Arthur Reber argues that consciousness began with bacteria and other single-celled organisms, but evidence supports a much later evolution of consciousness.
Category: neuroscience – Page 64
We named him Squirt—not because he was the smallest of the 16 cuttlefish in the pool, but because anyone with the audacity to scoop him into a separate tank to study him was likely to get soaked. Squirt had notoriously accurate aim.
As a comparative psychologist, I’m used to assaults from my experimental subjects. I’ve been stung by bees, pinched by crayfish and battered by indignant pigeons. But, somehow, with Squirt it felt different. As he eyed us with his W-shaped pupils, he seemed clearly to be plotting against us.
Of course, I’m being anthropomorphic. Science does not yet have the tools to confirm whether cuttlefish have emotional states, or whether they are capable of conscious experience, much less sinister plots. But there’s undeniably something special about cephalopods—the class of ocean-dwelling invertebrates that includes cuttlefish, squid and octopus.
Two later-stage trials investigating semaglutide, the drug in Ozempic, for treating Alzheimer’s disease are due to complete in 2025, with potentially big results.
By Grace Wade
It’s estimated that anywhere from three to seven percent of school-age children may have dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental issue that affects reading, spelling, and writing. There are different ideas about why dyslexia occurs, although they relate to dysfunction in brain networks, and are likely due to multiple causes in affected individuals; the disorder may not have a singular underlying cause. Neuroimaging studies of dyslexic individuals have produced inconsistent results.
Since dyslexia has a heritable, and therefore, genetic component, scientists wanted to know more about how genetics and brain mapping could reveal more about the pathology of dyslexia. A new study has shown that carriers of genetic variants that increase the risk of dyslexia also have changes in brain structure, which occur in areas that are related to language, motor coordination, and vision. The findings have been reported in Science Advances.
The breakthrough marks a promising target for drug therapies that slow, possibly reverse, the disease’s development
NEW YORK, NY, December 23, 2024 — Researchers with the CUNY ASRC have unveiled a critical mechanism that links cellular stress in the brain to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study, published in the journal Neuron, highlights microglia, the brain’s primary immune cells, as central players in both the protective and harmful responses associated with the disease.
Microglia, often dubbed the brain’s first responders, are now recognized as a significant causal cell type in Alzheimer’s pathology. However, these cells play a double-edged role: some protect brain health, while others worsen neurodegeneration. Understanding the functional differences between these microglial populations has been a research focus for Pinar Ayata, the study’s principal investigator and a professor with the CUNY ASRC Neuroscience Initiative and the CUNY Graduate Center’s Biology and Biochemistry programs.
A new study from Northwestern Medicine reports that, much like a conductor harmonizes various instruments in an orchestra to create a symphony, breathing synchronizes hippocampal brain waves to enhance memory during sleep.
This is the first time breathing rhythms during sleep have been linked to these hippocampal brain waves — called slow waves, spindles, and ripples — in humans. Scientists knew these waves were linked to memory but their underlying driver was unknown.
“To strengthen memories, three special neural oscillations emerge and synchronize in the hippocampus during sleep, but they were thought to come and go at random times,” said senior study author Christina Zelano, professor of neurology at Northwestern University.
Exercise improves cognitive performance for over 24 hours, especially when paired with good sleep. A study of older adults links physical activity and deep sleep to better memory, highlighting the importance of an active lifestyle for brain health.
Exercise provides a short-term boost to brain function that can last throughout the next day, according to a new study by researchers at University College London (UCL).
Earlier research conducted in controlled laboratory settings revealed that cognitive performance improves in the hours following exercise. However, the duration of these benefits remained unclear.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have unveiled a startling revelation about the human mind: our thoughts move at a mere 10 bits per second, a rate that pales in comparison to the staggering billion bits per second at which our sensory systems gather environmental data. This discovery, published in the journal Neuron, is challenging long-held assumptions about human cognition.
The research, conducted in the laboratory of Markus Meister, the Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences at Caltech, and spearheaded by graduate student Jieyu Zheng, applied information theory techniques on an extensive collection of scientific literature. By analyzing human behaviors such as reading, writing, video gaming, and Rubik’s Cube solving, the team calculated the 10 bits per second figure – a rate that Meister describes as “extremely low.”
To put this in perspective, a typical Wi-Fi connection processes about 50 million bits per second, making our thought processes seem glacial by comparison. This stark contrast raises a paradox that Meister and his team are eager to explore further: “What is the brain doing to filter all of this information?”
Discovery draws surprising parallels between low-level organisms and sophisticated neurons; lays the groundwork for memory-capable biological systems.
Biologists studying collectives of bacteria, or “biofilms,” have discovered that these so-called simple organisms feature a robust capacity for memory.
Working in the laboratory of University of California San Diego Professor Gürol Süel, Chih-Yu Yang, Maja Bialecka-Fornal and their colleagues found that bacterial cells stimulated with light remembered the exposure hours after the initial stimulus. The researchers were able to manipulate the process so that memory patterns emerged.