Lifeboat Foundation

Ray Kurzweil on the Law of accelerating returns:

Ray Kurzweil: Acceleration of technology is the implication of what I call the law of accelerating returns. The nature of technological progress is exponential. If I count linearly 30 steps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… I get to 30. If I count exponentially: 2, 4, 8, 16… 30 steps later I’m at a billion. It makes a dramatic difference.

Continue reading “Transcendent Man: The Law of Accelerating Returns” »

Many of us have seen microscopic images of neurons in the brain — each neuron appearing as a glowing cell in a vast sea of blackness. This image is misleading: Neurons don’t exist in isolation. In the human brain, some 86 billion neurons form 100 trillion connections to each other — numbers that, ironically, are far too large for the human brain to fathom.

Wei-Chung Allen Lee, Harvard Medical School associate professor of neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital, is working in a new field of neuroscience called connectomics, which aims to comprehensively map connections between neurons in the brain.

Scientists who watched nerve cells connect inside the eyes of growing squid have uncovered a remarkable secret — the cephalopods’ brains independently evolved to develop in the same way ours do.

.The discovery, made using high-resolution cameras focused on the retinas of longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) embryos, reveals that, in spite of 500 million years of divergent evolution, the basic blueprint for how complex brains and nervous systems evolve may be the same across a wide range of species.

The intelligence of cephalopods — a class of marine animals that includes octopuses, squid and cuttlefish — has long been a subject of fascination among biologists. Unlike most invertebrates, these animals possess remarkable memories; use tools to solve problems; excel at camouflage; react with curiosity, boredom or even playful malevolence to their surroundings; and can dream, if the ripples of colors that flash across their skin as they sleep are any indication.

Continue reading “Squid and human brains develop the same way despite diverging 500 million years ago” »

Excessive fear is a hallmark of anxiety disorders, a major cause of disease burden worldwide. Substantial evidence supports a role of prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuits in the regulation of fear and anxiety, but the molecular mechanisms that regulate their activity remain poorly understood. Here, we show that downregulation of the histone methyltransferase PRDM2 in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex enhances fear expression by modulating fear memory consolidation. We further show that Prdm2 knock-down (KD) in neurons that project from the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex to the basolateral amygdala (dmPFC-BLA) promotes increased fear expression. Prdm2 KD in the dmPFC-BLA circuit also resulted in increased expression of genes involved in synaptogenesis, suggesting that Prdm2 KD modulates consolidation of conditioned fear by modifying synaptic strength at dmPFC-BLA projection targets.

𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡!

𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐳𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫’𝐬

𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙑𝙞𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙘 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙖𝙪 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙞𝙣, 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙡𝙯𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨.

Continue reading “UVA Solves Mysteries About Leading Biomarker for Alzheimer’s” »

Insightfulness might play a critical role in the ability to assess the accuracy of information, according to new research published in the journal Thinking & Reasoning. The study found that people with greater insight-based problem solving skills were less likely to fall for fake news.

With rise of the internet and social media, susceptibility to misinformation has become of increasing concern. The authors of the new research sought to better understand the cognitive mechanisms associated with believing in misinformation. They were particularly interested in the role of insight-based problem solving.

“I’m a neuroscientist and study the neural correlates of creativity and idea generation, specifically how we generate ideas accompanied by ‘Aha! moments’ i.e., insights,” said study author Carola Salvi, a professor at the John Cabot University of Rome and an associate faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin. “In this study, we investigated the relationship between insightfulness and aspects of social reasoning, such as believing in fake news, overclaiming, and bullshit.”

𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 — 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝘼 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 (𝙐𝘾𝙇) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙨 (𝙐𝘾𝙇𝙃) 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 — 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙁𝙡𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙄𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙄𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮.

A team led by University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) researchers has mapped the parts of the brain that support our ability to solve problems without prior experience – otherwise known as fluid intelligence.

Continue reading “Brain Area Necessary for Fluid Intelligence Identified — Defining Feature of Human Cognition” »

A variety of healthy eating patterns are linked to reduced risk of premature death, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers. They found that participants who scored high on adherence to at least one of four healthy eating patterns were less likely to die during the study period from any cause and less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, cancer, or respiratory disease, compared with people with lower scores. The findings are consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for America, which recommend multiple healthy eating patterns.

“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are intended to provide science-based dietary advice that promotes good health and reduces major chronic diseases. Thus, it is critical to examine the associations between DGAs-recommended dietary patterns and long-term health outcomes, especially mortality,” said corresponding author Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Nutrition.

The study will be published online January 9, 2023, in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Modern humans have a youthful brain, and this “Peter Pan syndrome” is also seen in Neanderthals.

Many believe our particularly large brain is what makes us human — but is there more to it? The brain’s shape, as well as the shapes of its component parts (lobes) may also be important.