Plug into the Future

The future of brain technology may lay in its integration with artificial intelligence (A.I.).  For now, the prospects of a brain on the wire appears to be as a treatment for epilepsy.  With the development of better electrodes that measure small electrical fields developed by neurons, devices can be created that will correct a malfunctioning brain.

Old fashioned brain sensing technology could soon be obsolete.

A press release from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, describes a study on the cutting edge of this research.

“‘Electrodes are already being used to measure brain cell activity related to seizures in epilepsy patients, as well as planning surgical procedures. In the future, LFP signals [blogger's note: LFP, or Low Field Potential, means that the signals are very weak, but are still full of information.] measured by implanted electrodes could detect an impending epilepsy seizure and stop it by injecting a suitable electrical current,’ [Doctor Gaute] Einevoll says.”

As a piece of brainy tech, what Dr. Einevoll describes here is more like an implanted automatic defibrillator than a link to a computer intelligence.  Though, as electrodes get smaller, and more sensitive to brain cell ‘chatter,’ the possibility of an implanted cap of electrodes listening in becomes all too real.

Aside from healing us, what it could teach us could prove more groundbreaking.  The development of the ultimate form of artificial intelligence, one that perfectly mimics our own, may come from implant technology.  The more we begin to understand the brain, the more easily a computer could be programmed to think like us — perhaps by learning to understand the conversations our neurons use now.

Nothing "beets" eggs and some fish!

In order to increase intelligence in adult mammals, the trick may be as simple as what you eat.  According to MIT scientists, in a study published in the journal, FASEB, eating eggs, beets, and deep water fish might just be the way to a stronger brain.

Eggs contain brain cell stimulating choline.

From the press release published on Sciencedaily.com:
“In the study, gerbils were given various combinations of three compounds needed for healthy brain membranes: choline, found in eggs; uridine monophosphate (UMP) found in beets; and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), found in fish oils…’[and] now that we know how to make gerbils smarter,’ said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.”

The scientists found that the experimental gerbils given the ingredients found more success in navigating mazes than a control group which was not.  After dissection, more synaptic activity consistent with higher intelligence was also noted.

So, students take heed, that Ramen noodle diet is not the ideal nutritional plan for a higher GPA.  Instead, a protein breakfast, filled with fried eggs, smoked salmon, and perhaps a cold beet salad might just be the prescription that puts you at the top of the class.

A recipe for beet salad with goat cheese is here for your own experimentation.

Walking the Brainy Path

Lucy, our bipedal ancestor, marked a significant revolution in neuro-anatomy.  Given that we finally compartmentalized our anatomy half-wise, with the legs now exclusively for travel and hands free to finagle, tool making was born.  So too grew marked accomplishments in language around 75,000 years ago, another useful tool for our early ancestors.

As we began walking on foot and making larger strides in tool making, a new kind of group mind emerged according to University of Colorado at Boulder archeologists.  Art, or cultural achievements, were evidence of this new form of mind emergence.

Next time you take a step in those new Nike Air’s, or tap that iPhone screen, consider the long journey our minds made to reach this level of achievement.

Also, while walking the brainy path, remember that to stave off mental decline, such footsteps still are the fundamental exercise for a youthful brain.  See the earlier blog entry, Walk Away, The Default Won’t Stay, for more detail on why walking is so good for the brain.

Another good article for the weight and brain conscious is this little gem from USA Today: Weight loss improves memory, research shows.  In it, research focused in on memory and organizational skill  with substantial increases after weight loss surgery.  Another great reason to exercise as a path to mental youth and wellness.

Spines or Space

A recent study has used skin cells from schizophrenic patients to clone neurons in their genome.  This is an example of therapeutic stem cell cloning.  Once the patients skin cells are turned into pluripotent stem cells, they are then turned into brain cells with chemical means.  After this, the researchers examined how the new neurons connected to each other through dendritic spines from each of the patients own genetic code.   In the study, they proved that neurons in patients with schizophrenia do not connect as well as they should.  Only one of the commonly used anti-psychotics, called Loxapine, improved the connections of the neurons to each other. How effective others may be is a study of measure to be completed with other factors examined.

