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Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body

People with spinal cord injuries treat wheelchairs as part of their body, not as an extension of immobile limbs
March 8, 2013

wheelchair

The human brain can learn to treat relevant prosthetics as a substitute for a non-working body part, according to research published March 6 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Mariella Pazzaglia and colleagues from Sapienza University and IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia of Rome in Italy, supported by the International Foundation for Research in Paraplegie.

The researchers found that wheelchair-bound study participants with spinal cord injuries perceived their… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement

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Human Connectome Project releases major data set on brain connectivity

March 8, 2013

Areas of interest for the Human Connectome Project’s brain-mapping efforts include functional connectivity, which is a system of networks that become active in the brain when a subject is at rest. Regions in yellow and red are functionally connected to the “seed” location (black circle, arrow), while regions in green and blue are weakly connected or not connected at all. (Credit: M.F. Glasser and S.M. Smith)

The Human Connectome Project, a five-year endeavor to link brain connectivity to human behavior, has released a set of high-quality imaging and behavioral data to the scientific community.

The project has two major goals: to collect vast amounts of data using advanced brain imaging methods on a large population of healthy adults, and to make the data freely available so that scientists worldwide can make… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Nontoxic, traceable nanoparticles may be the next weapon in cancer treatment

March 8, 2013

Theranostic NPs (hydrophobic segments are visual-<br /> ized in green and hydrophilic segments in blue)

Swedish scientists have developed “theranostic” (having both a therapeutic and diagnostic function) nanoparticles that can carry cancer drugs to tumor cells without toxicity and are biodegradable and traceable (can be seen in MRI images).

The nanoparticles were developed by a team including KTH Royal Institute of Technology Professor Eva Malmström-Jonsson, from the School of Chemical Science and researchers at Sweden’s Chalmer’s University and the Karolinska… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Support cells found in human brain make mice smarter

March 8, 2013

brain_mice_human_astrocytes

Glial cells — a family of cells found in the human central nervous system and, until recently, considered mere “housekeepers” — now appear to be essential to the unique complexity of the human brain.

Scientists reached this conclusion after demonstrating that when transplanted into mice, these human cells could influence communication within the brain, allowing the animals to learn more rapidly.

The study suggests that the… read more

Topics: Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Will anyone create a killer app for Google Glass?

March 7, 2013

Google's Glass Foundary

Google is creating high expectations that Google Glass will become a mass-market device, MIT Technology Review reports.

A new company, Augmedix, is making a Google Glass app for doctors, not for their patients. Founder Ian Shakil says his company is already testing it with medical facilities using the Vuzix M100, another smart glasses gadget coming out this year.

Google said there were more than 80… read more

Topics: VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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How tiny cameras have become big business

March 7, 2013

pivothead

If you are a fan of action sports you have probably already noticed that putting tiny cameras on people’s heads — and in other unlikely locations — has become big business, BBC News reports.

Pivothead is putting superior technology into sunglasses worn by highway patrol officers in places like Austin, Texas. The glasses are able to capture the details of a driver’s face in high-definition… read more

Topics: Electronics | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Europa’s ocean may closely resemble Earth’s

March 7, 2013

europa_ocean

Cal tech and NASA JPL researchers have found the strongest evidence yet that salty water from the vast liquid ocean beneath Europa’s frozen exterior actually makes its way to the surface.

The finding, based on some of the best data of its kind since NASA’s Galileo mission (1989 to 2003) to study Jupiter and its moons, suggests there is a chemical exchange between the ocean and surface,… read more

Topics: Biotech | Space

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Award mints millionaire biologists

March 7, 2013

life sciences breakthrough prize

A team of entrepreneurs has awarded its first round of a $3-million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Nature News Blog reports.

Last summer, Russian social media magnate Yuri Milner awarded the first Fundamental Physics Prizes, a series of $3-million awards to theoretical physicists.

Now he has decided to invite biologists to the party, uniting with former Genentech chief executive Art Levinson,… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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Evidence that comets could have seeded life on Earth

March 7, 2013

Comets like Halley’s can be a breeding ground for complex molecules such as dipeptides. Comets colliding with Earth could have delivered these molecules and seeded the growth of more complex proteins and sugars necessary for life. (Credit: NASA)

A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space reveals that the complex building blocks of life could have been created on icy interplanetary dust and then carried to Earth aboard a comet or possibly meteorites, jump-starting life.

Chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, showed that conditions in space are capable of creating complex dipeptides — linked pairs of… read more

Topics: Biotech | Space

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Devices aim to deliver on stem-cell therapies

Bendable needle increases reach of a single injection to the brain
March 6, 2013

Neurosurgeon Daniel Lim's injection system can bend sideways, delivering therapeutic stem cells to the brain through fewer holes in the skull (credit: J. Bardi/UCSF)

Working with bioengineers and neurosurgeons, Daniel Lim, a neurosurgeon and stem-cell scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, has designed a needle that bends for for delivering stem cells to the brain,  Nature News reports.

The device can deposit cells anywhere within a 2-centimetre radius along a track, a volume bigger than an entire mouse brain.

Several researchers hope to use Lim’s device for clinical trials… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Global e-mail patterns reveal ‘clash of civilizations’

March 6, 2013

The mesh of civilizations in e-mail patterns (credit: Bogdan State et al.)

The global pattern of e-mail communication reflects the cultural fault lines thought to determine future conflict, say computational social scientists.

In 1992, the Harvard-based political scientist Samuel Huntington suggested that future conflicts would be driven largely by cultural differences. He went on to map out a new world order in which the people of the world are divided into nine culturally distinct civilizations.

His argument was that future… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Brain-boosting technique might help some functions while hurting others

March 6, 2013

transcranial_stimulation

Electrically stimulating the brain may enhance memory, but impede a person’s ability to react without thinking, MIT Technology Review reports.

Using a noninvasive technique called transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) to stimulate the brain, researchers found they could enhance learning when they targeted a certain spot.

But that also made people worse at automaticity, or the ability to perform a task without really thinking about it. Stimulating another… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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How to tell who a person is thinking about

March 6, 2013

Left LTC and dorsal mPFC

It is possible to tell who a person is thinking about by analyzing images of his or her brain.

Our mental models of people produce unique patterns of brain activation, which can be detected using advanced imaging techniques according to a study by Cornell University neuroscientist Nathan Spreng and his colleagues.

“When we looked at our data, we were shocked that we could successfully… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Pushing the bounds of superconductivity

March 6, 2013

Superlattice structure of superconductor epitaxial thin films (credit: S. Lee et al./Nature Materials)

A multi-university team of researchers has engineered a unique multilayer material designed to achieve extraordinary superconducting properties — in particular, the ability to transport much more electrical current than non-engineered materials.

The team, led by Chang-Beom Eom, the Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering and physics at UW-Madison, includes experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University and the University… read more

Topics: Electronics | Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Graphene antennas would enable terabit wireless downloads

March 6, 2013

nanodevice_gatech

Researchers at Georgia Tech have drawn up blueprints for a wireless antenna made from atom-thin sheets of carbon, or graphene, that could allow terabit-per-second transfer speeds at a range of about one meter, MIT Technology Review reports

This would make it possible to obtain 10 high-definition movies by waving your phone past another device for one second. At even shorter ranges, such as a few centimeters, data… read more

Topics: Electronics | Internet/Telecom | Nanotech/Materials Science

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