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Why Different Neuron Parts Learn Differently?

To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/ArtemKirsanov. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

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My name is Artem, I’m a graduate student at NYU Center for Neural Science and researcher at Flatiron Institute. In this video we explore a recent study published in Science, which revealed that different compartments of pyramidal neurons (apical vs basal dendrites) use different plasticity rules for learning.

Link to the paper:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads4706

Outline:
00:00 Introduction.
01:23 Synaptic transmission.
06:09 Molecular machinery of LTP
08:40 Hebbian plasticity.
11:21 Non-Hebbian plasticity.
12:51 Hypothesis.
14:42 Experimental methods.
17:10 Result: compartmentalized plasticity.
19:30 Interpretation.
22:01 Brilliant.
23:08 Outro.

Music by Artlist.

Continue reading “Why Different Neuron Parts Learn Differently?” | >

“We Might Be Seeing a New Force”: Physicists Detect Possible Fifth Law of Nature Hidden Deep Inside Atomic Structures

IN A NUTSHELL 🔬 Physicists from Germany, Switzerland, and Australia have identified potential evidence of a mysterious fifth force within atoms. 📏 The discovery challenges the Standard Model of physics, which traditionally categorizes forces into four main types. 🧩 Researchers propose the existence of a hypothetical Yukawa particle that could mediate this new force within

The future of engineering biology — with Angela McLean

Join Dame Angela McLean, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, as she discusses the transformative potential of the field of engineering biology.

This Discourse was recorded at the Ri on 25 April 2025. Find out more about Discourses here: https://www.rigb.org/explore-science/explore/blog/history-fr…-discourse.

Watch the Q&A here (exclusively for subscribers): https://youtu.be/GKRTtoEpFeI
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The field of engineering biology uses the whole span of biological sciences in conjunction with technology and engineering to benefit multiple sectors and our society more broadly.

But as a relatively new field, scientists still have many unanswered questions. What are the key opportunities and risks it presents? What barriers stand in the way of engineering biology revolutionising society?

Dame Angela McLean, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, has been considering the scientific evidence behind the many claims – both utopian and dystopian – associated with research and innovation in engineering biology. In this Discourse, Dame Angela shares what she has learned from her “Year of Engineering Biology”, describing her vision for this suite of technologies and the applications she expects to emerge over the next decade and beyond.

Continue reading “The future of engineering biology — with Angela McLean” | >

The Future Mind — A Conversation with Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Alex Gómez-Marin

A Conversation between Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Àlex Gómez-Marín.

The conversation will explore “a landscape of consciousness”, toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications.

In 2024, Àlex will curate and host conversations to address The Future Mind, seeking to gain clarity and insight into important contemporary matters that require both urgent action as well as deep reflection.

Recorded January 31, 2024

Healthy lifestyle linked to lower diverticulitis risk, irrespective of genetic susceptibility

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle—specifically, a diet rich in fiber but light on red/processed meat, regular exercise, not smoking, and sticking to a normal weight—is linked to a significantly lower risk of diverticulitis, finds a large long-term study, published online in the journal Gut.

What’s more, these five components seem to offset the effects of inherited genes, the findings indicate.

Diverticulitis occurs when “pouches” develop along the gut and become inflamed or infected in the wall of the large intestine (colon), explain the researchers. It’s a common cause of hospital admissions and a major reason for emergency colon surgery, they add.

Brain tumor growth patterns may help inform patient care management

As brain tumors grow, they must do one of two things: push against the brain or use finger-like extensions to invade and destroy surrounding tissue.

Previous research found that tumors that push—or put mechanical force on the brain—cause more neurological dysfunction than tumors that destroy tissue. But what else can these different tactics of tumor growth tell us?

Now, the same team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston University has developed a technique for measuring a brain tumor’s mechanical force and a new model to estimate how much brain tissue a patient has lost. Published in Clinical Cancer Research, the study explains how these measurements may help inform patient care and be adopted into surgeons’ daily workflow.

Super-resolution imaging reveals the first step of planet formation after star birth

Identifying the formation period of planetary systems, such as our solar system, could be the beginning of the journey to discover the origin of life. The key to this is the unique substructures found in protoplanetary disks—the sites of planet formation.

A protoplanetary disk is composed of low-temperature molecular gas and dust, surrounding a protostar. If a planet exists in the disk, its gravity will gather or eject materials within the disk, forming characteristic substructures such as rings or spirals. In other words, various disk substructures can be interpreted as “messages” from the forming planets. To study these substructures in detail, high-resolution radio observations with ALMA are required.

Numerous ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks (or circumstellar disks) have been conducted so far. In particular, two ALMA large programs, DSHARP and eDisk, have revealed the detailed distribution of dust in protoplanetary disks through high-resolution observations.