#US Congress Curbs NSA Surveillance, Sends Bill to Obama The US Senate passed landmark legislation Tuesday that ends the government's bulk telephone data dragnet,
#This Injectable Brain Implant Can Record and Stimulate Individual Neurons For those who need them most,
brain implants have made inspiring strides in recent years. One implant eases the involuntary tremors associated with Parkinson disease.
Most implants are still sizable relative to the brain, many are rigid, and all require invasive surgery.
"and spacious, allowing it to naturally incorporate into the brain and invite nearby cells to organize
and injected through a hole into the brain. This makes the procedure less invasive than current techniques.
and drapes onto the brain undulating surface. Nanowires connecting the mesh with computers in the outside world can either record brain activity
the body not reject themfter five weeks. xisting techniques are crude relative to the way the brain is wired,
The potential power of less-invasive, more targeted brain implants and interfaces is significant. On the one hand, just as brain imaging technology has deepened our understanding of how the brain works,
implants measuring neurons in vivo can make that picture even more detailed and complete. Such research may provide valuable insights into the causes of brain disease and how the brain processes informationpening the door for reverse engineering certain processes in computers,
to make them more efficient and, when practical, to allow them to think creatively and make sense of the world more like us.
better brain implants may prove powerful therapeutic toolshether easing the symptoms of Parkinson or restoring a degree of freedom to those suffering paralysis. And more.)
Naam calls this the DOS era for brain implants. But as devices shrink, become less invasive
In findings that may lead to new treatments for cognitive disorders, researchers at MIT Picower Institute for Learning and Memory zero in on how the brain forms memories of
and how the brain changes as learning occurs something that has been very difficult to achieve.
who is also a member of Columbia Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. ith SCAPE,
such as neurons firing in the rodent brain, crawling fruit fly larvae, and single cells in the zebrafish heart while the heart is actually beating spontaneouslyhis has not been possible until now.
even delivering neurons that flash as they fire in the living brain. Yet imaging techniques that can capture these dizzying dynamic processes have lagged behind.
Hillman and her collaborators have used already the system to observe firing in 3d neuronal dendritic trees in superficial layers of the mouse brain.
and Kimara Targoff (assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics), all of whom are starting to use the SCAPE system in their research. eciphering the functions of brain
#Single brain peptide could be the clue to improving fertility post-stress Infertility is a growing problem in the developed world,
In Canada, nearly 75,000 people have MS. The brain is protected normally from attacks by the blood-brain barrier.
They attack the brain by destroying the myelin sheath that protects neurons, resulting in decreased transmission of nerve impulses,
Specifically, stem cell scientists at Mcmaster can now directly convert adult human blood cells to both central nervous system (brain
In extreme conditions, pain or numbness is perceived by the brain using signals sent by these peripheral nerves. he problem is that unlike blood, a skin sample or even a tissue biopsy,
me great pleasure to be part of the solution for improving paralyzed patientslives. part of the brain that controls intuitive movement planning could be key to improving motor control in paralyzed patients with prostheticsneural prosthetic devices
implanted in the brain movement center, the motor cortex, can allow patients with amputations or paralysis to control the movement of a robotic limb one that can be connected
Now, by implanting neuroprosthetics in a part of the brain that controls not the movement directly but rather our intent to move,
because movement signals cannot get from the brain to the arms and legs. As a solution, earlier neuroprosthetic implants used tiny electrodes to detect
The recorded signal is carried then via wire bundles from the patient brain to a computer,
And that is exactly what we would expect from this area of the brain. his better understanding of the PPC will help the researchers improve neuroprosthetic devices of the future,
Direct brain control of robots and computers has the potential to dramatically change the lives of many people,
says that advancements in prosthetics like these hold promise for the future of patient rehabilitation. e at Rancho are dedicated to advancing rehabilitation through new assistive technologies, such as robotics and brain-machine interfaces.
The key is to be able to provide particular types of sensory feedback from the robotic arm to the brain.
