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Feb 10, 2021

Soft subdermal implant capable of wireless battery charging and programmable controls for applications in optogenetics

Posted by in categories: genetics, neuroscience

Although wireless optogenetic technologies enable brain circuit investigation in freely moving animals, existing devices have limited their full potential, requiring special power setups. Here, the authors report fully implantable optogenetic systems that allow intervention-free wireless charging and controls for operation in any environment.

Feb 10, 2021

Single-neuronal predictions of others’ beliefs in humans

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Recordings of cells in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex identify a population of neurons that encode information about others’ beliefs and distinguish them from self-belief-related representations, providing insight into cellular-level processing underlying human theory of mind.

Feb 10, 2021

Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Despite great advances in the field of intensive care, when patients survive a severe.

Brain injury but remain in a chronic Vegetative State (VS) or Minimally Conscious.

State (MCS) (i.e., a disorder of consciousness; DOC), little can be done to promote.

Continue reading “Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness” »

Feb 10, 2021

Central Regulation of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Is Mediated by AgRP Neurons

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics, neuroscience

Circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are elevated in obesity and diabetes, and recent studies support a causal role for BCAAs in insulin resistance and defective glycemic control. The physiological mechanisms underlying BCAA regulation are poorly understood. Here we show that insulin signaling in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) of rats is mandatory for lowering plasma BCAAs, most probably by inducing hepatic BCAA catabolism. Insulin receptor deletion only in agouti-related protein (AgRP)–expressing neurons (AgRP neurons) in the MBH impaired hepatic BCAA breakdown and suppression of plasma BCAAs during hyperinsulinemic clamps in mice. In support of this, chemogenetic stimulation of AgRP neurons in the absence of food significantly raised plasma BCAAs and impaired hepatic BCAA degradation.

Feb 10, 2021

Seeking the “Beauty Center” in the Brain: A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies of Beautiful Human Faces and Visual Art

Posted by in category: neuroscience

During the past two decades, cognitive neuroscientists have sought to elucidate the common neural basis of the experience of beauty. Still, empirical evidence for such common neural basis of different forms of beauty is not conclusive. To address this question, we performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on the existing neuroimaging studies of beauty appreciation of faces and visual art by nonexpert adults (49 studies, 982 participants, meta-data are available at https://osf.io/s9xds/). We observed that perceiving these two forms of beauty activated distinct brain regions: While the beauty of faces convergently activated the left ventral striatum, the beauty of visual art convergently activated the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC). However, a conjunction analysis failed to reveal any common brain regions for the beauty of visual art and faces.

Feb 10, 2021

Inside Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Feb 10, 2021

China’s first space station module is ready for flight

Posted by in category: space travel

Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to visit module also passes review.

Feb 10, 2021

How US Grid Operators Plan To Tackle Energy Storage at Gigawatt Scale

Posted by in category: energy

Batteries and hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects will be a massive grid resource. Transmission grids and energy markets will need to adapt.

Feb 10, 2021

SpaceX to Fly First Civilian Crew to Space!!

Posted by in category: space travel

COOl.

Feb 10, 2021

Welcome to Mars! UAE’s Hope probe enters orbit around Red Planet

Posted by in category: satellites

“The spacecraft, dubbed Hope, launched July 192020, atop a Japanese H-IIA rocket, then spent seven months trekking to the Red Planet. Today (Feb. 9), Hope needed to fire its thrusters for nearly half an hour straight to slow down enough to slip into orbit around the Red Planet, from 75000 mph to 11000 mph (121000 kph to 18000 kph). Mission personnel on the ground could only watch what happened and hope for the best. “This has been a remarkable journey of humanity,” UAE Space Agency chairperson Sarah Al Amiri said during preparations for the orbital insertion maneuver. With the successful Mars orbit insertion, the UAE becomes the fifth entity to reach the Red Planet, joining NASA, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency and India. Today’s success also puts the $200 million Hope spacecraft on the bright side of grim Mars mission statistics: About half of flights to the Red Planet fail.”


The milestone comes little more than a decade after the country launched its first satellite.