under the microscope

Brain aging study of nutrients in 100 people.

“When examining the cognitive data, the team found two types of brain aging: slower-than-accepted and accelerated. When they combined the cognitive data with the nutritional measurements, they found a certain nutritional profile clearly linked to those with slower brain aging.” […]

under the microscope

Brain scans can now see your mental imagery.

Who’s ready for this future? “Our proposed framework successfully reconstructed both seen images (i.e., those observed by the human eye) and imagined images from brain activity. Quantitative evaluation showed that our framework could identify seen and imagined images highly accurately […]

better doing

Why do you like what you like?

“Basically, your brain does game theory: Do the cool people around you like potatoes? Would you benefit from liking potatoes? Do you understand potato consumption rituals well-enough to blend in at the hot potato salons? Then: Start liking potatoes.” ~ learn more

big ideas

Thinking doesn’t just happen in the brain.

In October 2022, I shared this link where Michael Levin showcased work from his lab on organ regeneration. He had figured out that all cells communicate electrically, which is how they know what and where to be when they grow up. He demonstrated it by cutting a planarian […]

under the microscope

A protein to restore memories lost to Alzheimer’s.

There’s a protein that’s found in the kidney and brain that’s cleverly called KIBRA. “Kauwe, Pareja-Navarro et al. identify a KIBRA-dependent mechanism to repair the plasticity at synapses that is dysregulated in neurons underlying the loss of memory in tauopathy.” […]

under the microscope

Alzheimer’s linked to the gut, again.

“Published in Brain, the study shows that that the memory impairments in people with Alzheimer’s could be transferred to young animals through transplant of gut microbiota.” ~ learn more and original paper

under the microscope

Computer chip with built-in human brain tissue.

“Last year, Monash University scientists created the “DishBrain” – a semi-biological computer chip with some 800,000 human and mouse brain cells lab-grown into its electrodes. Demonstrating something like sentience, it learned to play Pong within five minutes.” ~ learn more