Lifeboat Foundation

The neuroscience study opens new avenues for understanding the brain’s role in learning and education. As researchers uncover more about the mechanisms underlying acquiring knowledge, educators can implement evidence-based strategies to enhance student outcomes. This blog post delves into the fascinating world of neuroscience, explores how the brain learns, and examines various learning theories and strategies informed by neuroscientific research.

Understanding the Basics of Neuroscience

Neuroscience refers to studying the nervous system, focusing on its role in behavior, cognition, and learning. The human brain, a complex organ, contains billions of neurons that transmit information through electrical and chemical signals. These neurons form networks, and the brain’s organization into different regions allows it to carry out specific functions.

New research from a team of scientists at the Cornell University Center for Bright Beams has made significant strides in developing new techniques to guide the growth of materials used in next-generation particle accelerators.

The study, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, reveals the potential for greater control over the growth of superconducting Nb₃Sn films, which could significantly reduce the cost and size of cryogenic infrastructure required for superconducting technology.

Superconducting accelerator facilities, such as those used for X-ray free-electron laser radiation, rely on niobium superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities to generate high-energy beams. However, the associated cryogenic infrastructure, energy consumption, and operating costs of niobium SRF cavities limit access to this technology.

Researchers at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Linköping University, have together with colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, developed a method that increases the signal strength from microbial electrochemical cells by up to twenty times. The secret is a film with an embedded bacterium: Shewanella oneidensis.

Adding bacteria to electrochemical systems is often an environmentally sensitive means to convert chemical energy to electricity. Applications include water purification, bioelectronics, biosensors, and for the harvesting and storage of energy in fuel cells. One problem that miniaturisation of the processes has encountered is that a high signal strength requires large electrodes and a large volume of liquid.

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, USA, have now developed a method in which they embed the electroactive bacterium Shewanella oneidensis into PEDOT: PSS, an electrically conducting polymer, on a substrate of carbon felt.

Summary: Researchers present a new system that uses photons instead of chemical neurotransmitters to control neural activity.

Source: ICFO

Our brains are made of billions of neurons, which are connected forming complex networks. They communicate between themselves by sending electrical signals, known as action potentials, and chemical signals, known as neurotransmitters, in a process called synaptic transmission.

Deep within our brain’s temporal lobes, two almond-shaped cell masses help keep us alive. This tiny region, called the amygdala, assists with a variety of brain activities. It helps us learn and remember. It triggers our fight-or-flight response. It even promotes the release of a feel-good chemical called dopamine.

Scientists have learned all this by studying the amygdala over hundreds of years. But we still haven’t reached a full understanding of how these processes work.

Now, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory neuroscientist Bo Li has brought us several important steps closer. His lab recently made a series of discoveries that show how neurons called somatostatin-expressing (Sst⁺) central amygdala (CeA) neurons help us learn about threats and rewards. He also demonstrated how these neurons relate to dopamine. The discoveries could lead to future treatments for anxiety or drug addiction.

The resulting materials could be used for capturing greenhouse gases.

MIT researchers have used a computational model to identify about 10,000 possible metal-organic framework MOF structures that they classify as “ultrastable.” These states make them good candidates for applications such as converting methane gas to methanol.

“When people come up with hypothetical MOF materials, they don’t necessarily know beforehand how stable that material is,” said in a statement published on Tuesday Heather Kulik, an MIT associate professor of chemistry and chemical engineering and the senior author of the study.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered a 1,000% difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes. These batteries are different from lithium-ion batteries that contain cobalt. The group’s goal of researching metal-free batteries stems from having better control over the domestic supply chain since cobalt and lithium are outsourced. This safer chemistry […].

Symbiont could enable microfactories to produce biochemicals for food, farming and drugs.

The molecules in our bodies are in constant communication. Some of these molecules provide a biochemical fingerprint that could indicate how a wound is healing, whether or not a cancer treatment is working or that a virus has invaded the body. If we could sense these signals in real time with high sensitivity, then we might be able to recognize health problems faster and even monitor disease as it progresses.

Now Northwestern University researchers have developed a new technology that makes it easier to eavesdrop on our body’s inner conversations.

While the body’s chemical signals are incredibly faint—making them difficult to detect and analyze—the researchers have developed a new method that boosts signals by more than 1,000 times. Transistors, the building block of electronics, can boost weak signals to provide an amplified output. The new approach makes signals easier to detect without complex and bulky electronics.