Lifeboat Foundation

In a recent article published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers performed a large cross-sectional study to profile gut microbiota dysbiosis across prodromal and early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD), REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), first-degree relatives of RBD (RBD-FDR), and healthy controls.

Study: Gut microbiome dysbiosis across early Parkinson’s disease, REM sleep behavior disorder and their first-degree relatives. Image Credit: Anatomy Image / Shutterstock.

Artificial intelligence has started to make a real impact on the world by replacing human jobs and making some business models obsolete. We take a look at this week’s biggest AI news and identify the biggest losers in the AI race.

#ai #tech #thecodereport.

Continue reading “The first casualties of AI” »

Great, until the mention of “directed energy”…

Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have demonstrated a continuously operating optical fiber made of thin air.

The most common optical fibers are strands of glass that tightly confine light over long distances. However, these fibers are not well-suited for guiding extremely high-power laser beams due to glass damage and scattering of laser energy out of the fiber. Additionally, the need for a physical support structure means that glass fiber must be laid down long in advance of light signal transmission or collection.

Continue reading “Experiment demonstrates continuously operating optical fiber made of thin air” »

Neurotech will bring many amazing positive changes to the world, such as treating ailments like blindness, depression, and epilepsy, giving us superhuman sensory capabilities that allow us to understand the world in new ways, accelerating our ability to cognitively process information, and more. But in an increasingly connected society, neuroprivacy will represent a crucial concern of the future. We must carefully devise legal protections against misuse of “mind reading” technology as well as heavily invest in “neurocybersecurity” R&D to prevent violation of people’s inner thoughts and feelings by authorities and malignant hackers. We can capitalize on the advantages, but we must do establish safety mechanisms as these technologies mature. #neurotechnology #neuroscience #neurotech #computationalbiology #future #brain

Determining how the brain creates meaning from language is enormously difficult, says Francisco Pereira, a neuroscientist at the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “It’s impressive to see someone pull it off.”‘

‘Wake-up call’

Continue reading “Mind-reading machines are here: is it time to worry?” »

Magenta Medical — an Israeli company developing what it bills as “the world’s smallest heart pump” — closed a $55 million financing round on Wednesday.

The round was led by OrbiMed, with participation from New Enterprise Associates, Pitango and Alive Israel HealthTech Fund. Magenta did not disclose how much the company has raised to date.

The new funding will be used primarily to help the medtech company attain FDA approval for its flagship product — a percutaneous left ventricular assist device called Elevate.

An effort led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a new risk model for cardiovascular disease in CKD patients. The researchers say it is more accurate than current methods of measuring cardiac risk in these individuals.

A paper about the research was published in European Heart Journal.

Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it will be signing a new research agreement with Proteus Ocean Group, which has been drawing up ambitious plans to build a roomy underwater research facility that can host scientists for long stays while they study the marine environment up close.

The facility, called Proteus, is the brainchild of Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau.

“On PROTEUS™ we will have unbridled access to the ocean 24/7, making possible long-term studies with continuous human observation and experimentation,” Cousteau, founder of Proteus Ocean Group, said in a press release. “With NOAA’s collaboration, the discoveries we can make — in relation to climate refugia, super corals, life-saving drugs, micro environmental data tied to climate events and many others — will be truly groundbreaking. We look forward to sharing those stories with the world.”

Our research found that concussion was associated with increased functional connectivity between the thalamus and the rest of the brain very shortly after injury, when compared to 76 healthy control subjects.

In other words, the thalamus was trying to communicate more as a result of the injury. This was despite routine MRI and CT imaging showing no structural changes in the brain.

While many of us would assume that more connectivity in the brain is a good thing, research looking at more severe head injuries indicates that greater connectivity between brain regions might actually be a sign of the brain trying to compensate and offset damage across the brain.

AUSTIN, Texas — Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can turn people’s brain activity into written text. This technology might help those who can’t physically speak, like stroke patients, communicate again.