Neuroscience – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Jan 23
2022

Less wattage, more brain power

𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣-𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 (𝘽𝘾𝙄𝙨) 𝙤𝙧 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣-𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 (𝘽𝙈𝙄𝙨) 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. 𝘼𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣, 𝘽𝘾𝙄𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮’𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨. 𝙄𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 & 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 (𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙎) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙔𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙝… See more.

The Neuro-Network.

𝐘𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞:

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

Yale SEAS teams with the Medical School to deliver a faster, more capable brain-implanted device to treat multiple disorders.

Jan 23
2022

Linking brains to computers: how new implants are helping us achieve this goal

Researchers have developed implants small enough to fit inside brain cells.

Jan 23
2022

Brain device records activity in record-breaking detail

Beyond that, the ECoG technology could be developed for use in the emerging field of brain-computer interfaces, which have a huge range of potential applications – from controlling a computer just by thinking, to streaming music directly to your brain.

By uncovering new knowledge about how the brain works, for example, the device could be used to interpret hand motions in new ways utilising brain wave patterns.

Jan 23
2022

2022: The Year in which Virtual Reality goes Mainstream

The Future of Virtual Reality has been shown at CES 2022 in the form of retina display VR Headsets, full body tracking solutions and brain computer interfaces previewing what the future of full dive virtual reality could look like. Companies such as Meta/Facebook, Google, Apple and Valve are all investing millions into making Virtual Reality mainstream and look just like real life.
–
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 A vision into the Future at CES
00:50 Next Generation VR Headsets.
02:29 The Future of VR Hardware.
04:47 VR CPU’s & GPU’s.
07:00 Is the Future of VR Mainstream?
07:48 Last Words.
–
#virtualreality #vr #future

Jan 22
2022

Sex-typical behavior of mice guided by differences in brain’s gene activity

The Neuro-Network.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄

𝐒𝐞𝐱-𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲

𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 1,000 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚-𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚… See more.

Stanford scientists found more than 1,000 gene-activation differences between female and male mice’s brains, plus more than 600 between females in different stages of their reproductive cycle.

Continue reading “Sex-typical behavior of mice guided by differences in brain’s gene activity” | >

Jan 21
2022

Elon Musk nears human testing of brain chip

I wonder if you could use this stuff for brain scans.

Neuralink, the US neurotechnology firm co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has begun recruiting key employees to run its clinical trials, signaling that it’s inching closer to starting human testing of its brain implants.

The company has posted advertisements to hire a clinical trial director and a clinical trial coordinator. The ads note that the staffers will “work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first clinical trial participants.” Neuralink said the director will lead and help build its clinical research team and will develop “regulatory interactions that come with a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.”

Musk, who ranks as the world’s richest person with a fortune estimated at $256 billion, said last month that he expects to have Neuralink brain chips implanted in humans sometime in 2022, pending approval for testing plans by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Jan 21
2022

Recent advances in brain imaging techniques facilitate accurate, high-resolution observations of the brain and its functions

For example, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a widely used noninvasive imaging technique that employs near-infrared light (wavelength 700 nm) to determine the relative concentration of hemoglobin in the brain, via differences in the light absorption patterns of hemoglobin.

Jan 21
2022

Kernel Flow: A wearable device for noninvasive optical brain imaging

Recent advances in brain imaging techniques facilitate accurate, high-resolution observations of the brain and its functions. For example, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a widely used noninvasive imaging technique that employs near-infrared light (wavelength 700 nm) to determine the relative concentration of hemoglobin in the brain, via differences in the light absorption patterns of hemoglobin.

Most noninvasive brain scanning systems use continuous-wave fNIRS, where the tissue is irradiated by a constant stream of photons. However, these systems cannot differentiate between scattered and absorbed photons. A recent advancement to this technique is time-domain (TD)-fNIRS, which uses picosecond pulses of light and fast detectors to estimate photon scattering and absorption in tissues. However, such systems are expensive and complex and have a large form factor, limiting their widespread adoption.

To overcome these challenges, researchers from Kernel, a neurotechnology company, have developed a wearable headset based on TD-fNIRS technology. This device, called “Kernel Flow,” weighs 2.05 kg and contains 52 modules arranged in four plates that fit on either side of the head. The specifications and performance of the Kernel Flow system are reported in the Journal of Biomedical Optics (JBO).

Jan 21
2022

Reinterpreting Our Brain’s Body Maps

Summary: The body relies on multiple maps based on the choice of the motor system.

Source: Tohoku University.

Our brain maps out our body to facilitate accurate motor control; disorders of this body map result in motor deficits. For a century, the body map has been thought to have applied to all types of motor actions. Yet scientists have begun to query how the body map operates when executing different motor actions, such as moving your eyes and hands together.

Jan 21
2022

Human Brain Signals Recorded in Record-Breaking Resolution

High-resolution recordings of electrical signals from the surface of the brain could improve surgeons’ ability to remove brain tumors and treat epilepsy, and could open up new possibilities for medium-and longer-term brain-computer interfaces.

A team of engineers, surgeons, and medical researchers has published data from both humans and rats demonstrating that a new array of brain sensors can record electrical signals directly from the surface of the human brain in record-breaking detail. The new brain sensors feature densely packed grids of either 1,024 or 2,048 embedded electrocorticography (ECoG) sensors. The paper was published by the journal Science Translational Medicine on January 19, 2022.

These thin, pliable grids of ECoG sensors, if approved for clinical use, would offer surgeons brain-signal information directly from the surface of the brain’s cortex in 100 times higher resolution than what is available today. Access to this highly detailed perspective on which specific areas of the tissue at the brain’s surface, or cerebral cortex, are active, and when, could provide better guidance for planning surgeries to remove brain tumors and surgically treat drug-resistant epilepsy.