Scientists hope the computer made from living cells could untangle the causes of ADHD and schizophrenia
Category: neuroscience – Page 66
How the brain switches between older and newer memories
As humans and other animals experience new things, their brains continuously update their memory of past events. These updates allow them to adapt to changing environments, all while preserving older memories that could still help them to make decisions in some situations.
Many past neuroscience studies have investigated the neural circuits involved in the encoding and retrieval of memories. However, the mechanisms via which it decides whether to retrieve older or newly updated memories remain poorly understood.
Researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) recently carried out a study involving mice that was aimed at better understanding how the brain switches between older and newer memories.
This Physicist (Unexpectedly) Derived Gravity from Information
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What if gravity is just entropy in disguise? Professor Erik Verlinde joins me to argue that gravity isn’t a fundamental force—it’s thermodynamic, emerging from quantum information the way gas pressure emerges from molecules bouncing around. We explore why spacetime may be stitched together by entanglement, and how dark energy and dark matter both pop out automatically without extra particles or parameters. Verlinde explains why the cosmological constant problem is a red herring, and why there may be no final theory of physics. When asked where the universe comes from, his answer is one word: chaos.
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- 00:00:00 — Thermodynamic Gravity and Information
- 00:06:35 — Beyond Effective Field Theory
- 00:13:08 — Turtles All The Way Down
- 00:25:41 — Entropy as a Force
- 00:36:31 — Entanglement and Spatial Connectivity
- 00:47:31 — Deriving Inertia and F=ma
- 00:56:41 — De Sitter Space Challenges
- 01:02:01 — Dark Matter and Milgram
- 01:11:51 — The Emergence of Time
- 01:21:01 — Statistical Gravity Fluctuations
- 01:27:01 — Quantum Computational Complexity
- 01:36:01 — Physics Intuition and Mentorship
- 01:47:31 — Beauty, Garbage, and Chaos
LINKS MENTIONED: Papers, books, websites:
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?…
- https://journals.aps.org/prb/pdf/10.1…
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.0785
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02269
- https://journals.aps.org/pr/pdf/10.11…
- https://amazon.com/dp/0486600688?tag=…
- https://www.nature.com/articles/248030a0
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transl…
- https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9504004
- https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0603001
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1005.3035
- https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0106112
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1408.3203
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.02087
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.08255
- https://www.ias.edu/sns/events/iaspct…
- https://amazon.com/dp/0262533413?tag=…
Videos:
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• A 2 Hour Deep Dive into Entropy
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• The Mathematics of String Theory [Graduate…
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• The Debate That Divides Physics: Is the Un…
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• The Physicist Who Found Quantum Theory’s U…
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• Retrocausality & The Transactional Interpr…
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• The Physicist Who Proved Entropy = Gravity
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• The Physicist Who Says Time Doesn’t Exist
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• The Most Astonishing Theory of Black Holes
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• The (Simple) Theory That Explains Everythi…
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• The Crisis in String Theory is Worse Than…
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• Dark Dimensions: NEW THEORY Unifying Dark…
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• MIT Scientist’s Discovery: “Black Holes Mi…
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• The Woman Who Broke Gravity | Claudia de Rham
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• Solving the Problem of Consciousness | Ste…
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• Frederic Schuller: The Physicist Who Deriv…
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• The Loop Quantum Gravity Debacle: Carlo Ro…
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• An (Elementary) Introduction to Quantum Co…
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• Can Physics Explain Its Own Laws?
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• The Nobel Laureate Who (Also) Says Quantum…
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• This Cosmologist Discovered Something Stra…
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• Michael Levin: Consciousness, Biology, Uni…
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TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 — Thermodynamic Gravity and Information 00:06:35 — Beyond Effective Field Theory 00:13:08 — Turtles All The Way Down 00:25:41 — Entropy as a Force 00:36:31 — Entanglement and Spatial Connectivity 00:47:31 — Deriving Inertia and F=ma 00:56:41 — De Sitter Space Challenges 01:02:01 — Dark Matter and Milgram 01:11:51 — The Emergence of Time 01:21:01 — Statistical Gravity Fluctuations 01:27:01 — Quantum Computational Complexity 01:36:01 — Physics Intuition and Mentorship 01:47:31 — Beauty, Garbage, and Chaos.
Brain histamine map connects genes to brain function and mental health
New research from King’s College London and the University of Porto has mapped the histamine system in the brain. Histamine, a molecule more commonly associated with allergies, plays a separate but poorly understood role in brain function. This study addresses this gap, building the first multiscale map of the histamine system that spans from genetics to behavior and related mental health conditions.
The findings provide a new framework for understanding how this often-overlooked chemical system contributes to brain function and could point toward new treatment strategies for histamine-related conditions such as depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia. The study is published in Nature Mental Health.
Histamine is a neurotransmitter, a molecule crucial for neurons to communicate with one another. Neuroscience research has classically focused on understanding other neurotransmitter systems such as dopamine and serotonin.
Between ego and faith: Motivational, affective, and cognitive dimensions of religious engagement in narcissism
At first glance, narcissism and religion seem like an unlikely pair. Religious traditions usually promote humility, selflessness, and community care. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by egotism, a sense of superiority, and a strong feeling of entitlement. This stark contrast raises an interesting question about how individuals with strong narcissistic traits interact with religious beliefs and communities.
Previous studies looking at broad connections between narcissism and religion have yielded mixed results. Some research suggests religious individuals actually score higher on general narcissism scales than non-religious people. Other sets of data show no significant relationship at all between grandiose narcissism and a person’s overall level of faith. To make sense of these apparent contradictions, researchers decided to break down both narcissism and religiosity into more specific categories.
“What drew my attention was that although research on trait narcissism has been growing rapidly, we still know relatively little about how it relates to religiosity,” said study author Julia Tokarz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Psychology and a member of the Personality Intelligence Cognition Lab. “Previous studies were quite limited and did not take into account the current three-factor model of narcissism.”
Abstract.
Although the link between narcissism and religiosity appears to be ambiguous, a more nuanced approach to both constructs may reveal specific patterns. This research aimed to explore links between different dimensions of narcissism and various aspects of religiosity. Study 1 revealed that all facets of narcissism (agentic, antagonistic, neurotic, communal) were associated with extrinsic religious orientation, indicating an overall stronger desire to engage in religious practices driven by instrumental motives. In the second study, agentic and antagonistic narcissism were related to a punitive God’s image, whereas the antagonistic facet was also inversely related to positive religious coping, loving God image, and general religiosity. In the third study, divine entitlement (i.e.