Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: neuroscience – Page 912

Both Kurzweil and the 2045 program have predicted the state of machine-human singularity being achieved by 2045, but what are the methods of achieving such an end and what are the consequences of doing so?

Herodotus’s Fountain of Youth. Rowling’s Philosopher’s Stone. Barrie’s Neverland. Ovid’s Cumaean Sibyl. The idea of immortality has been ingrained in humanity’s creative consciousness since our humble beginnings. In the present day, eternal youth may soon move out of the realms of myth and into a reality thanks to developing technologies.

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Drinking water and brain function are integrally linked. Lack of water to the brain can cause numerous symptoms including problems with focus, memory, brain fatigue and brain fog, as well as headaches, sleep issues, anger, depression, and many more…

Over 70 percent of your body is composed of water and every function in the body is dependent on water, including the activities of the brain and nervous system.

water-important-for-brain

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Researchers have recently discovered two different types of memory use completely different processes in the same nerves, opening the way for a new pharmaceutical solution for treating anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The find challenges earlier research that had suggested memories of traumatic events used the same nerves in the same ways, making them impossible to physically distinguish.

A team of scientists from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and McGill University analysed neurons from a marine snail called an Aplysia in order to test a hypothesis explaining why memories of incidents surrounding a bad experience can themselves trigger anxiety.

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When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What’s going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians’ brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

Did you know that every time musicians pick up their instruments, there are fireworks going off all over their brain? On the outside, they may look calm and focused, reading the music and making the precise and practiced movements required. But inside their brains, there’s a party going on. How do we know this?

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As we age the brain loses its flexibility, this in turn affects our ability to learn, to remember things and adapt to new situations. The classic theme is of an older person who is stuck in a rut and unable to change how they think.

This is also a common concern people raise when any discussion of healthy longer lives are mentioned. The concern is that we would have a world of people living more decades and becoming so set in their ways that society would stagnate.

However, many proponents of rejuvenation biotechnology refute this and suggest that mental plasticity could be rejuvenated just the same as cells and tissues could be. The new study we will discuss today offers us a hint of what might be possible, although the focus here is specifically on the visual cortex[1].

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When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine — an overload of sugar spikes dopamine levels and leaves you craving more.

With this video prepared by TED-Ed, Nicole Avena explains why sweets and treats should be enjoyed in moderation.

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