Lifeboat Foundation

Neuroscientists Pinpoint Cells In The Amygdala Where Pain Hurts : Shots — Health News Researchers have pinpointed the neurons that give pain its unpleasant edge. By turning these neurons off in mice, the scientists relieved the unpleasantness of pain without numbing sensation.

As I look back on the year, I am also thinking about the specific areas I work on. Some of this is done through our foundation but a lot of it (such as my work on energy and Alzheimer’s work) is not. What connects it all is my belief that innovation can save lives and improve everyone’s well-being. A lot of people underestimate just how much innovation will make life better.

Here are a few updates on what’s going well and what isn’t with innovation in some areas where I work.

Bill Gates looks back on 2018, and shares a few thoughts on what’s going well and what isn’t with innovation in some specific areas that he works on.

New research published in the journal Nature Medicine has described the results of a five-year study into the association between a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier and the onset of cognitive impairment. The study suggests leaky capillaries in the brain can act as an early biomarker of cognitive decline, and a new drug being developed for stroke patients may be an effective treatment.

For the first time, scientists have used rapid 3D printing technologies to create a spinal cord. The team at UC San Diego then put neural cells in it and implanted it into rats, who walked again.

To be approved, government figures have shown.

More than 17,000 people have died in the past seven years while waiting for their disability benefit claim to be approved, according to figures obtained by The Independent.

The claimants, who were in the process of claiming a type of benefit named the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), were reportedly suffering from a mixture of terminal illnesses and disabilities, including anxiety and depression while they waited for their benefits to be paid.

Continue reading “Nine disability claimants die every day while waiting for their benefits” »

Using a few wires and sponges, in ordinary homes around the world, people are trying to hack their own minds. Thanks to a 2002 study that found a link between brain transcranial direct current stimulation and better motor task performance, “do-it-yourself” brain stimulation has become a growing movement among those who want to improve a whole host of cognitive and psychological functions, including language skills, mood and memory.

Scientists are split about the practice: Some say that while brain stimulators might not work as advertised (the ones available to purchase can cost hundreds of dollars), these devices are more-or-less safe. Others think the technique could cause damage, even if done in a controlled, clinical setting. Though “brain hackers” may be disappointed with their own results, their hope about the technology’s potential is rooted in an increasing amount of evidence.

The earliest clinical uses of brain stimulation date back to nearly 2000 years ago, when physician Scribonius Largus recommended the use of electric rayfish to treat headaches and neuralgia. By the 1980s, researchers began designing non-invasive stimulators and brain implants for treating specific diseases. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) — a non-invasive treatment that uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain — has been shown, in a few small studies, to purportedly improve language skills, boost memory and strengthen reflexes. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), another non-invasive procedure, is sometimes used to treat depression. And clinical trials are underway to see if stimulating the brain can treat other medical conditions, such as Parkinson’s.

Continue reading “Would You Zap Your Brain to Improve Your Memory?” »

The brain-eating monsters are real enough — they lurk in freshwater ponds in much of the United States. Now scientists may have discovered a new way to kill them.

Minuscule silver particles coated with anti-seizure drugs one day may be adapted to halt Naegleria fowleri, an exceptionally lethal microbe that invades through the sinuses and feeds on human brain tissue.

The research, published in the journal Chemical Neuroscience, showed that repurposing seizure medicines and binding them to silver might kill the amoebae while sparing human cells. Scientists hope the findings will lay an early foundation for a quick cure.

Continue reading “A Silver Bullet Against the Brain-Eating Amoeba?” »

Psychiatrists diagnose people with schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses by spending time with them, looking for the particular behavior symptoms of each. What follows can be a hit-or-miss series of medications and dosages until disruptive behaviors go away.

By deciphering the circuitry of the medial frontal cortex — an area beneath the top of the head — those diagnoses could become much more efficient and precise by allowing physicians to diagnose based on how neurons respond to a simple series of behavior tests.

A Vanderbilt University team recently described how error and reward signals are organized within the cerebral cortex, which is only as thick as a nickel. They say this information could also be significant in drug development by guiding medications to target receptors in particular layers of the cerebral cortex where they will be most effective.

2019 will be the year in which we discover molecules and properties that are as yet unknown to humans. The breadth of biology and the enormous flexibility of genetic material will provide us with an ideal platform to explore an effectively unlimited number of molecules for novel materials and solutions. We will ultimately leave behind hydrocarbons and truly enter the biological age.

Joshua Hoffman is cofounder and CEO of Zymergen

– Meet the companies fixing depression by stimulating neurons.