opinion, they simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Continue reading “Embrace human genome editing” »

Feb 7, 2020

Why Life Expectancy Could Rise Significantly in the Near Future

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, humor, life extension, neuroscience

Let’s face it, getting older sucks, and not because of all the extra candles on the birthday cake. Getting cake and presents every year is great, but the loss of health and independence isn’t a particularly good birthday present. (Wow, what’d I get this year? Just what I didn’t want: sarcopenia and hearing loss!)

Given the downsides of aging, it really is surprising how little people talk about it beyond the odd grumble or even as a joke. Normally, it’s to complain about the aches and pains that gradually appear as the years roll by, as we find it harder to walk up the stairs and “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” turns into “cloudy-eyed and with an aching back”.

That’s not even the serious side of aging, which involves the gradual loss of independence and the age-related diseases that first rob us of our quality of life before they get around to killing us. The serious part is the horror of Alzheimer’s and the loss of self that it brings, the heart disease that cripples us, the frailty that steals our independence, and the lurking threat of cancer that rises dramatically as we age.

Feb 6, 2020

Elon Musk’s mind-reading technology could be about to take a big leap forward

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

The tech entrepreneur announced an “awesome” update to his neurotechnology company’s work to connect brains to computers.

Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Feb 6, 2020

Neuralink: Elon Musk teases ‘awesome’ advancements will be revealed soon

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, neuroscience

The founder of the human-computer brain linkup firm has big plans.

Feb 6, 2020

From mushrooms to ecstasy, a renaissance in psychedelics research

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

MDMA and psilocybin have been granted breakthrough therapy status by the FDA, signaling a shift in the future of mental health treatment.


Clinical studies are underway. How we treat them moving forward matters.

Feb 6, 2020

Scientists Use Sound and Light to Trigger Brain Waves in Innovative Approach to Treat Alzheimer’s

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A recent study by MIT found a low-pitched buzz-like sound and strobe lights can be used to replicate brain waves impeded by Alzheimer’s, which improved cognitive function and helped remove plaque in mice displaying symptoms of the disease. The approach hasn’t been tested in humans yet, but if it’s possible to copy these results, it might turn into a drug-free, inexpensive way to treat this condition.

The Secret: Applying Sound and Light at the Same Frequency

The study in question follows up on a previous one, which showed that flashing light and playing sound 40 times a second into the eyes of mice with Alzheimer’s, improved their condition. According to MIT researcher Li-Huei Tsai, there is substantial reduction of amyloid protein and increased prefrontal cortex engagement when visual and auditory stimulation is combined over a period of one week. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain most active in cognitive functions.

Feb 6, 2020

Molecular ‘switch’ reverses chronic inflammation and aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Chronic inflammation, which results when old age, stress or environmental toxins keep the body’s immune system in overdrive, can contribute to a variety of devastating diseases, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to diabetes and cancer.

Now, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a molecular “switch” that controls the immune machinery responsible for in the body. The finding, which appears online Feb. 6 in the journal Cell Metabolism, could lead to new ways to halt or even reverse many of these age-related conditions.

“My lab is very interested in understanding the reversibility of aging,” said senior author Danica Chen, associate professor of metabolic biology, nutritional sciences and toxicology at UC Berkeley. “In the past, we showed that aged stem cells can be rejuvenated. Now, we are asking: to what extent can aging be reversed? And we are doing that by looking at physiological conditions, like inflammation and insulin resistance, that have been associated with aging-related degeneration and diseases.”