Lifeboat Foundation

A mysterious electromagnetic mechanism may be more important than the firing of neurons in our brains to explain our awareness.

By Tamlyn Hunt

The neuron, the specialized cell type that makes up much of our brains, is at the center of today’s neuroscience. Neuroscientists explain perception, memory, cognition and even consciousness itself as products of billions of these tiny neurons busily firing their tiny “spikes” of voltage inside our brain.

In addition to lowering your cholesterol, keeping your brain healthy and improving mental health, new research from the University of Georgia suggests omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids may help ward off a variety of cancers.

The study relied on data from more than 250,000 people and found that higher…

But most Americans probably aren’t eating enough of these foods to reach the recommended amounts.

Continue reading “Fish oil supplements may protect against cancer” »

Nanomagnets keep a history of their states and can be trained in a few hours.

Jungfleisch uses nanomagnets to store and transmit information and achieves it in a more energy-efficient manner as compared to electrons.

The risk of getting dementia may go up as you get older if you don’t get enough slow-wave sleep. Over-60s are 27 percent more likely to develop dementia if they lose just 1 percent of this deep sleep each year, a 2023 study found.

Slow-wave sleep is the third stage of a human 90-minute sleep cycle, lasting about 20–40 minutes. It’s the most restful stage, where brain waves and heart rate slow and blood pressure drops.

Deep sleep strengthens our muscles, bones, and immune system, and prepares our brains to absorb more information. Recently, research discovered that individuals with Alzheimer’s-related changes in their brain did better on memory tests when they got more slow-wave sleep.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, the research team identified 24 networks with different functions,…

MIT researchers created the most comprehensive map yet of the functions of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Using fMRI, the team identified 24 networks with different functions, which include processing language, social interactions, visual features, and other sensory input.

A published today https://nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08145-x reveals brain cells can form a coordinate system for our behaviours.

Mice generalize complex task structures by using neurons in the medial frontal cortex that encode progress to task goals and embed behavioural sequences.

A study presents battery-free, polymer-based wearable devices that wrap around neurons, allowing for real-time monitoring and modulation of cellular activity. This innovation aims to restore neuronal function in conditions like multiple sclerosis.

This development comes from…

Researchers have designed a high-speed 3D bioprinter to accurately print human tissues.

Continue reading “New high-speed 3D bioprinter uses acoustics to print human tissues” »

MIT researchers have developed a battery-free, subcellular-sized device made of polymer designed to measure and modulate a neuron’s electrical and metabolic activity. When the device is activated by light, it can gently wrap around the neuron cell’s axons and dendrites without damaging the cells.

Scientists want to inject thousands of these tiny wireless devices into a patient’s central nervous system and then actuate them noninvasively using light. The light would penetrate the tissue and allow precise control of the devices, and thereby restore function in cases of neuronal degradation like multiple sclerosis (MS).

The MIT researchers developed these thin-film devices from a azobenzene, a soft polymer that readily reacts to light. Thin sheets of azobenzene roll into a cylinder when exposed to light, which enables them to wrap around cells. Researchers can control the direction and diameter of the rolling by changing the intensity and polarization of the light, producing a microtube with a diameter smaller than one micrometer.