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Feb 15, 2023

Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle

Posted by in categories: biological, evolution, neuroscience

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐จ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ž๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐›๐ข๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐€๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง ๐ข๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐’๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ง๐จ ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฆ๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š ๐ง๐ž๐จ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ž๐ฑ, ๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐.

The brains of reptiles seemed to offer a clue. Not only are reptiles the closest living relatives of mammals, but their brains have a three-layered structure called a dorsal ventricular ridge, or DVR, with functional similarities to the neocortex.


The neocortex stands out as a stunning achievement of biological evolution. All mammals have this swath of tissue covering their brain, and the six layers of densely packed neurons within it handle the sophisticated computations and associations that produce cognitive prowess. Since no animals other than mammals have a neocortex, scientists have wondered how such a complex brain region evolved.

Continue reading “Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle” »

Feb 13, 2023

Scientists regenerate kidneys to reverse diabetes damage in mice

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

An international team of scientists has found a way to regenerate kidneys damaged by disease, restoring function and preventing kidney failure. The discovery could drastically improve treatments for complications stemming from diabetes and other diseases.

Diabetes causes many problems in the body, but one of the most prevalent is kidney disease. Extended periods of elevated blood sugar can damage nephrons, the tiny filtering units in the kidneys, which can lead to kidney dysfunction and eventually failure.

Continue reading “Scientists regenerate kidneys to reverse diabetes damage in mice” »

Feb 12, 2023

Mark Zuckerberg demos a tool for building virtual worlds using voice commands

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, today showed off a prototype of an AI system that enables people to generate or import things into a virtual world just by using voice commands. The company sees the tool, which is called โ€œBuilder Bot,โ€ as an โ€œexploratory conceptโ€ that shows AIโ€™s potential for creating new worlds in the metaverse. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off the prototype at the Meta AI: Inside the Lab event on Wednesday in a pre-recorded demo video.

In the video, Zuckerberg explained the process of building parts of a virtual world by describing them. He begins with the prompt, โ€œletโ€™s go to a park.โ€ The bot then creates a 3D landscape of a park with green grass and trees. Zuckerberg then says โ€œactually, letโ€™s go to the beach,โ€ after which the bot replaces the current landscape with a new one of sand and water. He then says he wants to add clouds and notes that everything is AI-generated. Zuckerberg then changes up the landscape by saying heโ€™d rather have altocumulus clouds, which is meant to demonstrate how specific the voice commands can be.

Continue reading “Mark Zuckerberg demos a tool for building virtual worlds using voice commands” »

Feb 9, 2023

Researchers develop new method for specializing and purifying human stem cells into interneurons

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

Injury to the spinal cord often leads life changing disability, with decreased or complete loss of sensation and movement below the site of injury. From drugs to transplantation, there are many scientific advances aiming to restore function following spinal cord injury.

One promising approach is the use of stem cell derived neurons to replace those damaged. New research from the Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine and Centre for Neurodevelopment at Kingโ€™s College London hopes to improve on this approach by providing pure populations of neurons made from stem cells.

The spinal cord is a delicate structure, with neurons carry messages from your brain to the rest of your body to allow movement and sensation. Integral to this system are interneurons, or the cells that relay information between your brain and other neurons. Research has previously shown that transplanting a class of interneurons, ventral spinal interneurons, to treat spinal cord injury in animal models provides promising recovery of sensory and motor function.

Feb 9, 2023

Transplanting a Gene Common in Centenarians Could Rewind The Heartโ€™s Age

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Age catches up with us all eventually, but in some people the right genes can make that chase into our twilight years a relatively leisurely one.

A few years ago Italian researchers discovered something special about people who live well into their 90s and beyond: they commonly have a version of a gene called BPIFB4 that protects against cardiovascular damage and keeps the heart in good shape for a longer period of time.

By introducing the mutated gene into older mice, the scientists have now seen how the variant rewinds markers of biological heart aging by the equivalent of more than 10 human years.

Feb 9, 2023

Physicists want to use gravitational waves to โ€˜seeโ€™ the beginning of time

Posted by in category: physics

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space. Waves that originated in the early universe could carry important information about the phenomena that occurred there.

Feb 8, 2023

Where is the mind within the brain? Transient selection of subnetworks by metabotropic receptors and G protein-gated ion channels

Posted by in category: neuroscience

I am proud to announce that today came out probably my most important scientific paper. I propose a whole new paradigm in neuroscience. To understand the mind, synapses are not so important any more. Instead, critical are some other type of proteins on the neural membrane. These proteins have the capability to transiently select subnetworks that will be functional in the next few seconds or minutes. The paradigm proposes that cognition emerges from those transient subnetwork selections (and not from network computations of the classical, so-called connectionist paradigm). The proteins in question are metabotropic receptor and G protein-gated ion channels. Simply put, we think with those proteins. A result of a thought is a new state of network pathways, not the activity of neurons.

One can download the paper here:


Perhaps the most important question posed by brain research is: How the brain gives rise to the mind. To answer this question, we have primarily relied on the connectionist paradigm: The brainโ€™s entire knowledge and thinking skills are thought to be stored in the connections; and the mental operations are executed by network computations. I propose here an alternative paradigm: Our knowledge and skills are stored in metabotropic receptors (MRs) and the G protein-gated ion channels (GPGICs). Here, mental operations are assumed to be executed by the functions of MRs and GPGICs. As GPGICs have the capacity to close or open branches of dendritic trees and axon terminals, their states transiently re-route neural activity throughout the nervous system. First, MRs detect ligands that signal the need to activate GPGICs. Next, GPGICs transiently select a subnetwork within the brain. The process of selecting this new subnetwork is what constitutes a mental operation โ€“ be it in a form of directed attention, perception or making a decision. Synaptic connections and network computations play only a secondary role, supporting MRs and GPGICs. According to this new paradigm, the mind emerges within the brain as the function of MRs and GPGICs whose primary function is to continually select the pathways over which neural activity will be allowed to pass. It is argued that MRs and GPGICs solve the scaling problem of intelligence from which the connectionism paradigm suffers.

Feb 8, 2023

AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old โ€˜lost bookโ€™ describing life after Alexander the Great

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it carbonized a book on rulers who followed Alexander the Great. Now, machine learning is deciphering the โ€œlost book.โ€

Feb 7, 2023

MRI scans reveal changes in brains wiring after cold water shock

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž, ๐š ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฆ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐จ๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐š ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐›๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐›๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐›๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ.

During a research trial, the results of which are published in the journal Biology, healthy volunteers were given a functional MRI (fMRI) scan immediately after bathing in cold water. These scans revealed changes in the connectivity between the parts of the brain that process emotions.


For the first time, a team of researchers has observed changes in how different parts of the brain interact with each other after a personโ€™s body is immersed in cold water. The findings explain why people often feel more upbeat and alert after swimming outside or taking cold baths.

Continue reading “MRI scans reveal changes in brains wiring after cold water shock” »

Feb 7, 2023

Microsoft launches the new Bing, with ChatGPT built in

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

โ€œItโ€™s a new day for search,โ€ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said today. For 13 years now, Microsoft has tried to get you to use Bing, but you didnโ€™t want to, so its global market share remains in the low single digits. Now, the company is pulling out all the stops in an effort to better compete with Google. Today, at a press event in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft announced its long-rumored integration of OpenAIโ€™s GPT-4 model into Bing, providing a ChatGPT-like experience within the search engine.

The company is also launching a new version of its Edge browser today, with these new AI features built into the sidebar.

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