Scientists have established how the activity of our brain during imaginary movement differs from that during real action. It turns out that in both cases, a previous signal occurs in the cerebral cortex, but with an imaginary movement, it does not have a clear link to a specific hemisphere.
The obtained data can potentially be used in medical practice to create neuro trainers and control the restoration of neural networks in post-stroke patients. The results of the study are published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
Before we pick up a pen or put down a cup, a complete picture of this action is formed in the brain. Such visual–motor transformations ensure the accuracy of our movements. Knowing about these mechanisms helps patients to restore motor activity after strokes. But we don’t always finish the movement we started. In this case, visual information enters the motor areas of the cortex responsible for movement, but the start of the reaction is blocked at some point, and mental effort does not end with real muscle activation.
Primates are among the most intelligent creatures with distinct cognitive abilities. Their brains are relatively large in relation to their body stature and have a complex structure. However, how the brain has developed over the course of evolution and which genes are responsible for the high cognitive abilities is still largely unclear. The better our understanding of the role of genes in brain development, the more likely it will be that we will be able to develop treatments for serious brain diseases.
Researchers are approaching these questions by knocking out or activating individual genes and thus drawing conclusions about their role in brain development. To avoid animal experiments as far as possible, brain organoids are used as an alternative. These three-dimensional cell structures, which are only a few millimeters in size, reflect different stages of brain development and can be genetically modified. However, such modifications are usually very complex, lengthy and costly.
Researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ)—Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have now succeeded in genetically manipulating brain organoids quickly and effectively. The procedure requires only a few days instead of the usual several months and can be used for organoids of different primate species. The brain organoids thus enable comparative studies of the function of genes at early stages of brain development in primates and help to better understand neurological diseases.
Optogenetics 2020 Webinar
Posted in genetics
Microsoft has big plans for generative AI in gaming, and its recent Xbox partnership with Inworld AI is a key example.
Non-playable characters in video games play key roles but stick to stiff scripts. Gen AI should open up their minds and your gaming world experience.
Think of it like a flying Blastoise robot that could be ready for action in the next decade.
Thanks in part to Elon Musk, the field of brain-computer interfaces has captured both public and investor interest, with a cadre of companies now developing implantable devices.
Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bearish approach towards CRISPR Therapeutics CRSP, and it’s something market players shouldn’t ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in CRSP usually suggests something big is about to happen.
We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga’s options scanner highlighted 11 extraordinary options activities for CRISPR Therapeutics. This level of activity is out of the ordinary.
The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 45% leaning bullish and 54% bearish. Among these notable options, 2 are puts, totaling $98,000, and 9 are calls, amounting to $744,659.
East Antarctica’s Conger ice shelf – a floating platform the size of Rome – broke off the continent on March 15, 2022. Since the beginning of satellite observations in the 1970s, the tip of the shelf had been disintegrating into icebergs in a series of what glaciologists call calving events.
Conger was already reduced to a 50km-long and 20km-wide strip attached to Antarctica’s vast continental ice sheet at one end and the ice-covered Bowman Island at the other. Two calving events on March 5 and 7 reduced it further, detaching it from Bowman and precipitating its final collapse a week later.
The world’s largest ice shelves fringe Antarctica, extending its ice sheet into the frigid Southern Ocean. Smaller ice shelves are found where continental ice meets the sea in Greenland, northern Canada and the Russian Arctic. By restraining how much the grounded ice flows upstream, they can control the loss of ice from the interior of the sheet into the ocean. When an ice shelf like Conger is lost, the grounded ice once kept behind the shelf may start to flow faster as the restraining force of the ice shelf is lost, resulting in more ice tumbling into the ocean.