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Jun 12, 2023

Where Imagination Lives in Your Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Henry Molaison, known for years as “H.M.,” was famously unable to form new memories. If someone he had met left the room only to return several minutes later, he would greet that person again as if for the first time. Because of surgery to treat intractable epilepsy, H M. lacked a sea-horse-shaped brain structure called the hippocampus and had amnesia. His case helped establish the hippocampus as an engine of memory.

In recent years scientists have discovered another essential deficit that burdens people with hippocampal amnesia: they can’t envision the range of possibilities that must be considered to make future plans. When researchers asked a group of people with hippocampal damage to… More.


The ability to conjure up possible futures or alternative realities is the flip side of memory. Both faculties cohabit in the brain region called the hippocampus.

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Apr 26, 2023

Alzheimer’s Proteins Reduced by Sleep Drug

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Suvorexant (Belsomra), a dual orexin receptor antagonist approved for insomnia, reduced levels of tau phosphorylation and amyloid beta, a small clinical trialopens in a new tab or window showed.

The ratio of phosphorylated tau-threonine-181 (p-tau-181) to unphosphorylated tau-threonine-181 decreased 10% to 15% in cognitively normal adults treated with suvorexant 20 mg compared with placebo, reported Brendan Lucey, MD, MSCI, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and co-authors.

Amyloid-beta levels fell 10% to 20% compared with placebo starting 5 hours after suvorexant administration, the researchers wrote in Annals of Neurologyopens in a new tab or window.

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Apr 24, 2023

Study Says Staying Positive About Aging May Help Reverse Cognitive Decline

Posted by in categories: life extension, neuroscience

The researchers found those who showed positive age beliefs were 30% more likely to recover from cognitive impairment than those who held negative age beliefs, irrespective of the severity of the cognitive decline. The time for recovery was also quicker in people with positive age beliefs.

They also found that the participants who stayed positive about aging were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment over 12 years.


It is widely believed that memory loss associated with aging is irreversible. However, a new study says people who embrace aging positively may recover from cognitive decline.

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Apr 17, 2023

Scientists Can Now Process Data as Fast as the Speed of Light

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, robotics/AI

This new “nano-excitonic transistor” could revolutionize data processing, especially in the age of AI.

Mar 31, 2023

Study finds centenarians possess unique immunity that helps them achieve exceptional longevity

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, policy

There are approximately 30 trillion cells in a human body and our health is predicated on them properly interacting with and supporting each other, with the immune system playing a particularly pivotal role. One of the defining characteristics of aging is a decline in the proper functioning of our immune system. Centenarians, a rare population of individuals who reach 100 years or more, experience delays in aging-related diseases and mortality which suggests their immune systems remain functional into extreme old age.

Led by researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center, a new study finds harbor distinct immune cell type composition and activity and possess highly functional immune systems that have successfully adapted to a history of sickness allowing for exceptional longevity. These may help identify important mechanisms to recover from disease and promote longevity.

“Our data support the hypothesis that centenarians have protective factors that enable to recover from disease and reach extreme old ages,” said lead author Tanya Karagiannis, Ph.D., senior bioinformatician, Center for Quantitative Methods and Data Science, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center.

Mar 1, 2023

Got 11 minutes? A daily brisk walk could lower risk for early death

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

A new study of 30 million people found that even small amounts of exercise could lower risk for heart disease, certain cancers and early death.

Feb 26, 2023

Lawrence Krauss: ChatGPT riddled with wokism, as it is programmed to avoid giving offence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, internet, robotics/AI

As chatbot responses begin to proliferate throughout the Internet, they will, in turn, impact future machine learning algorithms that mine the Internet for information, thus perpetuating and amplifying the impact of the current programming biases evident in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is admittedly a work in progress, but how the issues of censorship and offense ultimately play out will be important. The last thing anyone should want in the future is a medical diagnostic chatbot that refrains from providing a true diagnosis that may cause pain or anxiety to the receiver. Providing information guaranteed not to disturb is a sure way to squash knowledge and progress. It is also a clear example of the fallacy of attempting to input “universal human values” into AI systems, because one can bet that the choice of which values to input will be subjective.

If the future of AI follows the current trend apparent in ChatGPT, a more dangerous, dystopic machine-based future might not be the one portrayed in the Terminator films but, rather, a future populated by AI versions of Fahrenheit 451 firemen.

Feb 25, 2023

This Chinese kissing device lets you smooch over the internet

Posted by in categories: electronics, internet

Want to send your faraway lover a kiss? A Chinese contraption with warm, moving silicon “lips” appears to have just the answer.

The device, advertised as a way to let long-distance couples share “real” physical intimacy, is causing a buzz among Chinese social media users, who have reacted with both intrigue and shock.

Equipped with pressure sensors and actuators, the device is said to be able to mimic a real kiss by replicating the pressure, movement and temperature of a user’s lips.

Feb 25, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope images shatter understanding of age of the universe

Posted by in category: space

The James Webb Space Telescope found six massive galaxies that some scientists never thought could exist. The telescope is so powerful it might have just shattered scientific understanding of the universe. Theoretical Physicist and best selling author Dr. Michio Kaku talked to Gadi Schwartz about the groundbreaking report.

Feb 23, 2023

Scientists Propose Method for Detecting Alien Warp Drive Activity

Posted by in category: alien life

A team of scientists has proposed that we could use existing Earth-based observatories to hunt for highly intelligent alien life forms and their advanced warp drive technologies.

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