Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 519

Jan 22, 2020

What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Aging Better

Posted by in categories: life extension, neuroscience

“A neuroscientist explains how our brains age and provides tips for aging with more vitality and happiness.”

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic[/li

If you’d like to share this article please share it from the link here: https://www.facebook.com/383136302314720/posts/516809088947440/

Continue reading “What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Aging Better” »

Jan 22, 2020

How AI and neuroscience drive each other forwards

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

Bringing together artificial intelligence and neuroscience promises to yield benefits for both fields.

Jan 21, 2020

Why Gene Editors Like CRISPR/Cas May Be a Game-Changer for Neuroweapons

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, governance, health, neuroscience, policy, surveillance

This year marks the Eighth Review Conference (RevCon) of the Biological Toxins and Weapons Convention (BWC). At the same time, ongoing international efforts to further and more deeply investigate the brain’s complex neuronal circuitry are creating unprecedented capabilities to both understand and control neurological processes of thought, emotion, and behavior. These advances have tremendous promise for human health, but the potential for their misuse has also been noted, with most discussions centering on research and development of agents that are addressed by existing BWC and Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) proscriptions. In this article, we discuss the dual-use possibilities fostered by employing emergent biotechnologic techniques and tools—specifically, novel gene editors like clustered regular interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)—to produce neuroweapons. Based on our analyses, we posit the strong likelihood that development of genetically modified or created neurotropic substances will advance apace with other gene-based therapeutics, and we assert that this represents a novel—and realizable—path to creating potential neuroweapons. In light of this, we propose that it will be important to re-address current categorizations of weaponizable tools and substances, so as to better inform and generate tractable policy to enable improved surveillance and governance of novel neuroweapons.

Keywords: : CRISPR, Gene editing, Neuroweapon, Neurotherapeutic pathways, Dual-use neuroscience, Biosecurity policy.

T his year marks the Eighth Review Conference (RevCon) of the Biological Toxins and Weapons Convention (BWC), the purpose of which is to ensure that the convened parties’ directives continue to be relevant to and viable for prohibiting the development, production, and stockpiling of biological weapons in the face of newly emerging scientific advancements and biotechnologies. Apropos of issues raised at previous RevCons and elsewhere, there are growing concerns about current and future weaponization of neurobiological agents and tools (ie, “neuroweapons”1–6).

Jan 21, 2020

The FDA Just Expanded Access to MDMA as a Therapy for PTSD

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Under the FDA’s Expanded Access program, more folks can legally get access to medical-grade MDMA for psychotherapy.

Jan 21, 2020

How Researchers Used AI to Better Understand Biological Vision

Posted by in categories: biological, neuroscience, robotics/AI

A few years back, DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis famously prophesized that AI and neuroscience will positively feed into each other in a “virtuous circle.” If realized, this would fundamentally expand our insight into intelligence, both machine and human.

We’ve already seen some proofs of concept, at least in the brain-to-AI direction. For example, memory replay, a biological mechanism that fortifies our memories during sleep, also boosted AI learning when abstractly appropriated into deep learning models. Reinforcement learning, loosely based on our motivation circuits, is now behind some of AI’s most powerful tools.

Continue reading “How Researchers Used AI to Better Understand Biological Vision” »

Jan 21, 2020

Ultrafast camera takes 1 trillion frames per second of transparent objects and phenomena

Posted by in categories: electronics, neuroscience

A little over a year ago, Caltech’s Lihong Wang developed the world’s fastest camera, a device capable of taking 10 trillion pictures per second. It is so fast that it can even capture light traveling in slow motion.

But sometimes just being quick is not enough. Indeed, not even the fastest camera can take pictures of things it cannot see. To that end, Wang, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, has developed a that can take up to 1 trillion pictures per second of transparent objects. A paper about the camera appears in the January 17 issue of the journal Science Advances.

The technology, which Wang calls phase-sensitive compressed ultrafast photography (pCUP), can take video not just of transparent objects but also of more ephemeral things like shockwaves and possibly even of the signals that travel through neurons.

Jan 20, 2020

Could Scientists ‘Hack’ the Zika Virus to Kill Brain Cancer?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, neuroscience

Could Zika be used as a cancer treatment?

Jan 20, 2020

Belgian neurologist wins €1m prize for work on serious brain trauma

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Generet prize will fund more trials by Steven Laureys to help written-off ‘vegetative’ patients.

Jan 19, 2020

Sugar alters brain chemistry after only 12 days

Posted by in categories: chemistry, neuroscience

New research in pigs examines how sugar intake affects the brain’s reward circuits and finds that changes are noticeable after just 12 days.

Jan 18, 2020

How To Hack A Human Brain | VICE on HBO

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, neuroscience

Advancements in neurotechnology are blurring the line between biology and technology. There is an emerging push to implant electronic devices inside the human body, hardwire them to our brains, and allow us to not only overcome disadvantages or injury but open up entirely new avenues of human experience.

VICE’s Thomas Morton got an inside look at what might be the next evolutionary step for humankind.

Continue reading “How To Hack A Human Brain | VICE on HBO” »