Athletes with disabilities have been competing in a range of challenges that use assistive technology to overcome day-to-day practical challenges.
Bionic arms, powered exoskeletons, brain-controlled computer interfaces and supercharged wheelchairs all featured at the world’s first Cybathlon, near Zurich, Switzerland.
One of the races saw functional electrical stimulation (FES) used to activate the leg muscles of paralysed competitors to ride bikes.
It’s impressive enough that our human brains are made up of the same ‘star stuff’ that forms the Universe, but new research suggests that this might not be the only thing the two have in common.
Just like the Universe, our brains might be programmed to maximise disorder — similar to the principle of entropy — and our consciousness could simply be a side effect.
This important eye-brain interface is still being researched and many disciplines are now working together to make fresh findings. But while most of us know that regular physical activity and eating healthily can help maintain or improve our well-being, few are aware of the importance of feeding our eyes with the right kind of light. Indeed, not experiencing the right quality and quantity of light could have adverse effects on hormonal changes, sleep patterns and may even be linked to obesity.
Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness Moves To Another Universe After Death. There is an interesting new theory emerging from a scientist long familiar with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe. It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around. At least, the new thinking that has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor, Dr. Robert Lanza, freely espouses. Lana has been voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times. Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species. Biocentrism—is a concept proposed in 2007 by American doctor of medicine Robert Lanza, a scientist in the fields of regenerative medicine and biology, which sees biology as the central driving science in the universe, and an understanding of the other sciences as reliant on a deeper understanding of biology. Biocentrism states that life and biology are central to being, reality, and the cosmos—consciousness creates the universe rather than the other way around. It asserts that current theories of the physical world do not work, and can never be made to work, until they fully account for life and consciousness. While physics is considered fundamental to the study of the universe, and chemistry fundamental to the study of life, biocentrism claims that scientists will need to place biology before the other sciences to produce a theory of everything.
NAD+ therapy can supposedly increase your energy, focus, and metabolism, improve your cardiovascular health, and help you detox from alcohol and drugs. All this, of course, sounds incredibly unlikely—so I thought I’d see for myself.
A blue light shines through a transparent, implantable medical sensor onto a brain. The invention may help neural researchers better view brain activity. (credit: Justin Williams research group)
In an open-access paper published Thursday (Oct. 13, 2016) in the journal Nature Protocols, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have published details of how to fabricate and use neural microelectrocorticography (μECoG) arrays made with transparent graphene in applications in electrophysiology, fluorescent microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and optogenetics.
Graphene is one of the most promising candidates for transparent neural electrodes, because the material has a UV to IR transparency of more than 90%, in addition to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, flexibility, and biocompatibility, the researchers note in the paper. That allows for simultaneous high-resolution imaging and optogenetic control.
Collective Evolution: Lanza’s theory implies that if the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. This is an example that’s commonly used to describe the enigma of consciousness.
Researchers have discovered a link between a protein and aging
A protein found within the powerhouse of a cell could be the key to holding back the march of time, research by scientists at The University of Nottingham has shown and the discovery could offer a new target for drugs that may help to slow the debilitating effects of ageing on our bodies.
Their research, published in the academic journal Aging, could have special significance for combatting age related decline and halting the progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.
