Cutting-edge technology enables people to “feel” with prosthetic limbs they move remotely with their brains.
Category: neuroscience – Page 629
What if humans could exploit quantum mechanics to sense and measure the Earth’s magnetic field in real-time? If birds can do it, so can we. property= description.
What the FENCE program hopes to do is to create event-based cameras that are more intelligent thanks to the use of brain-mimicking or neuromorphic circuits. What these do is to drastically reduce the amount of data that needs to be handled by disregarding irrelevant parts of the image. Instead of dealing with an entire scene, the event-based camera focuses only on the pixels that have changed.
DARPA has announced the start of the Fast Event-based Neuromorphic Camera and Electronics (FENCE) program, which is designed to make computer vision cameras more efficient by mimicking how the human brain processes information. Three teams of scientists led by Raytheon, BAE Systems, and Northrop Grumman, are tasked with developing an infrared (IR) camera system that needs to process less data, operates faster, and uses less power.
Modern imaging cameras are growing increasingly sophisticated, but they are also becoming victims of their own success. While state-of-the-art cameras can capture high-resolution images and track objects with great precision, they do so by processing large amounts of data, which takes time and power.
According to DARPA, this is fine when the task is something like tracking an airplane in a clear blue sky, but if the background becomes cluttered or starts to change, as is often the case in military operations, these cameras can soon be overwhelmed.
ASML’s machine has effectively turned into a choke point in the supply chain for chips, which act as the brains of computers and other digital devices. The tool’s three-continent development and production — using expertise and parts from Japan, the United States and Germany — is also a reminder of just how global that supply chain is, providing a reality check for any country that wants to leap ahead in semiconductors by itself.
A $150 million chip-making tool from a Dutch company has become a lever in the U.S.-Chinese struggle. It also shows how entrenched the global supply chain is.
The researchers hypothesized that due to abnormal excitement of the Meynert basal ganglia, SB enters the brain and activates anticholinergic action to suppress abnormal acetylcholine secretion of acetylcholine-memory-related circuits centered on the Meynert basal ganglia, eliminating the flashbacks.
Fortunately, a group of Japanese researchers from the Sogo PTSD Institute, Medical Corporation Sogokai, Japan led by Dr. Masanobu Sogo appear to have made a breakthrough in PTSD treatment.
They have identified a drug called trihexyphenidyl, that can significantly reduce the flashbacks and nightmares experienced by patients with PTSD, according to a study published in Brain and Behavior.
Trihexyphenidyl is a central anticholinergic drug used to manage disorders like parkinsonism, and alleviate several side-effects induced by drugs acting on the central nervous system (CNS). It acts by blocking the activity of a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, in the CNS. Interestingly, it has been available for therapeutic use for around 66 years.
A previous study led by Lee found losing just 16 minutes of sleep could impact job performance. Her previous findings also show that minor sleep loss can decrease daily mindfulness, which is a critical recourse for managing stress and maintaining healthy routines.
Summary: Three consecutive nights of sleep loss can have a negative impact on both mental and physical health. Sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in anger, frustration, and anxiety. Additionally, those who experienced sleep loss reported a change in physical wellbeing, including gastrointestinal and respiratory problems.
Source: USF
All it takes is three consecutive nights of sleep loss to cause your mental and physical well-being to greatly deteriorate.
A new study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine looked at the consequences of sleeping fewer than six hours for eight consecutive nights – the minimum duration of sleep that experts say is necessary to support optimal health in average adults.
This mapping of aetiological sources of cross-disorder overlap can guide future research aiming to identify specific mechanisms contributing to risk of physical conditions in people with ADHD, which could ultimately inform preventive and lifestyle intervention efforts. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing the presence of physical conditions in patients with ADHD.
Swedish Research Council; Swedish Brain Foundation; Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare; Stockholm County Council; StratNeuro; EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme; National Institute of Mental Health.
A temporal pattern of activity observed in human brains for the first time may explain how we can learn so quickly.
Possibilities.
Summary: Ketamine and exposure to 60-hertz flickering light show promise as a potentially new, non-invasive therapy to help rejuvenate the aging brain.
Source: IST Austria
Can you remember the smell of flowers in your grandmother’s garden or the tune your grandpa always used to whistle? Some childhood memories are seemingly ingrained into your brain. In fact, there are critical periods in which the brain learns and saves profound cognitive routines and memories. The structure responsible for saving them is called the perineuronal net.
This extracellular structure envelops certain neurons, thereby stabilizes existing connections – the synapses – between them and prevents new ones from forming. But what if we could remove the perineuronal net and restore the adaptability of a young brain? The neuroscientist Sandra Siegert and her research group at IST Austria now published two promising techniques to do so.