PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] โ More than two decades ago, a team of Brown University researchers set out with an ambitious goal to provide people with paralysis a revolutionary neurotechnology capable of turning thoughts about movement into actual action, using a tiny device that would one day be implanted in the surface of the brain. Their work led to an ongoing, multi-institution effort to create the BrainGate brain-computer interface, designed to allow clinical trial participants with paralysis to control assistive devices like computers or robotic limbs just by thinking about the action they want to initiate.
In an important step toward a medical technology that could help restore independence of people with paralysis, researchers find the investigational BrainGate neural interface system has low rates of associated adverse events.
Although early detection of many types of cancer has contributed to the recent increases in cancer survival rates, the survival rate for brain tumors has remained almost unchanged for over 20 years. Partly this is due to their late detection. Physicians often discover brain tumors only after the onset of neurological symptoms, such as loss of movement or speech, by which time the tumor has reached a considerable size. Detecting the tumor when it is still small, and starting treatment as soon as possible, should help to save lives.
One possible sign that a person has a brain tumor is the presence of tumor-related extracellular vesicles (EVs) in their urine. EVs are nano-sized vesicles involved in a variety of functions, including cell-to-cell communication. Because those found in brain cancer patients have specific types of RNA and membrane proteins, they could be used to detect the presence of cancer and its progression.
When it comes to courtship, it is important to ensure that one is interacting with a member of the same species. Animals use multiple sensory systems to confirm that potential mates are indeed suitable, with acoustic communication playing an important role in their decision making.
Although these differences have previously been reported at the behavioral level, it is not known how the neuronal circuitry underlying this decision-making has diverged between species. Now, in a new publication in Scientific Reports, a research group at Nagoya University in Japan has investigated how the auditory processing pathway has evolved and diverged between fruit fly species.
Males of several species of Drosophila (fruit flies), which are regularly used in neuroscience research, vibrate their wings rhythmically during courtship, producing a courtship song. The temporal components of these songs differ between species, allowing female flies to distinguish between potential mates.
This article is based on accredited medical, science, and media reports. Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. I will share knowledge but will offer no personal opinion on this matter herein.
All listed theories and facts shared within this article are fully-attributed to said outlets, includingWikipedia.org, NeuroscienceNews.com, and TheDailyBrief.com.
The origins and workings of consciousness have remained among scienceโs greatest unanswered mysteries. How did it begin? What sparks it?
Neurologist Christopher Walsh discovered genes that direct cerebral cortex development. We asked him what they reveal about intelligence, psychiatric disorders, and the nature of being human.
This article was produced for The Kavli Prize by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazineโs board of editors.
Keep exploring at http://brilliant.org/ArtemKirsanov/ Get started for free, and hurryโthe first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
My name is Artem, Iโm a computational neuroscience student and researcher. In this video we will see why individual neurons essentially function like deep convolutional neural networks, equipped with insane information processing capabilities as well as some of the physiological mechanisms, that account for such computational complexity.
OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction. 01:42 โ Perceptrons. 03:43 โ Electrical excitability and action potential. 07:12 โ Cable theory: passive dendrites. 09:03 โ Active dendritic properties. 12:10 โ Human neurons as XOR gates. 19:11 โ Single neurons as deep neural networks. 22:32 โ Brilliant. 23:57 โ Recap and outro.
REFERENCES (in no particular order): 1. Bicknell, B. A., Bicknell, B. A. & Hรคusser, M. A synaptic learning rule for exploiting nonlinear dendritic computation. Neuron (2021) doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.044. 2. Matthew Larkum. Are dendrites conceptually useful? Neuroscience (2022) doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.03.008. 3. Polsky, A., Mel, B. W. & Schiller, J. Computational subunits in thin dendrites of pyramidal cells. Nature Neuroscience 7621โ627 (2004). 4. Tran-Van-Minh, A. et al. Contribution of sublinear and supralinear dendritic integration to neuronal computations. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 9, 67โ67 (2015). 5. Gidon, A. et al. Dendritic action potentials and computation in human layer 2/3 cortical neurons. Science 367, 83โ87 (2020). 6. London, M. & Hรคusser, M. DENDRITIC COMPUTATION. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 28503โ532 (2005). 7. Branco, T., Clark, B. A. & Hรคusser, M. Dendritic Discrimination of Temporal Input Sequences in Cortical Neurons. Science 329, 1671โ1675 (2010). 8. Stuart, G. J. & Spruston, N. Dendritic integration: 60 years of progress. Nat Neurosci 18, 1713โ1721 (2015). 9. Smith, S. L., Smith, I. T., Branco, T. & Hรคusser, M. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature 503115โ120 (2013). 10. Beniaguev, D., Segev, I. & London, M. Single cortical neurons as deep artificial neural networks. Neuron 109, (2021). 11. Michalikova, M., Remme, M. W. H., Schmitz, D., Schreiber, S. & Kempter, R. Spikelets in pyramidal neurons: generating mechanisms, distinguishing properties, and functional implications. Reviews in the Neurosciences 31101โ119 (2019). 12. Larkum, M. E., Wu, J., Duverdin, S. A. & Gidon, A. The Guide to Dendritic Spikes of the Mammalian Cortex In Vitro and In Vivo. Neuroscience 489, 15โ33 (2022).
Abstract: Recent years have seen a rapid expansion of empirical and theoretical studies in connectomics โ the emerging science of structural and functional brain networks. In this talk I will survey some of the recent advances and a few of the challenges for connectomics research, with an emphasis on human brain connectivity. Of particular interest are studies that employ network science methods for analyzing and modeling connectivity patterns. These studies have shown the existence of highly connected hub regions that play crucial roles in brain communication and the integration of information. Future applications of brain modeling and computation for understanding brain function and dysfunction will also be discussed. Overall, the new field of connectomics offers a unique opportunity for building a theoretical understanding of the function of the human brain.
A scan of the skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish has led to the discovery of the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain, shining a new light on the early evolution of bony fish.
The fossil of the skull belonging to the extinct Coccocephalus wildi was found in a coal mine in England more than a century ago, according to researchers of the study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
The fossil is the only known specimen of the fish species so scientists from the University of Michigan in the US and the University of Birmingham in the UK used the nondestructive imaging technique of computed tomography (CT) scanning to look inside its skull and examine its internal bodily structure.
Sponsor: AG1, The nutritional drink Iโm taking for energy and mental focus. Tap this link to get a yearโs supply of immune-supporting vitamin D3-K2 & 5 travel packs FREE with your first order: https://www.athleticgreens.com/arvinash.
RECOMMENDED READING: Schwartz, โQuantum Field Theory and the Standard modelโ https://amzn.to/3HmWdYt.
CHAPTERS: 0:00 The most important motion in the universe. 1:08 How get energy and mental focus. 2:20 A spring: Classical simple harmonic oscillator. 4:48 QUANTUM Harmonic oscillator. 6:00 Science Asylum โ what is the Schrodinger equation? 7:30 Quantum Field Theory (QFT) uses spring math! 10:00 Intuitive description of whatโs going on! 12:37 What is really oscillating in QFT?
