Lifeboat Foundation

A new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge reveals a surprising discovery that could transform the future of electrochemical devices. The findings offer new opportunities for the development of advanced materials and improved performance in fields such as energy storage, brain-like computing, and bioelectronics.

Electrochemical devices rely on the movement of charged particles, both ions and electrons, to function properly. However, understanding how these charged particles move together has presented a significant challenge, hindering progress in creating new materials for these devices.

In the rapidly evolving field of bioelectronics, soft conductive materials known as conjugated polymers are used for developing medical devices that can be used outside of traditional clinical settings. For example, this type of materials can be used to make wearable sensors that monitor patients’ health remotely or implantable devices that actively treat disease.

The first endovascular neural interface, the Stentrode™ is a minimally invasive implantable brain device that can interpret signals from the brain for patients with paralysis. Implanted via the jugular vein, the #Stentrode is placed inside the #brain in the command-control center, known as the motor cortex, but without the need for open brain surgery. The signals are captured and sent to a wireless unit implanted in the chest, which sends them to an external receiver. We are building a software suite that enables the patient to learn how to control a computer operating system and set of applications that interact with assistive technologies. This #technology has the potential to enable patients with paralysis to take back digital control of their world, without having to move a muscle.

Synchron is currently preparing for pilot clinical trials of the Stentrode™ to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this breakthrough technology.

Continue reading “Synchron Stentrode: Brain Computer Interface for Paralysis” »

Brain-based technologies of spiritual enhancement can induce mystical experiences in many people on demand. What does this mean for spirituality today?

Dog and cat linguists rejoice we can talk to them and understand them with lots of apps and other devices in this article 😀 😊 😄 😉.

All dog owners have wished there was such a thing as a translator for their dog. The movie Up brings this concept to life with a collar that translates everything the dog says. But does a dog translator exist in real life? We might not have flying cars yet in the 21st century, but dog translators do exist.

Continue reading “Are There Dog Translators? [Are They Good?]” »

The mesh has already proved successful on fruit fly larvae in Minnesota, and with two species of mushroom coral in Hawaii and Australia. In Florida, Hagedorn and colleagues were trying it on Diploria labyrinthiformis, a kind of brain coral whose larvae are more than 100 times bigger than those of mushroom coral. In the first few attempts, rewarmed larvae were falling apart. Each larval size, Hagedorn was learning, needs its own version of the treatment. “We’re struggling a little bit to get this to work,” she says.

WHILE SCIENTISTS such as Bischof and Hagedorn wrestle with vitrification, others are seeking an easier route by avoiding ultralow temperatures that require large infusions of cryoprotectant and make rewarming so challenging.

At Harvard University and MGH, scientists are taking cues from nature to push tissues below freezing while holding back the ice. The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is a champion of this realm. Found in much of North America, including the frigid Canadian Arctic, it can spring to life after spending months with as much as two-thirds of its body frozen at temperatures as low as −16°C.

Ever wonder where in your brain that interesting character called “I” lives? Stanford Medicine physician-scientist Josef Parvizi, MD, PhD, has news of its whereabouts.

If skulls were transparent, you still wouldn’t see much going on in someone else’s brain. But Parvizi has ways of peeking into people’s heads and finding out what makes us tick. His experiments have pinpointed specific brain regions crucial to capabilities ranging from perceiving faces to recognizing numerals.

In January 6 2023, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb) via the Accelerated Approval pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Leqembi is the second of a new category of medications approved for Alzheimer’s disease that target the fundamental pathophysiology of the disease. These medications represent an important advancement in the ongoing fight to effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Recently it has been granted full approval. Leqembi, developed jointly by Japan’s Eisai and Biogen of the United States, was shown in a clinical trial to modestly reduce cognitive decline among patients in the early stages of the disease.

But the study also raised concerns about side effects including brain bleeds and swelling.

Continue reading “FDA Grants Accelerated Approval for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment” »

First primate studies to show cognitive benefits of the protein klotho could be a step towards clinical applications.

The animal world is full of different types of intelligence, from the simple bodily coordination of jellyfish to the navigation abilities of bees, the complex songs of birds, and the imaginative symbolic thought of humans.

In an article published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, we argue the evolution of all these kinds of animal intelligence has been shaped by just five major changes in the computational capacity of brains.

Each change was a major transitional point in the history of life that changed what types of intelligence could evolve.