Developing predictive mechanistic models in biology is challenging. Elektrum uses neural architecture search, kinetic models and transfer learning to discover CRISPR–Cas9 cleavage kinetics, achieving high performance and biophysical interpretability.
The idea that consciousness requires a self has been around since at least Descartes. But problems of infinite regress, neuroscientific studies, and psychedelic experiences point to a different reality. ‘You’ may not be what you seem to be, writes James Cooke.
We typically feel like we are the conscious subject, the one who has experiences. Look around you in this moment and direct your attention to different objects. It can feel like we exist in our heads, behind our eyes, directing a spotlight of attention in order to wilfully make things conscious. This intuitive model of the mind has often been imported into the science and philosophy of consciousness, leading to confusion in our understanding of the true nature of experience. This subject is not the bodily organism, it is something that is felt to live inside us, the possessor of the body, the “you” that is reading these words now. Consciousness is very much a property of the bodily subject, but not of the conscious subject that is felt to live in our heads.
Thinking in terms of conscious subjects was present at the very origins of the scientific method, in the work of Rene Descartes saw the natural world as unconscious mechanism. Humans alone were conceived of as being conscious by virtue of a transcendent subject that could illuminate our experience of the world [1]. If we want to understand consciousness, however, postulating the existence of an inherently conscious subject merely passes the buck of explanation. What makes that conscious subject conscious? If it is intrinsically conscious then consciousness has not been explained. If not, then what makes it conscious, another subject within it? With this logic we end up in an infinite regress, with consciousness never being explained. This view of the mind has been dubbed the Cartesian Theatre by philosopher Daniel Dennett [2].
Isaac arthur playlist.
Non-personalized content and ads are influenced by things like the content you’re currently viewing and your location (ad serving is based on general location). Personalized content and ads can also include things like video recommendations, a customized YouTube homepage, and tailored ads based on past activity, like the videos you watch and the things you search for on YouTube. We also use cookies and data to tailor the experience to be age-appropriate, if relevant.
Researchers at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine’s Laboratory of Gene Regulation, led by Professor Doug Higgs and Dr. Mira Kassouf, have published a study in the journal Cell, in which they reveal another piece of the puzzle of how the code in our DNA is read.
In this study, the authors introduce the concept of “facilitators,” a newly identified type of non-coding DNA that can help to drive gene expression.
All of the cells in your body contain the same DNA. However, these cells are able to develop into over 200 different types and make up a variety of different specialized tissues such as the skin, the blood, and the brain.
Aging typically affects the brain and a person’s cognition.
Japanese horseradish, or wasabi as it is more widely known, may help improve certain areas of cognitive function in older adults, a new study suggests.
A neuromorphic supercomputer called DeepSouth will be capable of 228 trillion synaptic operations per second, which is on par with the estimated number of operations in the human brain.
There is no computer even remotely as powerful and complex as the human brain. The lumps of tissue ensconced in our skulls can process information at quantities and speeds that computing technology can barely touch.
Key to the brain’s success is the neuron’s efficiency in serving as both a processor and memory device, in contrast to the physically separated units in most modern computing devices.
There have been many attempts to make computing more brain-like, but a new effort takes it all a step further – by integrating real, actual, human brain tissue with electronics.
As large-scale neuroscience projects start to yield results, sharing data standards will become increasingly important.
Generating a complete multimodal cell census and atlas of the mouse brain through collaborative data collection, tool development and analysis.
Brain transplant is not a reality for humans or for any living organism. But there are human research experiments in which transplanted brain cells are used to help treat several diseases that affect the brain. So far, there are very few results and measured outcomes of brain cell transplant, but the concept of transplanting brain tissue has shown some promise in preliminary studies.
If you are interested in having a brain cell transplant procedure, you can talk to your healthcare provider and look for a university or research center where brain cell transplant procedures are being done. These procedures tend to be part of research studies, so you will likely need to enroll in a research study if you want to have this type of treatment.
The brain is composed of many different regions and cells. Neurons in the brain have dedicated functions, and they do not typically heal when they are damaged. Parkinson’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and head trauma are among the conditions for which brain cell transplant has been used for humans in an experimental setting.
