Lifeboat Foundation

In a single leap from tabletop to the microscale, engineers at Stanford University have produced the world’s first practical titanium-sapphire laser on a chip.

Researchers have developed a chip-scale Titanium-sapphire laser that is significantly smaller and less expensive than traditional models, making it accessible for broader applications in quantum optics, neuroscience, and other fields. This new technology is expected to enable labs to have hundreds of these powerful lasers on a single chip, fueled by a simple green laser pointer.

As lasers go, those made of Titanium-sapphire (Ti: sapphire) are considered to have “unmatched” performance. They are indispensable in many fields, including cutting-edge quantum optics, spectroscopy, and neuroscience. But that performance comes at a steep price. Ti: sapphire lasers are big, on the order of cubic feet in volume. They are expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars each. And they require other high-powered lasers, themselves costing $30,000 each, to supply them with enough energy to function.

Researchers found that inhibiting the degradation of vitamin B6 in cells using 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone enhances brain functions and could offer a new treatment method for mental and neurodegenerative disorders.

Vitamin B6 plays a crucial role in brain metabolism. Consequently, low levels of vitamin B6 are linked to memory and learning impairments, depressive moods, and clinical depression in various mental disorders. In the elderly, insufficient vitamin B6 is associated with memory decline and dementia.

Although some of these observations were made decades ago, the exact role of vitamin B6 in mental illness is still largely unclear. What is clear, however, is that an increased intake of vitamin B6 alone, for example in the form of dietary supplements, is insufficient to prevent or treat disorders of brain function.

Researchers have suspected for some time that the link between our gut and brain plays a role in the development of Parkinson’s disease.

A new study just identified gut microbes likely to be involved and linked them with decreased riboflavin (vitamin B2) and biotin (vitamin B7), pointing the way to an unexpectedly simple treatment that may help: B vitamins.

“Supplementation of riboflavin and/or biotin is likely to be beneficial in a subset of Parkinson’s disease patients, in which gut dysbiosis plays pivotal roles,” Nagoya University medical researcher Hiroshi Nishiwaki and colleagues write in their published paper.

MD Anderson researchers identify molecule that reduces age-related inflammation and improves brain and muscle function in preclinical models.

MD Anderson News Release June 21, 2024

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have demonstrated that therapeutically restoring…

Continue reading “Activating molecular target reverses multiple hallmarks of aging” »

In pausing to think before making an important decision, we may imagine the potential outcomes of different choices we could make. While this “mental simulation” is central to how we plan and make decisions in everyday life, how the brain works to accomplish this is not well understood.

An international team of scientists has now uncovered neural mechanisms used in planning. Its results, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, suggest that an interplay between the brain’s prefrontal cortex and hippocampus allows us to imagine future outcomes in order to guide our decisions.

“The prefrontal cortex acts as a ‘simulator,’ mentally testing out possible actions using a cognitive map stored in the hippocampus,” explains Marcelo Mattar, an assistant professor in New York University’s Department of Psychology and one of the paper’s authors.

Want to join the debate? Check out the Intelligence Squared website to hear about future live events and podcasts: http://www.intelligencesquared.com.
__________________________

How come there are conscious minds?
How do language and culture evolve?
Should we still teach children things which computers can do better?
Will our smart electronic devices rob us of our intelligence?
Will human intelligence and AI co-evolve?

Continue reading “Daniel Dennett on the Evolution of the Mind, Consciousness and AI” »

The role that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) may be caused by a higher level of cross-reactivity, where the body’s immune system binds to the wrong target, than previously thought.

In a new study published in PLOS Pathogens, researchers looked at blood samples from people with MS, as well as healthy people infected with EBV and people recovering from glandular fever caused by recent EBV infection.

The study investigated how the immune system deals with EBV infection as part of worldwide efforts to understand how this common virus can lead to the development of multiple sclerosis, following 20 years of mounting evidence showing a link between the two.

Positive life experiences boost brain mitochondrial health, potentially providing protection against certain brain disorders and promoting longevity.

In @MedicalXpress: https://ow.ly/BNn750SrT3c.

In PNAS: https://ow.ly/wT1e50SrT3b.

Continue reading “Psychosocial experiences are associated with human brain mitochondrial biology” »

Adenosine-to-inosine editing is a form of RNA modification observed in the human brain transcriptome. Here the authors question the accuracy of utilizing postmortem samples to reflect the RNA biology of living brains. This is due to significant differences in adenosine-to-inosine editing between living and postmortem brain tissues, with most sites exhibiting higher editing levels postmortem.