Lifeboat Foundation

Over 350 million surgeries are performed globally each year. For most of us, it’s likely at some point in our lives we’ll have to undergo a procedure that needs general anaesthesia.

Even though it is one of the safest medical practices, we still don’t have a complete, thorough understanding of precisely how anaesthetic drugs work in the brain.

In fact, it has largely remained a mystery since general anaesthesia was introduced into medicine over 180 years ago.

Mr Arbaugh said that the device has given him the ability to have nearly full control over using a computer, using only his thoughts.

Dennett’s classic story raises deep philosophical questions about identity and consciousness.

Tuberous sclerosis is a rare genetic disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and other organs. The disease can be mild, or it can cause severe disabilities. Tuberous sclerosis has no cure, but treatments can help symptoms. More info here.

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is a rare genetic disease. It causes benign tumors in the brain and other organs. Learn about symptoms and what can help.

The new research is the most accurate yet at predicting internal words:

Caltech’s researchers have developed a brain-machine interface capable of decoding internal speech, potentially transforming internal speech.

In good news for future animation figureheads, there might be a new way to revive frozen brains without damaging them. Scientists in China have developed a new chemical concoction that lets brain tissue function again after being frozen.

Freezing is effective at keeping organic material from decomposing, but it still causes damage. As the water inside turns to ice, the crystals tear apart the cells. That’s why frozen meat or fruit goes a bit mushy after it’s defrosted – but a bigger problem is that it also happens with organs or tissues chilled for transplant or research.

For the new study, scientists at Fudan University in China experimented with various chemical compounds to see which ones might work to preserve living brain tissue during freezing. They started by testing out promising chemicals on brain organoids – small, lab-grown lumps of brain tissue that develop into different types of related cells.

In 1998, a paper linking childhood vaccines with autism was published in the journal, The Lancet, only to be retracted in 2010 when the science was debunked.

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I met Prof. Ed Boyden at last year’s Global Future 2045 conference in New York. There I was highly impressed with Boyden’s impressive work in neuroscience in general and optogenetics in particular, as well as the profound implications it would have on our ability to understand and manipulate the brain. And so I knew instantly I must bring him for an interview.

Disgust is one of the six basic human emotions, along with happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and surprise. Disgust typically arises when a person perceives a sensory stimulus or situation as revolting, off-putting, or unpleasant in other ways.