A Harvard medical pioneer calls it “astounding” — an “incredible achievement” and a “quantum leap forward” in the battle against cancer, autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
What’s going on? Scientists at Ohio State University say they’ve figured out a way to grow the genetic equivalent of a nearly complete embryonic human brain.
This neural dust sprinkled into an individual’s brain tissue could form an “implantable neural interface system that remains viable for a lifetime.”
Earlier this month, five researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, put out a paper discussing the possible development of mind-reading “neural dust,” which could be implanted directly into the human brain to allow people to interact with machines.
The paper is what the MIT Technology Review calls a theoretical study: The idea is “littered with challenges beyond the state-of-the-art.”
Continue reading “‘Neural Dust’ May Let Minds Meld With Machines” »
An article written by Dr Michael Fossel talking about telomerase therapy for Alzheimer’s and the work Bioviva and Telocyte are doing to beat this horrific condition.
Reversing Alzheimer’s by Lengthening Telomeres.
There are telomere lengthening compounds available right now for use in research labs. They are not currently available for human use. A group of scientists wants to test these compounds on aging humans now to see if the telomere lengthening effects will induce meaningful age reversal effects.
Telomeres in our cells shorten as we grow older and create cellular havoc that predisposes us to multiple age-related pathologies. These experimental enzymes promote telomere lengthening and in the process offer an intriguing opportunity to circumvent biological aging processes.
Human ‘mini brains’ grown in labs may help solve cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s
| Video Source: CNN
Read the full story CNN…
Computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, founder of the California-based Singularity University, claims that by 2030s humans could be using nanobots to connect our brains to the cloud.
Ray Kurzweil’s singularity of human superintelligence is a polar opposite of the singularity described by Vinge, Hawking, and Bostrom:
“The singularity will be a merger of our bodies and minds with our technology. The world will still be human, but transcend our biological roots. There will be no distinction between human and machine, nor between physical and virtual reality.”
Dear readers,
Continue reading “Celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of book The Singularity Is Near” »
Memory loss is a truly devastating part of dementia, but this invention aims to fix that by bypassing the damage, and repairing long term memory.
Alzheimer’s and dementia are complex diseases, and there’s currently no effective treatment. Given the unpleasant nature of the disease, there’s an urgent need for results. Instead of taking the usual biological route, one team has constructed a prosthetic made up of a small electrode array — which can help re-encode short term memory into long term.
Built using decades of research, the device operates using a new algorithm based on accumulated neural data. New sensory information is normally translated into a quick memory and transported as an electrical signal through the hippocampus, potentially for long term storage. If this region is damaged then the process is disturbed, and new experiences fail to be encoded. Alzheimer’s patients can often remember childhood events, but struggle with recent experiences; specifically because of this hippocampal damage.
Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that mimics the brain’s electrical signalling and helps memory. The FT reports.
Could discovering how neural stem cells protect themselves from damage lead to treatment that helps combat aging?
We now know that stem cells in the brain do in fact divide, and that this regenerative capacity begins to falter with age. The majority of our cells don’t divide, and the bulk of division falls to stem cell niches dotted across our body. Stem cell populations do age, but they’re more resistant than ‘normal’ cells are, and they produce higher levels of telomerase — enabling them to divide for years.
How do brain stem cells remain free of damage?
Continue reading “How Do Brain Stem Cells Age? Their Damage Filter Breaks Down” »
Brain speed declines for most people with age, and new data shows it may be because of increasingly busy, noisy circuits.
The human brain takes in a lot of information. Everyone has to deal with a slog of incoming data every day, and add it to an ever expanding bank of knowledge. Your brain re-organises itself pretty well, but new research suggests this clutter begins to have effects as it builds up.
A clouded brain.