In this blog’s previous entry, Hormones Bring a New Brain, it was reported that Northwestern University scientists unlocked the code of estrogen receptors with a new class of chemicals.  These chemicals may trump Loxapine in their spine building potential, and connect the sick back with reality.  When knowing is half the battle, in spines versus space, building connections may just win the war.

(None of the preceding document(s) should be construed as medical advice).

Your Personality Is Your Frontal Lobe

When the brain goes haywire, and a person can no longer infer the mental state of others, the frontal lobe is to blame.  In a study performed by researchers at the University of Haifa, in Israel, frontal lobe damage has been implicated in psychopathy. Psychopathic personality types typically lack remorse, and may be influenced to behave without conscience.

People with traumatic brain injury also seem to be deficient with a similar constellation of symptoms as psychopaths.  Easily, technologies like tDCS may be able to re-activate those brain areas whose metabolism have been lulled into sleep mode.  When frontal lobe damage occurs in multiple incidents, dissocial behavior may result.  Children ought to avoid activities which harm their brains, as the stress response is more easily programmed into their memory centers than adults.  In order to decrease destructive social unrest, it ought to be common policy to treat traumatic brain injuries early, and perhaps institute treatment in prisons as a part of regular rehabilitation.  Otherwise a bad personality will result.

Disease models aside, the frontal lobe is the most advanced and the most human part of our most precious organ.  Not only responsible for empathic inferences, it also houses the higher executive function which allows us to make good judgments socially.  Humor is also located there, and it is apparent that psychopaths and trauma patients are no laughing matter.

Mantra News

Russel Brand.

I read a very interesting article in the New York Times about the famous comedian and actor Russel Brand engaging in meditation. While performing at the Haiti relief benefit in Los Angeles, he performed a raunchy stand up routine which was as physically hilarious as it was verbally “interesting.” The kind of mediation he practices is called Transcendental Meditation, or TM for short.  An interesting aspect of TM is its use of a mantra, or repetitive phrase, often in sanskirt, an ancient form of Hindi and Buddhist language.

Mantras are like self-suggestions which focus the feeling and thoughts of meditation.  Besides the relaxation of letting go that meditation produces, the mantra’s meaning can also impact the meditator’s experience.

For people who use a mantra which is not in their native or primary language, there may be added benefits. According to a study performed at Penn State, bilingualism increases brain power.  Marrying that to a mantra in meditation may just be a good complimentary booster to those who want to think and feel better.

The Pulse of New Neurons

New brain cells coming right up.

Pulsing magnetic fields have an effect on the growth of new brains cells, says a study by the City University of New York. This study looked at the implications for using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's.  Birthing new neurons could be an excellent treatment to the revitalization of aged brains.  The scientists in the study are now looking at complimenting their magnetic research with drug therapies, as well.  Parkinson's Disease was not mentioned in the study, however, there patients suffer from cell death and a lack of cell preservation in the area of the brain called the basal ganglia.  Cells in the basal ganglia are responsible for pumping out dopamine for the sensory-motor cortex to use in initiating movement.

If TMS could be used to regrow cells in Parkinson's patients in an early course of treatment, perhaps the condition could be delayed in its progress.  With consistent subsequent treatments, further research may prove or disprove the hypothesis that it could be stopped entirely.

Hormone Receptors Bring a New Brain

With the ever looming threat of a greater amount of mental illness due to the chemicals in our environment, Northwestern University is working on a new revolutionary treatment. Using chemicals that increase estrogen production in the brain, without adding the risks of effects on the body, they have found new ways to affect mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia.

The mechanism of action is activating receptors on the branches of brain cells, called dendrites, making them become more numerous and better connected.  The dendritic spines may be affected in development by endocrine disrupting chemicals because they have these hormone receptors. The drug company, Pfizer, is actively developing drugs that use these receptors, increasing the amount of communication between brain cells.

