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Category: neuroscience – Page 583

What are mini brains? — Madeline Lancaster

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View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-we-grow-human-brains-outside-…-lancaster.

Shielded by our thick skulls and swaddled in layers of protective tissue, the human brain is extremely difficult to observe in action. Luckily, scientists can use brain organoids — pencil eraser-sized masses of cells that function like human brains but aren’t part of an organism — to look closer. How do they do it? And is it ethical? Madeline Lancaster shares how to make a brain in a lab.

Lesson by Madeline Lancaster, animation by Adam Wells.

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Nik Maier, Robert Sukosd, Mark Morris, Tamás Drávai, Adi V, Peter Liu, Leora Allen, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Michal Salman, Julie Cummings-Debrot, Gilly, Ka-Hei Law, Maya Toll, Aleksandar Srbinovski, Jose Mamattah, Mauro Pellegrini, Ricardo Rendon Cepeda, Renhe Ji, Andrés Melo Gámez, Tim Leistikow, Moonlight, Shawar Khan, Chris, Alex Serbanescu, Megan Douglas, Barbara Smalley, Filip Dabrowski, Joe Giamartino, Clair Chen, Vik Nagjee, Karen Goepen-Wee, Della Palacios, Rui Rizzi, Bryan Blankenburg, Bah Becerra and Stephanie Perozo.

How our tastes influence our creativity

The more we like our ideas, the faster we give them shape. But to be creative, we need to focus on out-of-the-box thinking. This is what Alizée Lopez-Persem and Emmanuelle Volle, Inserm researchers at Paris Brain Institute, showed in a new study published in American Psychologist.

Using a behavioral study and a computational model to replicate the different components of the , the researchers explain how individual preferences influence the speed of the emergence of new ideas and their degree of . These preferences also determine which ideas we choose to exploit and communicate to others.

What drives us to develop new ideas rather than settling for standard methods and processes? What triggers the desire to innovate at the risk of sacrificing time, energy, and reputation for a resounding failure? Creativity is based on complex mechanisms that we are only beginning to understand and in which motivation plays a central role. But pursuing a goal is not enough to explain why we favor some ideas over others and whether that choice benefits the success of our actions.

New Neuroscience Reveals How To Overcome Boredom, Frustration, And Impatience

Well, I’ve got news for you: none of those three are bad things. You’re shooting the messenger. It’s an emotional friendly fire incident.

In fact, boredom, frustration, and impatience are downright good for you. Yeah, I said it.

They aren’t obstacles to a good life; they’re your guides to a good life. They help us find our path, they motivate us, and they give us hope. Instead of avoiding them, fighting them, or suppressing them, we just need to listen to them — and maybe steer them a bit.

Scientists pinpoint the brain center of the male libido

Scientists may have successfully spotted the brain center for the male libido responsible for sexual interest and mating in mouse models. The discovery may lead to improved drugs for sexual function.

This is according to a report by Medical Xpress published on Friday.

Senior researcher Dr. Nirao Shah, a professor of psychiatry and neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, in California, said in the article that the newly-discovered region is responsible for recognizing the sex of other mice.

What is Panpsychism? | Rupert Sheldrake, Donald Hoffman, Phillip Goff, James Ladyman

What is panpsychism? Does it finally offer an explanation of consciousness? From the problems with materialism to the tradition of dualism, we asked the world’s leading thinkers to explain all.

#panpsychism #consciousness #reality #philosophy #mind.

Although one of the oldest philosophical theories, panpsychism is often seen as an outsider in the philosophy of mind. Recent interest in the hard problem of consciousness however has revived interest in panpsychism and mean it could provide new understandings of the mind and view of reality. Parapsychology expert Rupert Sheldrake, professor of philosophy Phillip Goff, cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman, philosopher James Ladyman and professor of religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein give us their views.

For more on panpsychism and conciousness watch:

Understanding Conciousness | Full Debate | Rupert Sheldrake, George Ellis, Amie Thomasson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-QOlTD0YHo.

Neuroscience of Conciousness | Raymond Tallis, Markus Gabriel, Susana Martinez Conde.

Continue reading “What is Panpsychism? | Rupert Sheldrake, Donald Hoffman, Phillip Goff, James Ladyman” | >

Study identifies characteristics specific to human brains

Researchers led by a team at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified cellular and molecular features of the brain that set modern humans apart from their closest primate relatives and ancient human ancestors. The findings, published in Nature, offer new insights into human brain evolution.

“Most on the have focused on neurons because this cell type was thought to be responsible for our intelligence and enhanced . This study gives us a renewed appreciation for other cells involved in and the role they have played both in advancing cognition and our susceptibility to a number of cognitive diseases,” said study leader Genevieve Konopka, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience and a member of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern.

Since , people have been curious about what gives humans abilities that other animals don’t have, such as speech and language, Dr. Konopka explained. A range of previous studies have sought to answer this question by examining anatomy or performing genetic or on whole brains or sections, experiments that provide a view of thousands of cells at a time.

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