Scientific Method —
Mystery of bleary-eyed astronauts may be cleared up with spinal fluid study.
Small study finds fluid that cushions the brain floods eye cavities in microgravity.
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What if a simple algorithm were all it took to program tomorrow’s artificial intelligence to think like humans?
According to a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, it may be that easy — or difficult. Are you a glass-half-full or half-empty kind of person?
Researchers behind the theory presented experimental evidence for the Theory of Connectivity — the theory that all of the brains processes are interconnected (massive oversimplification alert) — “that a simple mathematical logic underlies brain computation.” Simply put, an algorithm could map how the brain processes information. The painfully-long research paper describes groups of similar neurons forming multiple attachments meant to handle basic ideas or information. These groupings form what researchers call “functional connectivity motifs” (FCM), which are responsible for every possible combination of ideas.
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Our DNA encodes a complex biological blueprint for our lives.
Every toenail, artery, and brain cell we grow is meticulously planned and executed through our DNA’s unfathomably complex genetic instructions.
Recent genetics research has focused on how DNA may affect a person’s education, a field known as ‘educational genomics’.
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More progress to help stroke victims.
Researchers at The University of Manchester have discovered that a potential new drug reduces the number of brain cells destroyed by stroke and then helps to repair the damage.
A reduction in blood flow to the brain caused by stroke is a major cause of death and disability, and there are few effective treatments.
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For many years, scientists believed that our brains were unable to produce new neurons once we had been born, and that we all had to make do with the brain cells we started life with. Later, it became clear that new brain cells are in fact created in some key brain regions, replacing those that become damaged and protecting us from dementia. Now, researchers have discovered that the stem cells giving rise to these neurons originate in the membranes encasing the brain, known as the meninges.
Publishing their findings in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the authors claim that their discovery of this source of stem cells could one day lead to new treatments for brain damage or neurodegenerative disorders.
Most neurogenesis in the adult brain occurs in a region called the hippocampus, where the creation of new brain cells ensures our memories remain in working order as we age. The meninges penetrate the brain at every level, encapsulating a number of different regions, including the hippocampus.
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — All the years of your parents saying “NO” to ice cream for breakfast may have actually stunted your brilliance.
According to The Telegraph, a new study performed by Yoshihiko Koga, a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo, revealed that eating a certain amount of ice cream immediately after waking up in the morning can actually make you smarter.
No, you did not misread that!
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Our brains have a basic algorithm that enables us to not just recognize a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but the intelligence to ponder the broader implications of a bountiful harvest as well as good family and friends.
“A relatively simple mathematical logic underlies our complex brain computations,” said Dr. Joe Z. Tsien, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, co-director of the Augusta University Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cognitive and Systems Neurobiology.