The newest devices under development by Andersen and his colleagues feature a mechanism to relay signals from the robotic arm back into the part of the brain that gives the perception of touch. he reason we are developing these devices is that normally a quadriplegic patient couldn,
which is inspired loosely by the neural circuitry of the human brain when it perceives and interacts with the world.
researchers from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics demonstrated in mice that traces of old memories do remain in the amnestic brain,
Japan, was interested in how stable memories are formed in the brain and whether memories whose storage was disrupted by chemically inducing retrograde amnesia,
during the training period, brain connections between unique memory engrams in neighboring brain structures may be strengthened
#Injectable electronics New system holds promise for basic neuroscience, treatment of neurodegenerative diseasesit a notion that might be pulled from the pages of science-fiction novel electronic devices that can be injected directly into the brain,
if you want to study the brain or develop the tools to explore the brain-machine interface,
you need to stick something into the body. When releasing the electronics scaffold completely from the fabrication substrate,
'hough not the first attempts at implanting electronics into the brain deep brain stimulation has been used to treat a variety of disorders for decades the nano-fabricated scaffolds operate on a completely different scale. xisting techniques are crude relative
to the way the brain is wired, Lieber explained. hether it a silicon probe or flexible polymershey cause inflammation in the tissue that requires periodically changing the position or the stimulation.
researchers hope to better understand how the brain and other tissues react to the injectable electronics over longer periods.
or connectors, between cells and between regions of the brain. In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience,
researchers report successfully growing multiple brain structures and forming connections between them in vitro, in a single culture vessel,
Mesencephalic dopaminergic (mda) neurons and their connections to other neurons in the brain are believed to be related to disorders including drug abuse, schizophrenia, Parkinson disease,
more effective Brain surgery is famously difficult for good reason: When removing a tumor, for example, neurosurgeons walk a tightrope as they try to take out as much of the cancer as possible
Now Johns Hopkins researchers report they have developed an imaging technology that could provide surgeons with a color-coded map of a patient brain showing
thought OCT might provide a solution to the problem of separating brain cancers from other tissue during surgery.
Eventually, the researchers figured out that a second special property of brain cancer cells that they lack the so-called myelin sheaths that coat healthy brain cells had a greater effect on the OCT readings than did density.
Once they had found the characteristic OCT ignatureof brain cancer, the team devised a computer algorithm to process OCT data and,
the team has tested the system on fresh human brain tissue removed during surgeries and in surgeries to remove brain tumors from mice.
#Specific roles of adult neural stem cells may be determined before birth UCSF-led study in mice suggest that stem cells in the brain may not be able to develop into many different cell types,
whose lab was the first to identify neural stem cells more than 20 years ago. e did not see that. n mouse brains,
as in human brains, adult neural stem cells reside on the walls of cavities called ventricles, which are filled with cerebrospinal fluid.
uite early in embryonic brain development, said Alvarez-Buylla, and then remain quiescent until reactivated later in life.
it turns out that their role in the brain has been determined partly already before birth. he researchers had another surprise,
the scientists found that the mouse adult neural stem cells they studied are derived from embryonic neural stem cells that produce neurons in entirely different parts of the brain. his means that, somehow,
these cells go through a period of neuron production for the embryonic brain and then switch to a different mode and produce cells that get set apart to become adult neural cell progenitors,
mouse brains have long been accepted as excellent basic research models for the human brain, he said.
Alvarez-Buylla also noted that the paper has possible implications for the success of human stem cell therapy in the brain
if we don understand the embryology of the brain, going back to the origins of specific nerve cell types,
Even in the brain, where it is most common, 5fc is only present at around 10 parts per million or less.
he points out. ou may want to delete it after the cells have differentiated into heart, brain or liver cells.
helping convert sound into electrical signals that travel to the brain. The researchers tested gene therapy in two types of mutant mice.