The key to an issue called, “the gamma binding problem,” in schizophrenia may be in this new drug therapy.  The gamma binding problem refers to sensory processing and decision-making resting in a low performance state in mental illness.  The “gamma” in that term refers to high frequency brainwaves which are abundant and coherent in the mentally stable.  In meditation studies, the gamma brainwave pattern is increased, and may help to fitfully allay schizophrenic illness – though further study in this regard should take place.  The reason is the exchange of nitric oxide  in the brain is also malfunctioning in schizophrenia, and, due to nitric oxide release during meditation, people with psychotic illness should be careful about their practice.  Though meditation has its utility, exercise could be favored as a complimentary approach to the treatment of severe mental illnesses.

The medication developed by Northwestern University will be an easier and reliable game changer for those with mental illness in the future.  Medicine compliance is the safest way to thwart psychotic problems in those who suffer.

Kids in the Coalmine: Endocrine Disruption and Our Future

Old fashioned poison detector.

In coal mining, a bird, a canary, was once used to signal to the miners that poisonous gases were being released, and the bird’s death signaled to them it was time to get out.  There is a saying that bad omens are just “the canary in the coal mine” for this or that outcome.  Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, humanity has been issuing into its environment unnatural chemicals.  With the advent of the more modern era, not only do we face pollution, but we also must contend with more insidious influences: endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).  EDCs usually mimic or interact with estrogen or androgen receptors in our bodies, including in our brains.  They are found in everything from cosmetics, to shampoos, baby bottles, and home insect sprays.  Some, like BPAs, can affect male fertility in the unborn and adults, alike.  Others, like some pesticides, only really strongly influence unborn babies. A link has been found between ADHD and EDC exposure in the womb.  Gene studies may refute the latter, however there may be epigenetic and carcinogenic influences that alter the way our DNA is expressed, and its very structure as well – see the previous blog entry for evidence in the psychological domain.  Additionally, phthalates have been shown to reduce sexually differentiated play in young boys after exposure in the womb.

When people are being affected biologically, and also psychologically, how can our species be maintained?    Often it has been considered that weapons of mass destruction would end our civilization in one fell swoop.  Instead, it may be a slower process where we poison our young with chemicals we use in everyday life.  Today’s children may be the canaries in the coalmine, the most heart breaking indicator of a possibly bleak future to come.

Nurture Can Trump Nature: Love Is The Best Medicine

Pup love makes a happy rat.

Epigenetics is a new study of how the genome expresses itself according how the environment impacts DNA.  In the brain, the DNA expression can change in response to stress hormone release, especially during youth.  A study performed in rats at McGill University showed that pups who received loving attention from their mothers were less prone to stress induced behavior when older. For pups that did not receive affection, life as an adult was not nearly as tranquil.  These nurturing differences impacted how gene structure in the rats’ memory center cells developed their adult response to stress.  Basically, pups who were neglected were mentally ill, and were probably experiencing chronic anxiety.

Researchers later examined the brain cells of people who committed suicide.  In their memory centers similar genetic changes were noted.  The important role of child abuse in development seems to reach to the genetic level.

Similar epigenetic changes also occur during depression, except in a different area of the brain.  In one of the major reward centers, the nucleus accumbens, significant changes were found.  Mice were made depressed by being forced into battle and the ones that constantly lost withdrew from their environment.  There is analogue to human experience as well in this regard, which is where the mouse model for depression was developed.  Using a special form of chemical pumped into this reward center, called an HDAC inhibitor, the DNA in the nucleus accumbens was unfurled and the cells there had more access to the genes with which the mouse was naturally endowed. They behaved as if they felt better.

Though genetic patterns were formerly thought of as immutable programs, in fact, that does not seem to likely be the absolute case.  Child abuse, and societal problems that lead to such conditions must be ameliorated.  In order to make a difference in society we all must remember that love is the best medicine.

Not A Temporary Fix, A Cure

Landmark research has been announced.  From animal studies performed by a dream team, including Nobel Laureate, Paul Greengard, at Rockefellar University in New York City, the data has arrived.  A protein called p11 is deficient in depressed mice neurons, as well as human ones, and using gene therapy mouse behavior changed from chronic depression-like behavior to normal behavior.  Using a virus to affect the reward center of the mouse brain, genes carried into the cells brought happiness back to the rodents.  New drug therapy targets were also discovered in line with the p11 gene target.  The researchers concede that depression has many facets and that this study does not prove that p11 levels are the only cause.

