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Scientists have identified special types of brain cells that may allow us to simulate the decision-making processes of others, thereby reconstructing their state of mind and predicting their intentions. Dysfunction in these ‘simulation neurons’ may help explain difficulties with social interactions in conditions such as autism and social anxiety.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge identified the previously-unknown neuron type, which they say actively and spontaneously simulates mental decision processes when social partners learn from one another.

The study, published today in Cell, suggests that these newly-termed ‘simulation neurons’ — found in the amygdala, a collection of nerve cells in the temporal lobe of the brain — allow animals (and potentially also humans) to reconstruct their social partner’s state of mind and thereby predict their intentions.

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Presents its list of the top 30 FemTech Influencers, whose efforts in the FemTech Healthcare, FemTech Preventive Medicine and FemTech Longevity sectors have helped to grow the industry to its current state of maturity.

Jill Angelo genneve Elina Berglund Natural Cycles Starling Bank Tania Boler Elvie Ghela Boskovich Judith Campisi Adia Femtech Collective Dame Products EMBR Robin Starbuck Farmanfarmaian Cora Lifestyle Angie Lee Janet Lieberman Nuala Murphy Moment.Health Elena Mustatea Bold Health Anastasia Georgievskaya Haut.AI Maven Clinic THINX Nicole Shanahan Clearaccessip, Inc. Tammy Sun Ida Tin

Link to the Report: https://www.aginganalytics.com/femtech-healthcare-q1-2019

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When NASA set out to study identical twin astronauts, leaving one on Earth and sending the other to the International Space Station (ISS) for a year, they expected that the rigours of microgravity would have largely negative impacts.

But on board the ISS, Scott Kelly, 51, underwent a very strange transformation which has left scientists scratching their heads.

The telomeres in his white blood cells got longer. Telomeres are the protective caps which sit at the end of chromosomes, protecting the DNA inside, like the plastic aglets on the end of shoelaces.

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A new study from the Army Research Lab may help AI-infused weapons and tools better understand their human operators.

In World War II, the Allies had a big problem. Germany’s new bombers moved too quickly for the anti-aircraft methods of the previous war, in which soldiers used range tables and hand calculations to line up their guns. Mathematician Norbert Wiener had a theory: the only way to defeat the German aircraft was to merge the gun and its human operators — not physically but perceptually, through instruments. As Weiner explained in the video below, that meant “either a human interpretation of the machine, or a machine interpretation of the operator, or both.” This was the only way to get the gun to fire a round on target — not where the plane was but where it was going to be. This theoretical merger of human and machine gave rise to the field of cybernetics, derived from the Greek term cyber, to steer, and the English term net, for network.

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Ultra-secure online communications, completely indecipherable if intercepted, is one step closer with the help of a recently published discovery by University of Oregon physicist Ben Alemán.

Alemán, a member of the UO’s Center for Optical, Molecular, and Quantum Science, has made artificial atoms that work in ambient conditions. The research, published in the journal Nano Letters, could be a big step in efforts to develop secure communication networks and all-optical quantum computing.

“The big breakthrough is that we’ve discovered a simple, scalable way to nanofabricate artificial atoms onto a microchip, and that the artificial atoms work in air and at ,” said Alemán, also a member of the UO’s Materials Science Institute.

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