In the dominant deafness model, gene therapy with a related gene, TMC2, was successful at the cellular and brain level,
generating an electrical signal that travels to the brain and ultimately translates to hearing. Although the channel is made up of either TMC1 or TMC2
#Futuristic brain probe allows for wireless control of neurons Scientists used soft materials to create a brain implant a tenth the width of a human hair that can wirelessly control neurons with lights and drugs.
and shine lights on neurons deep inside the brains of mice. The revolutionary device is described online in the journal Cell.
Its development was funded partially by the National institutes of health. t unplugs a world of possibilities for scientists to learn how brain circuits work in a more natural setting. said Michael R. Bruchas, Ph d.,associate professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Washington University School of medicine and a senior author
Both options require surgery that can damage parts of the brain and introduce experimental conditions that hinder animalsnatural movements.
and lights. e used powerful nanomanufacturing strategies to fabricate an implant that lets us penetrate deep inside the brain with minimal damage,
The scientists tested the device drug delivery potential by surgically placing it into the brains of mice.
In all of the experiments, the mice were about three feet away from the command antenna. his is the kind of revolutionary tool development that neuroscientists need to map out brain circuit activity
and pushed the drug out into the brain. e tried at least 30 different prototypes before one finally worked,
crowdsourcing approach to neuroscience is a great way to understand normal and healthy brain circuitry. ource
The researchers suggest that this change was due to the ability of electrical stimulation to reawaken dormant connections that may exist between the brain and the spinal cord of patients with complete motor paralysis. Surprisingly, by the end of the study,
further supporting the hypothesis of reestablished communication between the brain and spinal cord. Edgerton has initiated already a new study to see
#Take a trip through the brain A new imaging tool developed by Boston scientists could do for the brain
In the first demonstration of how the technology works, published July 30 in the journal Cell, the researchers look inside the brain of an adult mouse at a scale previously unachievable, generating images at a nanoscale resolution.
The inventorslong-term goal is to make the resource available to the scientific community in the form of a national brain observatory. a strong believer in bottom up-science,
The researchers have begun the process of mining their imaging data by looking first at an area of the brain that receives sensory information from mouse whiskers,
he complexity of the brain is much more than what we had imagined ever, says study first author Narayanan obbykasthuri,
The researchers see great potential in the tool ability to answer questions about what a neurological disorder actually looks like in the brain
as well as what makes the human brain different from other animals and different between individuals. Who we become is very much a product of the connections our neurons make in response to various life experiences.
and someone with schizophrenia would be a leap in our understanding of how our brains shape who we are (or vice versa).
the scientists are now partnering with Argonne National Laboratory with the hopes of creating a national brain laboratory that neuroscientists around the world can access within the next few years. t bittersweet that there are many scientists who think this is a total waste of time as well as a big
Devices like the Rift also use a less sophisticated method of tricking the brain into perceiving 3-D objects
#Injectable Implants Could Help Crack the Brain Codes A new type of flexible electronic device shows promise for long-term brain mapping
Understanding how the brain worksr doesn, as the case may beepends on deciphering the patterns of electrical signals its neurons produce.
can damage the brain and elicit an immune response, and they tend not to work for very long.
It could also shed light on the brain dysfunctions, like schizophrenia or Parkinson disease (see racking the Brain Codesand hining a Light on Madness.
Further down the road, the concept could lead to a better way to deliver therapeutic stimulation to address neurodegenerative diseases,
or a stable brain-computer interface that might help disabled people do things their condition usually wouldn allow them to do,
One current therapeutic use of implanted electronics is called deep brain stimulation, which is approved FDA and used to treat Parkinson disease.
The therapy involves inserting electrodes into certain regions of the brain and producing electrical pulses meant to regulate abnormal ones.
Implants for deep brain stimulation often must be repositioned or have adjusted their settings, and usually don last for more than a few years.
Now theye shown that they can use a syringe to inject the mesh scaffold into targeted areas in the brains of live mice.
When it encounters a ventricular cavity in the brain, for example, it can unfold to fill in the space,
A year ago, the company announced at CES that it had developed a compact computer for processing sensor information (see udi Shows Off a Compact Brain for Self-Driving Cars.
a technology that processes sensory information efficiently by loosely mimicking the way the brain works.
