Lifeboat Foundation

Are you over sleeping? If yes, be careful.

Sleeping for extended amounts of time may be an early indicator of cognitive decline in older people, especially among those with lower education levels, researchers report.

Elderly participants who consistently slept more than 9 hours a night had double the dementia risk over a decade of follow-up in an analysis of data from the Framingham Heart Study.

Continue reading “Sleeping for 9+ Hours May Be Early Sign of Dementia” »

Well, in my immediate family; we get science, math, and futurists talents from my dad. And, there does seem to be a pattern in my immediate family with this; not sure about others. Would love to know though.

SALT LAKE CITY — Most kids say they love their mom and dad equally, but there are times when even the best prefers one parent over the other. The same can be said for how the body’s cells treat our DNA instructions. It has long been thought that each copy — one inherited from mom and one from dad — is treated the same. A new study from scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine shows that it is not uncommon for cells in the brain to preferentially activate one copy over the other. The finding breaks basic tenants of classic genetics and suggests new ways in which genetic mutations might cause brain disorders.

In at least one region of the newborn mouse brain, the new research shows, inequality seems to be the norm. About 85 percent of genes in the dorsal raphe nucleus, known for secreting the mood-controlling chemical serotonin, differentially activate their maternal and paternal gene copies. Ten days later in the juvenile brain, the landscape shifts, with both copies being activated equally for all but 10 percent of genes.

Continue reading “Playing favorites: Brain cells prefer one parent’s gene over the other’s” »

BMI is coming fast and will replace many devices we have today. Advances we making in deep brain development are huge markers that pushes the BMI needle forward for the day when IoT, Security, and big data analytics is a human brain’s and a secured Quantum Infrastructure and people (not servers sitting somewhere) owns and manages their most private of information. I love calling it the age of people empowerment as well as singularity.

Small study in 16 people suggests technique is safe and might help improve mood, anxiety and wellbeing, while increasing weight.

Deep brain stimulation might alter the brain circuits that drive anorexia nervosa symptoms and help improve patients’ mental and physical health, according to a small study published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Continue reading “Deep brain stimulation for patients with chronic anorexia is safe and might improve symptoms” »

There is way more coming in BMI.

Researcher Dr. Luan and his interdisciplinary team from the University of Texas at Austin have developed an ultra flexible nanoelectronic thread (NET) that has the potential to offer a new type of the long-term neural implants. Neural probes are used to directly measure or even stimulate electrical activity in specific regions of the brain. However, despite the many advances in the field, issues with biocompatibility have limited the prospects and usefulness of the technology. Conventional probes induce scarring around the implant over time, which in turn increasingly impairs the devices’ ability to measure electrical impulses. This scarring is a result of conventional probes’ width, material, and lack of flexibility.

Due to the micrometer dimensions of the NET and its insulation, the implant doesn’t trigger the development of scar tissue and continues working for months at a time. Publishing in the journal Science Advances, the researchers describe the NET from 7 nm nanoprobes layered together and two to three layers of insulation. The layers together total to about 1 µm in thickness, which grants the probe flexibility that is almost 1000 times greater than conventional probes. This flexibility allows the device to remain in place without hindering the movement of or displacing surrounding tissue.

Continue reading “Nano Thread Enables Scientists to Extend Length of Brain Implant Efficacy” »

When Jan Scheuermann volunteered for an experimental brain implant, she had no idea she was making neuroscience history.

Scheuermann, 54 at the time of surgery, had been paralyzed for 14 years due to a neurological disease that severed the neural connections between her brain and muscles. She could still feel her body, but couldn’t move her limbs.

Unwilling to give up, Scheuermann had two button-sized electrical implants inserted into her motor cortex. The implants tethered her brain to a robotic arm through two bunches of cables that protruded out from her skull.

Continue reading “New Tech Makes Brain Implants Safer and Super Precise” »

A three-photon microscopic video of neurons in a mouse brain. The imaging depth is approximately 1 millimeter below the surface of the brain. The firing of the neurons is captured by an indicator that is based on green fluorescent protein GFP, which glows brighter as the neuron sends a signal.

Nearly four years ago, then-President Obama launched the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative, to “accelerate the development and application of new technologies that will enable researchers to produce dynamic pictures of the brain.”

Several of the program’s initial funding awards went to Cornell’s Chris Xu, the Mong Family Foundation Director of Cornell Neurotech – Engineering, and professor and director of undergraduate studies in applied and engineering physics. Xu’s projects aimed to develop new imaging techniques to achieve large scale, noninvasive imaging of neuronal activity.

Continue reading “Group develops deep, non-invasive imaging of mouse brain” »

Green: NAc-projecting prefrontal cortex neurons become active during the presentation of a reward-predictive cue, and this activity drives reward-seeking behavior. Purple: PVT-projecting prefrontal cortex neurons inhibited during reward-predictive cue. Credit: The Stuber Lab (UNC School of Medicine)

The prefrontal cortex, a large and recently evolved structure that wraps the front of the brain, has powerful “executive” control over behavior, particularly in humans. The details of how it exerts that control have been elusive, but UNC School of Medicine scientists, publishing today in Nature, have now uncovered some of those details, using sophisticated techniques for recording and controlling the activity of neurons in live mice.

Got OCD; check your genes for a mutation.

A new Northwestern Medicine study found evidence suggesting how neural dysfunction in a certain region of the brain can lead to obsessive and repetitive behaviors much like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Both in humans and in mice, there is a circuit in the brain called the corticostriatal connection that regulates habitual and repetitive actions. The study found certain synaptic receptors are important for the development of this brain circuit. If these receptors are eliminated in mice, they exhibit obsessive behavior, such as over-grooming.

Continue reading “OCD-like behavior linked to genetic mutation, study finds” »

A new and extensive interview I did at New Atlas, including ideas about my #libertarian California Governor run. Libertarianism has many good ideas, but two core concepts are the non-aggression principle (NAP) and protection of private property rights—both of which I believe can be philosophically applied to the human body (and the body’s inevitable transhuman destiny of overcoming disease and decay with science and technology):

Zoltan Istvan is a transhumanist, journalist, politician, writer and libertarian. He is also running for Governor of California for the Libertarian Party on a platform pushing science and technology to the forefront of political discourse. In recent years, the movement of transhumanism has moved from a niche collection of philosophical ideals and anarcho-punk gestures into a mainstream political movement. Istvan has become the popular face of this movement after running for president in 2016 on a dedicated transhumanist platform.

We caught up with Istvan to chat about how transhumanist ideals can translate into politics, how technology is going to change us as humans and the dangers in not keeping up with new innovations, such as genetic editing.

Continue reading “Zoltan Istvan on transhumanism, politics and why the human body has to go” »