Characterizing the intelligence of biological organisms is challenging yet crucial. This paper demonstrates the capacity of canonical neural networks to autonomously generate diverse intelligent algorithms by leveraging an equivalence between concepts from three areas of cognitive computation: neural network-based dynamical systems, statistical inference, and Turing machines.
Physicist Richard Lieu first explored the idea that gravity could exist without mass—now he’s got a new cosmological model that eschews the need for dark energy.
Neuroscientists have uncovered distinct brain structure patterns linked to authoritarian beliefs on both sides of the political spectrum.
Researchers in optics and brain and cognitive science are investigating whether neurons can transmit light in a manner similar to fiber-optic communication channels. Neurons, specialized cells in the brain and spinal cord that form the central nervous system, are known to communicate through elec
The newly discovered SLYM membrane segregates clean and dirty CSF, supporting the brain’s immune defenses and glymphatic system, paving the way for targeted treatments and deeper understanding of brain diseases. The human brain, with its intricacies ranging from neural networks to fundamental bio
Human brains make synaptic connections throughout much of childhood, and the brain’s plasticity enables humans to slowly wire them based upon experiences, contrary to how chimpanzees develop. Humans and chimpanzees share 98.8% of the same genes, but scientists have been looking for what drives the unique cognitive and social skills of humans.
A new study, which was published today in Genome Research, that examined brain samples from humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, collected from birth up to the end of their life span, has found some key differences between the expression of genes that control the development and function of synapses, which are the connections between neurons through which information flows.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics are studying how different brain regions cooperate during memory. While testing monkeys with images for visual stimulation, they recorded electrical activity both in a visual area and in the frontal part of the brain. Their research
High-precision brain mapping reveals new memory networks, shedding light on evolution and Alzheimer’s disease. The medial temporal lobe (MTL) houses the human memory system. Broadly, it contains the hippocampus, parahippocampal cortex, perirhinal cortex, and entorhinal cortex. One big challen
Using the STED microscopy developed by Stephan Hell, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry recorded the first ever detailed live images inside the brain of a living mouse. By using a technique that keeps closely-positioned elements dark under a special laser beam so that
A team of neuroscientists at the School of Medicine at UCLA have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating the entorhinal cortex. While studying patients with electrodes implanted in their brains, the researchers used a video game to test whether deep-brain stimul