The resulting'neural nets'were inspired by the neural circuitry of the brain.""The key is that
using its Magnet proteins to create a photoactivatable Cas9 nuclease (pacas9) for light-controlled genome editing. he existing Cas9 does not allow to modify genome of a small subset of cells in tissue, such as neurons in the brain,
#New Human brain Language Map The map of language centers in the human brain is being redrawn.
Instead, the team suggests in a study published today (June 25) in the neurology journal Brain,
while sentence comprehension is handled by a complex network of brain areas. his provides an important change in our understanding of language comprehension in the brain,
Neuroscientist Carl Wernicke discovered in 1874 that some stroke victims with damage to the left sides of their brains suffered language impairment,
Wernicke and other researchers surmised that the patientsstrokes had damaged the language comprehension center of the brain.
So he and his colleagues performed language tests and brain MRIS on 72 PPA patients with damage inside and outside of Wernicke area.
PPA and stroke damage the brain differently; in PPA, cortical areas degenerate, but their underlying fiber pathways, necessary for communication between different language centers in the brain,
remain intact. Stroke, however, damages large swathes of brain matter. n this case, we saw a different map of language by comparing two different models of disease,
one based on strokes that destroy an entire region of brain, cortex as well as underlying pathways, and the other on a neurodegenerative disease that attacks mostly brain cells in cortex rather than the region as a whole, Mesulam said in the press release.
This means that language comprehension is much more diffuse and complicated in the brain, and the process likely relies on many interconnected brain regions,
rather than one constrained area. here is no center but a network of interconnected areas, each with a slightly different specialization,
#Three Monkey Brains, One Robotic Arm Linking the brains of multiple animals into a single rainetmay be key to efficiently solving problems with brain-machine interfaces (BMIS), according to two new studies
In the first, the researchers used electrodes to link the brains of three monkeys to a computer
The results of both sets of experiments, published yesterday (July 9) in Scientific Reports, represent the first iving computersand demonstrate that animal brains may be useful in performing tasks,
Nicolelis said in a press release. his is the first demonstration of a shared brain-machine interface,
Indeed, if human brains could be linked in a similar way, the results could be spectacular, Iyad Rahwan of the Masdar Institute in Dubai told New Scientist. t is really exciting.
and some sea creatures use thousands of lenses to provide information without the need for a sophisticated brain.
the BBC developed a prototype mind control TV using a low-cost headset equipped with sensors that measure electrical activity in the brain.
The users either concentrated hard or relaxed their brain until the volume bar showed the threshold had been reached, at
These pulses then stimulate the retina remaining cells, resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain.
But after scientists implanted chips into his brain three years ago, he's been able to move a robotic arm to shake hands;
"Sorto is one of a handful of people who have been given brain implants to help move objects with their minds since 2006,
Today's study differs from most previous research in the area of the brain researchers targeted for implants
Previously, scientists focused on the primary motor cortex, a part of the brain which coordinates the contractions muscles require to move
Instead, his group targeted a different area in the brain, one he'd studied in animals,
which area of the brain is better for implanting the chips four square millimeters that record the activity of about 100 neurons
The chip is like a microscopic pincushion that's pushed into the brain, Pruszynski says.
he says. like a microscopic pincushion that's been pushed into the brain But what might really improve the device would be feedback.
and his group is considering ways to pipe information into the brain, as well as out of it.
or focused you are by simply using your brain, but the idea behind these smart glasses is to provide a more accurate assessment of your level of focusf that's something you (or an employer!)
#Superabsorbent Polymer Blows Up Brain Samples To Give a Better View Researchers have come up with an inexpensive technique for enlarging brain samples
Ed Boyden, an associate professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, and the lead author of the study,
the researchers were able make the brain specimens grow bigger. They painted the specimens with fluorescent dye.
Researchers believe that this technique will allow them to study tiny brain samples, without needing powerful and expensive microscopes.
which expand and contract in the presence of nerve signals from brain. In salt containing water,
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