neuroscience – Page 381 – Lifeboat News: The Blog

04.30.
2017

DARPA Funds Brain-Stimulation Research to Speed Learning

DARPA announced the Targeted Neuroplasticity Training, or TNT, program last March, and work now has begun on the effort to discover the safest and most effective ways to activate a natural process called “synaptic plasticity.”

Plasticity is the brain’s ability to strengthen or weaken its neural connections to adapt to changes in the environment. For TNT Program Manager Dr. Doug Weber, such plasticity is about learning.

“We’re talking about neural plasticity, or how the neurons, which are the working units in the brain, how their function changes over time as we train on new skills,” he said during a recent interview with DoD News.

04.29.
2017

Language Rewires Our Brain

04.29.
2017

A New Study Challenges Assumptions About How Memories Are Made

Memory might form simultaneously in the hippocampus and the cortex, but remain “silent” in the cortex for several weeks before maturing.

04.29.
2017

Parkinson’s linked to gut bacteria

For the first time, researchers have found a functional link between the bacteria in the gut and the onset of Parkinson’s disease, one of the world’s most common debilitating brain disorders.

A team of scientists from several institutions in the United States and Europe showed how changing the bacteria in the guts of mice affected the manifestation of Parkinson’s symptoms — even including bacteria taken from the guts of humans with the disease.

The findings suggest a new way of treating the disease: The best target for treatment may be the gut, rather than the brain. The researchers hope the new information can be used to develop “next generation” probiotics, more sophisticated than the sort of probiotics found on the shelves of health food stores today.

04.28.
2017

This doctor plans to perform a human head transplant this year

Sergio Canavero, a controversial professor and neurosurgeon, wants to perform the first human head transplant in December.

He told German magazine OOOM that the procedure will take place in China. According to the Observer, it will take 80 surgeons, 36 hours and $10 million to execute.

Like a sci-fi tale come to life, Canavero, who’s also the former director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, claims that people whose brains have been cryogenically frozen could be revived within three years.

04.27.
2017

Research is underway on the Targeted Neuroplasticity Training program

Yesterday DARPA announced it is funding eight teams led by seven universities to perform the fundamental science and technological development that may help us reach our goal of delivering a 30% improvement in the rate at which people can learn new cognitive skills.

The teams are led by: Arizona State University Johns Hopkins University University of Florida University of Maryland The University of Texas at Dallas University of Wisconsin-Madison Wright State University.

04.25.
2017

Hybrid Intelligence: Coupling AI and the Human Brain

Even our most imaginative expectations of AI are only primitive — but as neuroscience understands the brain more deeply, it will unlock the full potential of hybrid intelligence.

04.25.
2017

Possible approach for treating Alzheimer’s

Quercetin may be able to influence apoE and could be a potential therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Apolipoprotein E connection

shutterstock_597654143 The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease and as the average life expectancy has risen in recent decades so has the occurrence of this and other neurodegenerative diseases. Aging is the primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s and researchers are searching for new ways to combat this devastating disease.

The pathology of Alzheimer’s is characterized by the formation of tau-tangles and the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) which damage neurons and gradually destroy sections of the brain leading to death. The debate over which is primary, tau or amyloid is ongoing and it remains unclear which is the most important of the two, or if both are a consequence of another underlying process.

04.25.
2017

Elon Musk Outlines His Mission to Link Human Brains With Computers in 4 Years

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04.22.
2017

Elon Musk’s new company wants to link human brains with computers in 4 years

Tesla founder and chief executive Elon Musk said his latest company Neuralink is working to link the human brain with computers by creating micron-sized devices.

Neuralink is aiming to bring to the market a product that helps with certain severe brain injuries due to stroke and cancer lesion in about four years, Musk said in an interview with the website Wait But Why on Thursday.

“If I were to communicate a concept to you, you would essentially engage in consensual telepathy,” Musk said in the interview. Neuralink will be Musk’s third company along with Tesla and SpaceX.