Drugs to treat p11 may be on the horizon.  Ideally they would carry fewer side effects than the typical regimen of SSRIs like Paxil, Prozac, among others.  Instead, there may be a more sustainable option for people suffering from depression – especially of the chronic, long-term variety.  This blogger’s hope is that safety studies will lead to viable gene therapies to be developed.  While the risk may be high initially, animal experiments serve the purpose of preventing any loss or compromising of human life.  The next step for these researchers is Parkinson’s disease.  I personally wish them luck.

Feet -- or brain -- to the fire

Anyone under a lot of stress should ask themselves something.  Am I sad, angry, or experiencing pain very easily?  Is this happening often or chronically?  It may just be that your brain is on fire.

Depression may be an inflammatory process.

The inflammatory response is a natural consequence to bodily harm, and it happens in the brain too.  When it happens too much, researchers theorize, it can make you depressed.  A recent study from the University of California – San Diego, shows that depression could very well be a multi-level biological phenomenon, chronic depression, especially. The inflammatory response has been linked to a great many other things, including obesity. Logically, perhaps, one should expect weight changes when someone is depressed – and this does happen.  Unusually though, it is not always weight gain that is the problem.  Included in the UC-San Diego release is that more research ought to be performed.

Some research has been done that is pertinent to what UC-San Diego discovered.  A simple nutritional supplement that has many benefits has been shown to be effective for depressive episodes in people suffering from one of the most difficult of mood disorders – bipolar disorder.  N-Acetyl Cysteine, or NAC, may soon be considered an effective adjunct therapy for depression in bipolar people, because a small study suggests that it helps. Cocaine cravings may also be treated with this nutrient; as well as gambling issues; pathological hair pulling and other compulsions (like OCD); and even problems in your lungs.  NAC is available over the counter as a supplement, however, it is also available in prescription form because of its delivery method to treat bronchial disorders.

The brain on fire: could depression and obesity be an inflammatory process?

The mechanism of action in NAC seems to be its antioxidant effect.  It reduces inflammation, in other words.  The link with addiction is an interesting one, and should probably also be further explored. Scientists think NAC controls levels of the most powerful antioxidant in the brain called glutathione, and also helps the body regulate levels of glutamate, the main excititory neurotransmitter that neurons use to communicate.  An interesting gene study just came out that points to abnormal glutamate metabolism as the major cause of simple migraine. It could be that NAC might serve as a prophylactic treatment for simple migraine – to prevent one of the worst forms of pain following child birth and a heart attack.

NAC takes a while to work, and the dose should be increased gradually, according to experts.  This blogger suggests consulting a physician before trying NAC, because its effect on the lungs may complicate asthma and other illnesses.  Also, this blogger is NOT a doctor, and none of this should be construed as medical advice.  Before you get NAC for depression, addiction, or bipolar disorder – ask your primary care doctor to help you put out the flames.

Brain Juice!

The title above does not refer to a new fangle, dangle nutritional supplement.  Instead, it’s more exciting news – and something that works.  At one time, a search on www.clinicaltrials.gov returned 40 hits of various studies exploring an exciting new technology mentioned in this blog’s first book review: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Transcranial direct current stimulation is not nearly so burly as the treatment known as “shock therapy,” technically known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).  Instead, it uses a weaker electric current, a thousand times less powerful than with ECT.  Treatments do not require muscle relaxers or involve artificially induced seizures.  Typically, they last approximately 10 to 20 minutes, and only the only apparent physical effect is a mild tingling sensation.  The weak electric current barely penetrates the skull, and only stimulates the surface of the brain as far as is known.  However, the psychological effect is quite powerful.  Illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, addiction, migraines, chronic pain and the brain damage of stroke are being studied by tDCS researchers.

In order to treat any illness, researchers place the electrodes over the brain areas which are either over active, or under active.  The brain areas are identified via cross-referencing previous knowledge which links spots on the skull under which the brain area is located.  If a patient is hallucinating aurally, or hearing sounds that are not really there, the brain area responsible for audible processing is likely over-active, and so a special sponge-like electrode is place over that area.  The polarity of this electrode determines if that brain area will increase or decrease in activity.  In this case, it would decrease the activity.  On the other hand, if someone is depressed, the left prefrontal cortex may be stimulated into greater activity using tDCS.

