Biological – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle

Posted by Nicholi Avery in biological, evolution, neuroscience

Feb 15
2023

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐱 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐱, 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝.

The brains of reptiles seemed to offer a clue. Not only are reptiles the closest living relatives of mammals, but their brains have a three-layered structure called a dorsal ventricular ridge, or DVR, with functional similarities to the neocortex.

The neocortex stands out as a stunning achievement of biological evolution. All mammals have this swath of tissue covering their brain, and the six layers of densely packed neurons within it handle the sophisticated computations and associations that produce cognitive prowess. Since no animals other than mammals have a neocortex, scientists have wondered how such a complex brain region evolved.

Now, however, by analyzing molecular details invisible to the human eye, scientists have refuted that view. By looking at patterns of gene expression in individual brain cells, researchers at Columbia University showed that despite the anatomical similarities, the neocortex in mammals and the DVR in reptiles are unrelated. Instead, mammals seem to have evolved the neocortex as an entirely new brain region, one built without a trace of what came before it. The neocortex is composed of new types of neurons that seem to have no precedent in ancestral animals.

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Scientists Use “Acoustic Holograms” To Form Particles Into Complex 3D Shapes

Posted by Jose Ruben Rodriguez Fuentes in biological, holograms, particle physics

Feb 14
2023

That’s exactly what researchers in Germany set out to do, making use of “acoustic holograms” to form distinct 3D shapes out of particles suspended in water — all in “one shot,” said study lead author Kai Melde, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute, in a press release.

According to a study on the work, published last week in the journal Science Advances, the researchers were able to create a helix and a figure 8 out of silica gel beads, assembled biological cells into spherical clumps, and even provided a compelling concept for forming the shape of a dove in future experiments.

These acoustic holograms work by cleverly manipulating the pressure exerted by high frequency ultrasonic waves via the inexpensive use of a conventionally 3D-printed plate.

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The Inner Life of the Cell by Harvard and HHMI narrated by Tydell

Posted by Dan Breeden in biological

Feb 14
2023

The Inner Life of the Cell by Harvard and HHMIThis is just me showing you how much you’ve already learned about biology.

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New Models Help Unveil the Mystery of Life’s Origins on Earth

Posted by Dan Breeden in biological, chemistry

Feb 14
2023

New research reveals clues about the physical and chemical characteristics of Earth when life is thought to have emerged.

About four billion years ago, the first signs of life emerged on Earth in the form of microbes. Although scientists are still determining exactly when and how these microbes appeared, it’s clear that the emergence of life is intricately intertwined with the chemical and physical characteristics of early Earth.

“It is reasonable to suspect that life could have started differently—or not at all—if the early chemical characteristics of our planet were different,” says Dustin Trail, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester.

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A deep reinforcement learning model that allows AI agents to track odor plumes

Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in biological, food, robotics/AI

Feb 12
2023

For a long time, scientists and engineers have drawn inspiration from the amazing abilities of animals and have sought to reverse engineer or reproduce these in robots and artificial intelligence (AI) agents. One of these behaviors is odor plume tracking, which is the ability of some animals, particularly insects, to home in on the source of specific odors of interest (e.g., food or mates), often over long distances.

A new study by researchers at University of Washington and University of Nevada, Reno has taken an innovative approach using artificial neural networks (ANNs) in understanding this remarkable ability of flying insects. Their work, recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence, exemplifies how artificial intelligence is driving groundbreaking new scientific insights.

“We were motivated to study a complex biological behavior, odor plume-tracking, that flying insects (and other animals) use to find food or mates,” Satpreet H. Singh, the lead author on the study, told Tech Xplore. “Biologists have experimentally studied many aspects of insect plume tracking in great detail, as it is a critical behavior for insect survival and reproduction. ”.

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Tassili n’Ajjer

Posted by Dan Breeden in biological

Feb 11
2023

Tassili n’Ajjer is a national park in the Sahara desert, located on a vast plateau in southeastern Algeria, bordering Libya, Niger, and Mali. It covers an area of roughly 80,000 sq. km. and contains one of the most important collections of prehistoric rock art in the world; it was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1982. In 1986, UNESCO declared the area a Biosphere Reserve.

