Genes found in the placenta can accurately help predict the size of a baby’s brain and its cognitive development, which, depending on other factors, could predict risk factors for schizophrenia in later life.
Category: neuroscience – Page 655
The Father Of The Cyborgs
Posted in biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, neuroscience
“A famous neurologist Phil Kennedy made global headlines in the late 1990s for implanting wire electrodes in the brain of a ‘locked-in patient’ to control a computer cursor with their mind. Compared to Alexander Graham Bell in The Washington Post, Kennedy became known as ‘The Father of the Cyborgs’. Travelling to South America in 2014, he made further headlines when tiny electrodes were implanted inside his brain in order to continue his research. This film examines the ethical quandaries of self-experimentation and a future where technology and human brains combine.”
Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann is the development agency for the Irish Film Industry investing in talent, creativity and enterprise.
The “Flesh Without Blood” singer put a timeline on the plans, stating: “Let’s aim for chips by 2022. It’s experimental surgery but if it succeeds we’ll have the knowledge of the Gods haha.”
Lil Uzi agreed, writing: “Okay!!! I will call u for more detail.”
Our aim is to harness the unrivalled computing power of the human brain to dramatically increase the ability of computers to help us solve complex problems.
People with depression have a distinguishing feature in their brains, according to a new study.
Virtual reality isn’t just for gaming. Researchers can use virtual reality, or VR, to assess participants’ attention, memory and problem-solving abilities in real world settings. By using VR technology to examine how folks complete daily tasks, like making a grocery list, researchers can better help clinical populations that struggle with executive functioning to manage their everyday lives.
The many different sensations our bodies experience are accompanied by deeply complex exchanges of information within the brain, and the feeling of pain is no exception. So far, research has shown how pain intensity can be directly related to specific patterns of oscillation in brain activity, which are altered by the activation and deactivation of the ‘interneurons’ connecting different regions of the brain. However, it remains unclear how the process is affected by ‘inhibitory’ interneurons, which prevent chemical messages from passing between these regions. Through new research published in EPJ B, researchers led by Fernando Montani at Instituto de Física La Plata, Argentina, show that inhibitory interneurons make up 20% of the circuitry in the brain required for pain processing.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by impaired learning of social skills and language. Memories of how parents and other social models behave are used to guide behavioral learning. How ASD-linked genes affect the intertwined aspects of observational learning and behavioral imitation is not known. Here, we examine how disrupted expression of the ASD gene FOXP1, which causes severe impairments in speech and language learning, affects the cultural transmission of birdsong between adult and juvenile zebra finches. FoxP1 is widely expressed in striatal-projecting forebrain mirror neurons. Knockdown of FoxP1 in this circuit prevents juvenile birds from forming memories of an adult song model but does not interrupt learning how to vocally imitate a previously memorized song.
A neuroinformatics expert and a quantum biophysicist are our guests on the podcast this week.