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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 924

Sep 11, 2015

Will Scientists Ever Solve the Mystery of Consciousness?

Posted by in categories: evolution, neuroscience

We still have no idea how the brain produces conscious awareness. In this excellent short video produced by The Economist, various experts are called upon to explain the “hard problem” that is consciousness, and how scientists might solve this profound mystery.

For the video, The Economist gathered together an impressive collection of philosophers and scientists, including David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Christof Koch, Janet Metcalfe, and Marcus Raichle. Topics discussed include the evolution of consciousness, the binding problem, and theory of mind.

Continue reading “Will Scientists Ever Solve the Mystery of Consciousness?” »

Sep 11, 2015

The 5 common traits of negligibly senescent species

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, life extension, neuroscience

The biology of aging is traditionally studied in fast-living organisms such as mice, worms and fruit flies. Short-lived species certainly have a role to play in this field, but they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Within the natural ecosystem, organisms display a range of aging processes, most often accelerated aging, or gradual aging (in the case of humans), but also, a range of species with slow or even negligible aging, which is known as negligible senescence. Unlike humans, such species have a constant mortality rate for the duration of their lifespan, as well as a constant or even increasing fertility rate. The number of negligibly senescent species which we are currently aware of is likely to grow as more and more are studied and discovered, both in the wild and in the lab.

By studying the processes which give these creatures longer lifespans, there is the possibility that they could be recreated in humans in order to extend our own. How negligible senescence is achieved by each individual species varies, but here are five of the most common traits.

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Sep 8, 2015

Why Physicists Are Saying Consciousness Is A State Of Matter, Like a Solid, A Liquid Or A Gas

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, physics

A new way of thinking about consciousness is sweeping through science like wildfire. Now physicists are using it to formulate the problem of consciousness in concrete mathematical terms for the first time.

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Sep 6, 2015

Watch These Embryonic Stem Cells Morph Into Neurons

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Watch These Embryonic Stem Cells Morph Into Neurons.

UCSF researchers have developed a method to precisely control embryonic stem cell differentiation with light — transforming them into neurons in response to an external cue. The research also revealed an internal timer within stem cells which can ‘tune out’ regular biological noise, but trigger rapid transformation when there is a strong and persistent signal.

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Sep 6, 2015

The Holy Grail: Machine Learning + Extreme Robotics

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

Two experts on robotics and machine learning will reveal breakthrough developments in humanlike robots and machine learning at the annual SXSW conference in Austin next March, in a proposed* panel called “The Holy Grail: Machine Learning + Extreme Robotics.”

Participants will interact with Hanson Robotics’ forthcoming state-of-the-art female Sophia robot as a participant on the panel as she spontaneously tracks human faces, listens to speech, and generates a natural-language response while participating in dialogue about the potential of genius machines.

This conversation on the future of advanced robotics combined with machine learning and cognitive science will feature visionary Hanson Robotics founder/CEO David Hanson and Microsoft executive Jim Kankanias, who heads Program Management for Information Management and Machine Learning in the Cloud + Enterprise Division at Microsoft. The panel will be moderated by Hanson Robotics consultant Eric Shuss.

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Sep 4, 2015

Why’s IBM Investing $3 Billion In Quantum Computing & Synth Brains? Trillion Dollar Humanoid Market

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience, quantum physics, transportation

1. Silicon technology has taken humanity a long way forward from 1947 when the first transistor was invented by the Nobel prize winners Shockley, Bardeen & Brattain.

2. From smart mobile telephones we rely on to the sophisticated satellite navigation systems guiding our cars, a lot of techno-magic we see around us is a result of our ability to scale silicon-tech that turns hitherto science fiction into everyday reality at affordable prices.

3. All the Nobel laureates, scientists and engineers we liaise with at Quantum Innovation Labs http://QiLabs.net collectively realise the end of the silicon-scaling era is coming to end as the Moore’s Law era for Silicon-based computers finally concludes.

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Sep 3, 2015

Live: AMA with a scientist who is working on a way to “laser print” neurons

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Reddit AMAs are such a great feature. They’re one of the (admittedly few) redeeming features that keep the community interesting enough to follow, despite all the crap that the site otherwise plays host to.

In this Ask Me Anything, a series in which a notable person stays with a Reddit topic to answer Redditors’ questions, Matt Thomson from the UC San Francisco explains how he and the team he works with are able to use coloured light to get stem cells to develop in such a way as to form otherwise rare neurons, and similar cells that have until recently been beyond cellular biologists’ grasp. Here’s a video to get you started:

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Sep 3, 2015

V1.0: A Network Edition is here!

Posted by in categories: energy, neuroscience, transportation

The brain of a honey bee uses about ~0.1mW of power. While the brain of a self driving car ~100W. That’s a power factor of about one million. We’ve got a very long way to go.


V1.0: A Network Edition is here! http://ow.ly/RAI4k.

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Sep 1, 2015

Scientists Make an Old Brain Act Young

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Learning the secrets of brain plasticity means learning how to help those suffering from stroke or dementia.

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Aug 26, 2015

Listening

Posted by in categories: entertainment, neuroscience

LISTENING, the award-winning debut feature from visionary director Khalil Sullins, is a psychological thriller about penniless grad students who invent mind-reading technology that destroys their lives. David, Ryan, and Jordan hope the telepathy invention will solve all their problems, but the bleeding-edge technology opens a Pandora’s box of new dangers, as the team discovers that when they open their minds, there is nowhere to hide their thoughts. Secrets and betrayals surface, and the technology is stolen by a covert government agency with a hidden agenda. With no one left to trust, David is forced against his friends in a life-or-death battle over not only the privacy of the human mind, but the future of free will itself.

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