Summary: Researchers discover changes to the brain’s salience network occur when a person experiences trauma.
Source: University of Rochester.
Exposure to trauma can be life-changing—and researchers are learning more about how traumatic events may physically change our brains. But these changes are not happening because of physical injury; rather, the brain appears to rewire itself after these experiences.
Summary: A new optogenetics-based technique allows researchers to control neuron excitability.
Source: MIT
Nearly 20 years ago, scientists developed ways to stimulate or silence neurons by shining light on them. This technique, known as optogenetics, allows researchers to discover the functions of specific neurons and how they communicate with other neurons to form circuits.
One of the most enduring human mysteries is why we possess sentient awareness, a paradox known to science as the “hard problem of consciousness.”
At the physiological level, we have a good understanding that consciousness is driven by electrical impulses and chemical signals between neurons in the brain. Though precisely what regions of the brain are responsible for thoughtful experience is still a matter of debate.
However, scientists still do not understand why the same essential elements of the universe can come together to form an inanimate object like a rock or a highly complex organic structure like the human brain.
Earlier research by Dr. Li-Huei Tsai of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others found that APOE4 might raise Alzheimer’s risk by altering lipid metabolism in certain brain cells. But the underlying details of the process remained unclear.
To build on these findings, the team conducted a multi-pronged study that assessed gene activity of all major cell types in post-mortem human brain tissue from 32 men and women who had one, two, or no copies of the APOE4 gene. Results were published in Nature on November 24, 2022.
The researchers found that APOE4 affected gene expression across all measured cell types. The team then took a closer look at genes related to cholesterol and other lipids. Cholesterol-manufacturing genes were overly expressed, and cholesterol-transporting genes dysregulated, in brain cells called oligodendrocytes with the APOE4 gene. Oligodendrocytes are found in the brain and spinal cord. They make and maintain a fatty substance called myelin that surrounds and insulates long nerve fibers. The abnormalities were more extreme in oligodendrocytes with two copies of APOE4 rather than one.
Have you ever wondered what makes you intelligent? How are you able to see, hear, think, read, sing, solve problems, and perform any number of intelligent tasks?
Your brain learns a model of the world, and this model recreates the structure of everything you know. Everything you do and experience is based on this model. Intelligence is the ability to create this model of the world.
But how can a bunch of cells in your brain create a model of the world and everything in it? The Thousand Brains Theory provides an answer. Not only that, but it also provides a blueprint for how to build truly intelligent machines.
Visit https://numenta.com/ for more information.
Produced by Mind’s Eye Creative Studio: https://www.mec.co.za/
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Numenta is leading the new era of machine intelligence. Our deep experience in theoretical neuroscience research has led to tremendous discoveries on how the brain works. We have developed a framework called the Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence that will be fundamental to advancing the state of artificial intelligence and machine learning. By applying this theory to existing deep learning systems, we are addressing today’s bottlenecks while enabling tomorrow’s applications.
The symptoms of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD as it is more popularly known, may be reduced by half with deep brain stimulation, according to a pooled data analysis of the available data, which was recently published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry.
According to the research, two-thirds of individuals who were affected saw a significant improvement after two years.
OCD is characterized by intrusive and persistent obsessive thoughts, as well as dysfunctional and ritualized behaviors. It is estimated that up to 3% of the population is affected by it.
‘I almost died on the way out,’ said the six-foot-two tall archeologist who lost 25 kgs to enter a 17.5-centimeter cave.
Researchers claim to have discovered new evidence of extinct human species who lived in the underground caves of modern-day South Africa.
“We have massive evidence. It’s everywhere,” said Berger, who reported the findings in a press release and a Carnegie Science lecture at the Martin Luther King Jr.
Gulshan Khan/Getty Images.
The archeological findings reveal that Homo naledi, a prehistoric human species used fires to prepare food and navigate in the darkness of underground caves, according to South African paleoanthropologist and National Geographic explorer Lee Berger.
He suffered both physical and mental long-term side effects.
In April of 2006, doctors from London University revealed a case study of what they believed at the time was the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. They published a case report of a British man named only Mr. A estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA over nine years, the most amount known to anyone.
They reported that the man then suffered from prominent physical and mental health side effects, such as extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression, as well as painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw, which often prevented him from opening his mouth.
Fpm/iStock.
Now, a new interview with the British style magazine The Face has surfaced where Dr. Christos Kouimtsidis, a psychiatrist who coauthored the case study, explains why the man’s story is still so fascinating after all these years.
Neural Computing Interfaces will revolutionize the world. From aiding motor function recovery, to augmenting and transforming the future human users. In this video, we take a look at what good can come from this technology but also what dark horrors await this future.