In this remarkable conversation, Michael Levin (Tufts University) and Blaise Agüera y Arcas (Google) examine what happens when biology and computation collide at their foundations. Their recent papers—arriving simultaneously yet from distinct intellectual traditions—illuminate how simple rules generate complex behaviors that challenge our understanding of life, intelligence, and agency.
Michael’s \
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Elon Musk is CEO of Neuralink, SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, and CTO of X. DJ Seo is COO & President of Neuralink. Matthew MacDougall is Head Neurosurgeon at Neuralink. Bliss Chapman is Brain Interface Software Lead at Neuralink. Noland Arbaugh is the first human to have a Neuralink device implanted in his brain.
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Synchron has developed a Brain-Computer Interface that uses pre-existing technologies such as the stent and catheter to allow insertion into the brain without the need for open brain surgery.
Read the CNET article for more info:
You Might Not Need Open Brain Surgery to Get Mind Control https://cnet.co/3sZ7k67
0:00 Intro.
0:25 History of Brain Chip Implants.
0:44 About Synchron.
0:54 How Synchron implants the interface.
1:55 How brain patterns transmit signals.
2:50 Risks and Concerns.
3:50 Patients and Clinical Testing.
4:25 Brain Health Monitoring.
5:04 Synchron Switch Price.
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#WhatTheFuture #Synchron #BCI
<p>Neuromorphic computing uses principles from neuroscience to create devices that mimic neural systems, achieving efficient brain-like processing. It combines photonics and neuromorphic architectures for high efficiency and connectivity.</p>
Researchers in China have created the most advanced microprocessor yet made from a two-dimensional material, boasting 5931 transistors crafted from…
The global proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) poses a significant threat to the efficacy of antibiotic-based treatments for diseases. Effective monitoring of ARGs across both spatial and temporal dimensions is essential to understanding their transmission and implementing preventive measures.
A research team has developed a computational tool, Argo, designed to accurately track ARGs in environmental samples, providing insights into their dissemination and associated risks.
“Short-read sequencing method is currently used as a high-throughput DNA sequencing technique that generates large volumes of short DNA fragments, typically 150 base pairs. However, it often fails to provide information on the hosts of ARGs,” explained the senior author. “Without detailed host information, it becomes challenging to accurately assessing the risks of ARGs and tracing their transmission, hindering our understanding of their impact on human health and the environment.”
This week, researchers uncovered the negative pressure mechanisms plants use to communicate stress. Linguists found that the melody of spoken language in English functions as its own, distinct language. And there was also depressing news! Like the Trump administration slashing NASA’s budget, which could scrap the James Webb Space Telescope right at the beginning of its operational life (they’re also pushing to scrap the completed Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope before its launch).
Additionally, researchers found that the video game Dark Souls has positive psychological effects on players; a physicist made a new contribution to the theory that the universe is a computational process; and scientists in Spain mapped the brain connectivity patterns of psychosis patients:
Our brain’s remarkable ability to form and store memories has long fascinated scientists, yet most of the microscopic mechanisms behind memory and learning processes remain a mystery. Recent research points to the importance of biochemical reactions occurring at postsynaptic densities—specialized areas where neurons connect and communicate. These tiny junctions between brain cells are now thought to be crucial sites where proteins need to organize in specific ways to facilitate learning and memory formation.
More specifically, a 2021 study revealed that memory-related proteins can bind together to form droplet-like structures at postsynaptic densities. What makes these structures particularly intriguing is their unique “droplet-inside-droplet” organization, which scientists believe may be fundamental to how our brains create lasting memories. However, understanding exactly how and why such complex protein arrangements form has remained a significant challenge in neuroscience.
Against this backdrop, a research team has developed an innovative computational model that reproduces these intricate protein structures. Their paper, published online in Cell Reports, explores the mechanisms behind the formation of multilayered protein condensates.
An avalanche is caused by a chain reaction of events. A vibration or a change in terrain can have a cascading and devastating impact.
A similar process may happen when living tissues are subject to being pushed or pulled, according to new research published in Nature Communications, by Northeastern University doctoral student Anh Nguyen and supervised by Northeastern physics professor Max Bi.
As theoretical physicists, Bi and Nguyen use computational modeling and mathematics to understand the mechanical processes that organisms undergo on a cellular level. With this more recent work, they have observed that when subjected to sufficient stress, tissues can “suddenly and dramatically rearrange themselves,” similar to how avalanches are formed in the wild.
In 2023, EPFL researchers succeeded in sending and storing data using charge-free magnetic waves called spin waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The team from the Lab of Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Magnonics, led by Dirk Grundler, in the School of Engineering, used radiofrequency signals to excite spin waves enough to reverse the magnetization state of tiny nanomagnets.
When switched from 0 to 1, for example, this allows the nanomagnets to store digital information, a process used in computer memory, and more broadly, in information and communication technologies.
This work was a big step toward sustainable computing, because encoding data via spin waves (whose quasiparticles are called magnons) could eliminate the energy loss, or Joule heating, associated with electron-based devices. But at the time, the spin wave signals could not be used to reset the magnetic bits to overwrite existing data.