Another interesting application of tDCS is performance enhancement.  Not only for the sick, performance enhancement with tDCS could make people with learning disabilities excel in math, reading comprehension, and improve their attention span.  Perhaps one day sports psychologists may even use it to overcome performance anxiety, and better ingrain new skills into athletes.  There is military and law enforcement use for tDCS in that regard, as well.  tDCS is relatively safe, but should only be used by a trained clinician.  In other words, if you want some brain juice, don’t squeeze it at home.

Welcome to the BBB

...Or, the Blood Brain Barrier, if you want to be technical about it.  More really exciting research has been performed on this phenomenon of brain-body duality.  The body is porous, it absorbs things easily from the environment, as it is want to do.  However, the brain is not so susceptible.  Ultrasound is being used by Columbia University researchers to temporarily disrupt this gateway by shaking it loose to let gene therapy sneak through.

New understanding of this mechanism has been acquired by researchers from the Swedish unviersity, Karolinska Institutet, and published in the prestigious journal, Nature. Pericyte cells, not the same as a tapeworm (which are a kind of parasite - different, but sounds similar), regulate how astrocytes, another kind of cell, influence the gateway of the BBB.  They do this by influencing the capillary wall opening, allowing water, and ions to pass through.  Pericyte cells do their own work apart from astrocytes by using transcytosis which regulates the size of the capillary wall for other kind of chemicals, too.  How pericytes do the latter is not entirely certain at this point.  Some molecular mechanism controls this process of transcytosis in an as yet to be discovered way.

One hint is likely to be found in a certain cancer drug, Imatinib.  It somehow closes the capillary walls of the BBB.  Studying this process could prevent destructive influence as found in diseases like multiple sclerosis,  Alzheimer's, ALS, and Parkinson's.  This blogger wonders if Imatinib could be a significant treatment in M.S., where the immune system seems to be destroying parts of the neuron needed for good signal transmission.  Close up the capillaries, and the inflammatory signal from the neuron no longer reaches white blood cells on patrol, they ease back, and the cell is preserved.  This is my theory about it anyways.

Control of the BBB may afford very promising research in diseases of the brain.  One day, the BBB studies might benefit anyone in need of a better brain.

When Good Brains Go Bad

One day, you are walking down the street in New York City.  Minding your own business, you decide to sit on a park bench to relax and feed the pigeons.  The sun is warm in the Big Apple, and shines through the trees of central park even on this fall day.  Satisfied with your good deed, you leave the park.  On your way out, you stop briefly to pick up a piece of trash and notice an elderly person needing to get across the street.  Just as you see them off with a friendly wave and a toothy exchange of smiles, a bus slams into your body sending you flailing wildly into the air.  Fortunately, you are not dead, you are not paralyzed - you recover in intensive care, but one thing has changed: your brain.

Bad person or bad brain?

Traumatic brain injury is a serious matter, and it is more common than most people think.  The exalted impulse control center of your brain is no longer functioning, and your criminal pulse is rising - where before it did not exist at all.  Months after this fateful day, while hunching over a cane down the very same street late at night you notice something.  An elderly, but very wealthy individual has dropped their wallet, and though they seem to be fine otherwise, they just dropped credit cards, cash, and a checkbook all at once in that leather treasure.

Hospital bills, paid for; health, relatively good; but you just "have to have" a bit more in your pocket.  You scoop it up without a thought.  The elderly man turns protesting, and you smack him so hard with your cane he lands unconscious on the pavement.  A severe consequence of brain injury, you have now stepped the line from your previous injury free ethic - to evil.
Who is the victim?

When one's locus of control has been damaged - when that Xbox controller of your mind is missing one control stick to the point of calamity - you are limited in your choices.  Not only can you not play the game of life the right way, but when you do, nothing seems to work.  You cannot adapt, you cannot excel, and you certainly cannot avoid the potential pitfalls of ethics that everyday life presents.
Studies have shown that a history of traumatic brain injury is extraordinarily common among prisoners in jail, including in women. Is it ethical for prisoners who may have been previously functional members of society to be incarcerated for crimes that are essentially an extension of a damaged brain?  In addition, could treating traumatic brain injury reduce recidivism rates and be better for society as a whole?

