This presentation is clipped from a virtual keynote Jeff was invited to give on December 16.Numenta technology is built on the Thousand Brains Theory, our se…
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10 Interesting Scientific Discoveries for April of 2026
An exploration of ten of the most interesting scientific discoveries for April of 2026.
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Beyond Paradox | Iain McGilchrist
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
— Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2
The two hemispheres of our brain collaborate to produce a coherent understanding of the world—at least, that’s what they’re supposed to do. In his groundbreaking book, The Master and His Emissary, neuro-philosopher and psychiatrist, Iain McGilchrist, proposed that our culture has been captured by the left hemisphere, whose dogmatic, technical and irrational way of processing information leads it to manifestly dangerous conclusions about the way the world works. Importantly, the left hemisphere never changes its mind.
In one of the widest conversations on Planet: Critical to date, Iain explains how we came to lose sight of the bigger picture by forsaking the intuition, creativity and intelligence of the right hemisphere. We discuss how our relationship to language makes and unmakes the world, the search for meaning, human agency, relationality, morality, art and the divine, with Iain clearly spelling out a path to human fulfilment—which may very well be the only thing which can save Earth from the worst of us.
🔴 The Master and His Emissary: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/master… Platformed: Charles Foster 🌎 Support Planet: Critical: / planetcritical 🌎 Subscribe: https://planetcritical.com/ 🌎 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/racheldonald…
🗣️ Platformed: Charles Foster
Gene Therapy Pioneers Win 2026 Breakthrough Prize
Genetic diseases impact almost 70–80 million people worldwide. Oftentimes, there are limited treatments that doctors can provide, leaving patients with few interventions to manage symptoms.
Recently, though, gene therapy has completely shifted the potential to care for many diseases. Advances in knowledge of responsible genes and nucleic acid technology have revolutionized the ability to specifically edit regions of the genome to correct mutations.
Today (April 18), the Breakthrough Prize Foundation awarded the Life Sciences prize to two teams of five researchers who pioneered gene therapies for two different types of genetic diseases. Physician scientist Jean Bennett, retinal surgeon Albert Maguire, and physician scientist Katherine High from the University of Pennsylvania developed a treatment to cure retinal blindness that is currently in use in the US, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. Separately, clinical investigator Swee Lay Thein, now at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, tracked down the gene responsible for continued production of fetal hemoglobin in beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease and, with the help of physician scientist Stuart Orkin at Harvard University, brought this finding from the bench to the bedside.
A brain reward circuit inhibited by next-generation weight-loss drugs in mice
New research using humanized mouse models has finally pulled back the curtain on how these small-molecule drugs work in the brain, revealing that they don’t just tell the body it’s full—they actually change how we perceive “treats.”
1. The Homeostatic Circuit: This is the body’s fuel gauge. It involves the hypothalamus and hindbrain, which manage basic hunger and energy levels. It’s the circuit that tells you, “I’ve had enough calories for today.”
These new weight-loss pills do more than just settle your stomach; they speak directly to the brain’s reward center to help quiet the “food noise” that leads to overeating.
This is a “proof of concept” study. It proves the mechanism exists, but it doesn’t yet guarantee that a pill will be a side-effect-free “cure” for overeating in humans.
Humanized glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1R) mouse models are used to investigate the neural circuitry through which small-molecule GLP1R agonists modulate feeding, with implications for how these orally delivered weight-loss drugs engage brain reward circuits.
Nanotechnology-Driven Therapeutic Innovations in Neurodegenerative Disorders: A Focus on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease
Neurodegenerative disorders entail a progressive loss of neurons in cerebral and peripheral tissues, coupled with the aggregation of proteins exhibiting altered physicochemical properties. Crucial to these conditions is the gradual degradation of the central nervous system, manifesting as impairments in mobility, aberrant behaviors, and cognitive deficits. Mechanisms such as proteotoxic stress, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and programmed cell death contribute to the ongoing dysfunction and demise of neurons. Presently, neurodegenerative diseases lack definitive cures, and available therapies primarily offer palliative relief. The integration of nanotechnology into medical practices has significantly augmented both treatment efficacy and diagnostic capabilities.
Researchers discover advanced language processing in the unconscious human brain
Baylor College of Medicine researchers have found that the human brain is capable of sophisticated language processing while in an unconscious state from general anesthesia. The findings, published in the latest edition of Nature, challenge what we know about the role of consciousness and cognition, and could open new ways of understanding memory, language and brain-computer interfaces.
“Our findings show that the brain is far more active and capable during unconsciousness than previously thought,” said Dr. Sameer Sheth, professor and Cullen Foundation Endowed chair of neurosurgery and a McNair Scholar at Baylor. “Even when patients are fully anesthetized, their brains continue to analyze the world around them.”
Sheth, who is also a neurosurgeon at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and his collaborators first recorded neural activity from hundreds of individual neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with memory, while patients were under general anesthesia during epilepsy surgery. Patients undergoing this type of surgery were sought after because it allowed researchers access to this particular part of the brain.
A new way coronaviruses can get into human cells
CcCoV-KY43 is found in heart-nosed bats, or Cardioderma cor, an ecologically important species found mainly in eastern Africa, including eastern Sudan and northern Tanzania.
The researchers say the zoonotic (animal-to-human) and pandemic potential of alphaCoVs has remained relatively unchartered – to date, only two cellular receptors have been characterized for alphaCoVs.
They screened the CcCoV-KY43 spike against a panel of human receptors, identified direct interactions with the human CEACAM proteins CEACAM3, CEACAM5 and CEACAM6. Overexpression of human CEACAM6—a protein widely expressed in the human lung—conferred permissivity to otherwise refractory human cells.
During the study, partners provided specific expertise. They identified CcCoV-KY43’s ability to infect human cells and confirmed CEACAM6 supports human cell entry.
They measured how strongly CEACAM6 binds to the spike, and solved the spike structure and receptor binding in atomic detail. They showed that the RBD binds the amino-terminal IgV-like domain of human CEACAM6.
They also made initial CcCov detection in bats and mapped it across Kenya, and showed where CEACAM6s is expressed in the human body, testing serum from people living in CcCoV areas to see if they might have previously been infected by CcCoV-KY43.
Efficacy and Safety of Amifampridine in Myasthenia GravisA Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial
Class I evidence that in patients with AChRAb+ myasthenia gravis, the addition of amifampridine to pyridostigmine was not superior to treatment with pyridostigmine alone and was associated with a higher incidence of adverse events.
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