The plateau is composed largely of sandstone, and the natural erosion has resulted in hundreds of natural rock arches and other spectacular land formations — the ‘forests of stone’. Because of the altitude and the water-holding properties of the sandstone, the vegetation is somewhat richer than in the surrounding desert, and includes scattered woodland of the endangered endemic species of the Saharan cypress — one of the oldest trees in the world — and the Saharan myrtle. The literal English translation of Tassili n’Ajjer is ‘plateau of rivers’. Relict populations of the West African crocodile persisted in the Tassili n’Ajjer until the twentieth century. Various other fauna still reside on the plateau, including Barbary sheep, the only surviving type of the larger mammals depicted in the rock art of the area.

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New models shed light on life’s origin

Posted by Dan Breeden in biological, chemistry, space

Feb 11
2023

The first signs of life emerged on Earth in the form of microbes about four billion years ago. While scientists are still determining exactly when and how these microbes appeared, it’s clear that the emergence of life is intricately intertwined with the chemical and physical characteristics of early Earth.

But what was Earth like billions of years ago, and what characteristics may have helped life to form? In a paper published in Science, Trail and Thomas McCollom, a research associate at the University of Colorado Boulder, reveal key information in the quest to find out. The research has important implications not only for discovering the origins of life but also in the search for life on other planets.

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Why Carl Sagan believed that science is a source of spirituality

Posted by Dan Breeden in biological, ethics, evolution, law, science

Feb 11
2023

Yes, the world has some serious problems, but if we did not have problems, we would never be forced to find new solutions. Problems push progress forward. Let’s embrace our ultimate existential challenges and come together to solve them. It is time to forget our differences and think of ourselves only as humans, engaged in a common biological and moral struggle. If the cosmic perspective, and the philosophy of poetic meta-naturalism, or some similar world-view of evolution and emergence, can build a bridge between the reductionist worldview and the religions of the world, then we can be optimistic that a new level of order and functionality will emerge from the current sea of chaos.

Knowledge is enlightenment, knowledge is transcendence, and knowledge is power. The tendency toward disorder described by the second law requires that life acquire knowledge forever, giving us all an individual and collective purpose by creating the constraint that forces us to create. By becoming aware of our emergent purpose, we can live more meaningful lives, in harmony with one another and with the aspirations of nature. You are not a cosmic accident. You are a cosmic imperative.

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Consciousness in the machine

Posted by Jose Ruben Rodriguez Fuentes in biological, robotics/AI

Feb 10
2023

Earlier this year, Google fired Blake Lemoine, for claiming that the company’s chatbot was a self aware person. While the claim was derided, the belief that one day AI will become conscious is widespread and, according to a recent survey, held by 79% of experts. But many claim this is a fundamental error. While machines are becoming ever more capable and intelligent we still have no idea how a machine could create consciousness nor are neuroscientists able to provide an explanation for how the human brain does so.

Should we accept that consciousness arises in biological beings and that AI just isn’t made of the ‘right stuff’? Or, is it possible that a computer that observes, interacts, and represents its own internal state to itself might also give rise to consciousness? Then again, is the puzzle deeper still on the grounds that we have no means of determining whether an intelligent machine, an organism or even a person other than ourselves is conscious or not?

Legendary anti-reality theorist Donald Hoffman, fearless computer scientist and philosopher Bernardo Kastrup and distinguished AI ethicist and philosopher Susan Schneider lock horns over the possibility of AI consciousness. Theories of Everything’s Curt Jaimungal hosts.

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Quantum tunneling to boost memory consolidation in AI

Posted by Jose Ruben Rodriguez Fuentes in biological, chemistry, neuroscience, quantum physics, robotics/AI

Feb 10
2023

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have made tremendous progress in the past few years including the recent launch of ChatGPT and art generators, but one thing that is still outstanding is an energy-efficient way to generate and store long-and short-term memories at a form factor that is comparable to a human brain. A team of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has developed an energy-efficient way to consolidate long-term memories on a tiny chip.

Shantanu Chakrabartty, the Clifford W. Murphy Professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, and members of his lab developed a relatively simple device that mimics the dynamics of the brain’s synapses, connections between neurons that allows signals to pass information. The artificial synapses used in many modern AI systems are relatively simple, whereas biological synapses can potentially store complex memories due to an exquisite interplay between different chemical pathways.

Chakrabartty’s group showed that their artificial synapse could also mimic some of these dynamics that can allow AI systems to continuously learn new tasks without forgetting how to perform old tasks. Results of the research were published Jan. 13 in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

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