Perhaps this is evolution's way of protecting the species in a time of violence.  However, in our more comfortable modern society such a response by a damaged brain is maladaptive, and one day it may be common policy to aide the repair of society's ill and forgotten incarcerated people.  When good brains go bad, it's bad for us all.

Book Review: The Scientific American Brave New Brain

I recently finished an excellent primer on the brain.  "The Scientific American Brave New Brain," available on amazon.com, is an entertaining and informative read on current brain research.  The book explores former and current  factoids about the brain, our prime resource as a thinking being.

Typical pharmacological approaches are addressed, but so are genetic, technological and nutritional treatments for the brain.  The only short form experienced was on the topic of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).  tDCS is a very exciting new method of brain stimulation that is being funded for helping conditions as serious as psychosis to weight loss, memory, and attention issues.  Though studies have not proven tDCS to be a cure, it could be the next best thing available following TMS in the new line of brain stimulant technologies.  Ultrasound will likely trump it in its power, effectiveness, and longevity of effect, however, tDCS is cheaper, currently proven as safe, and very powerful.

In any degree, however, Scientific American did it right with their entertaining chronicle of how neuroscience is currently viewing the brain - and where we might boldly go with it in the future.

Not so fast, padawan.

In studies, people aren't able to control the Force like Anakin Skywalker, his teacher Yoda, or even Luke Skywalker - this goes for animal studies too.  Nevertheless, training one's attention has payoffs - especially when done at an early age.  In a recently released study, impulse control was found to be affected in rats when they were taught to delay gratification and squash impulsiveness prior to a certain conditional stimulus.

Though attention problems and cognitive deficits are real testable (or qualitative) phenomena, there may be a way out as this study suggests.  Brain training, as in meditation and other techniques, can thicken parts of the brain responsible for certain tasks, effectively changing the way the brain operates.   Another study even showed a huge benefit to people with one of the most debilitating neurological illnesses ever discovered - schizophrenia.

So, if you have ever received a diagnosis of a mental illness with deficits in cognition, be it ADHD, depression, or something worse - take a minute for a deep breath.  Don't jump the gun and make assumptions, instead stay on the starting block.  Look into brain training as a way to get back on the track - and to win the race.

Let's do it by the numbers ladies and gentlemen!

Let's say you are a female reading this post.  If not, put yourself in their stilettos for once, and I am not advocating drag.  Empathize.  How many times have you wondered about woman scientists, mathematicians, and physicists?  How many have gotten acclaim, have their own TV show like Bill Nye the Science Guy, or Michio Kaku?   Jane Goodall does not apply here, for she did little mathematics as the gorillas she was studying just could not grasp derivatives.

Now, imagine everything you think you know about male scientists to be one thing: false.  A new study has shown as this blogger has always suspected, women are equally capable at mathematics and math-based disciplines as men. Women have more estrogen than men, have different receptor site activity all over their bodies, including their brains.  Yet, where women differ so much from men, for some reason evolution put into them a kind of brain matter balancing mechanism, cognitive karma if you will.  In this case, it's good karma.

Often times, I have been pretty disappointed to hear of women who claim that they "just can't do math."  While learning disabilities do exist in this regard it is clearly not gender biased in particular disfavor towards women.  I applaud the authors of this study for proving something long suspected, women can do it by the numbers just as well as men.

She's a giver...

...And that's a good thing.  Apparently, selfishness is completely out of style for us modern humans.  A recent study published in the British Journal of Psychology may have just proven the traditional adage: give more than you take. Their explanation is downright, well, sexual.  The gene that produces giving behavior, called the altruism gene, was favored among the earliest evolved progenitors of modern man thus making altruistic people more appealing.

The article linked above says there is an evolutionary need for people to be nice to each other.  It was a rough time raising children in the prehistoric era, saber tooth cats notwithstanding, we also faced an ice age; probable conflict with our co-inhabitants, the neanderthals; and the threat of even neighboring tribes of our own kind.  In a global culture as we have today, how might this impact the way nations treat each other?

Good genes redefined.

In a competitive, nonrenewable world economy, it is no wonder selfishness seems to abound where we fight over resources that are limited in their lifespan.  The future holds an interesting path for the evolution of humanity.  It is this blogger's hope that eventually we will replace our scarcity psychology with something more holistic, realistic, and sustainable.  Change comes as it always does, but this gene must be maintained in our lineage.  Perhaps it is a true gift from all our common ancestors, a symbol of their plight and a characteristic that should be more regularly rewarded by current society.  At the negative extreme we could destroy ourselves if there is a genetic edit of such a quality.  Aside from global extinction, a lack of altruism at least makes anyone a little less sexy.

'Ello, having a bit of the ol' magnetic coil, are we?

My fondness for British accents is only eclipsed by my love for neuro-technology.  In a recent study published in the journal, Brain Stimulation, the effectiveness of a brain stimulating magnetic coil has been assessed.  Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses (typically) a figure eight shaped coil that can reach deeply into the brain to stimulate and reprogram faulty neural pathways.  Previously, it was not clear if this was a temporary effect, or something long term.  Fortunately for those suffering from depression, TMS has been confirmed by a recent study to be effective long term. The coveted prefrontal cortex, the major part of our brain that makes us human, can be stimulated to correct the dominant activity from the right side to the left.  The left side is associated with positive feeling states, attitudes, and is dysfunctional in the depressed, addicted, and in some attention disorders.  The right side is quite the opposite.  We need both to function in life, but activity should be higher in the left prefrontal cortex to ensure a happy one.   Maybe instead of alcohol and coffee, one day we'll have our own TMS coils to be more social, beat the blues, and stay awake for long all nighters!  Until then, a bit of the ole spot of tea will do just fine.

Hello Ms. Bacterium, it's a pleasure to meet you

The human body is fascinating. To think, once our ancestors sat in pools of a watery slew. Only single celled organisms at the time of the planet's first life wellspring, we are now composed of trillions of single cells all working in harmony to create one whole being.  A recent discovery by the University of Southern California, may have shed light on how our nervous system eventually developed.

Apparently, bacteria develop strands called bacterial nanowires which conduct electricity along their lengths to other bacteria adjacent to them.  This discovery could lend some evolutionary answer to how cells like our neurons became what they are today.   These bacterial nanowires allow these organisms to work together, communicate, and share energy.  To think, these tiny little bits of life could have been the building blocks of what we now know of as our own personal thinking machines.

"If there was a lid upon my head..."

"...you could look inside and see what's on my mind."  The musician Dave Matthews wrote these words, and it turns out, his lid could come soon - if he wants it.  A new experiment has found lightly implanted electrodes placed on the surface of the brain can decode words from brain activity.
The Journal of Neural Engineering recently published an article concerning this very interesting technology.  What make soon be more necessary for direct thought-computer interfaces is a non-invasive method for gleaning such information from our minds without penetrating the skull.
Decoding brain activity may be more useful than advanced voice recognition technology one day, and also become very essential military and law enforcement tech.  Imagine communicating with other personnel in a squadron in the jungle without effort, and without making a sound.  Electric telepathy: a stealthy interface indeed.

Walking the Brain

Walking: a great way to tune up the brain.

In a study published in Frontiers of Neuroscience, you can keep your mind young via walking.  A new target for researchers has lately been something called the Default Mode Network (DMN).  When you aren’t paying attention to anything in particular the DMN revs away.  Consider it your idle speed controller for the engine in your skull.  People suffering from degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia could benefit from 40 minutes of casual walking a day.  The result is an easier shift from the activity of breathing and other idle processing to focused attention, the gas in your brain tank knows where to go.  So, put your shoes on and your feet in first gear.  Walking: the mental lubricant for the transmission of the mind.

Zen for Western Men and Women

Today, interesting findings from UT-Dallas and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign reveal cultural difference in how our brains are organized and the way they function.  The differences fall in the prefrontal cortex and perceptual areas of the brain.  In Western thinkers, the prefrontal cortex is thicker, and in Eastern brains the perceptual centers are larger.  This means that when people of different cultures look at this:

They notice and remember different things.  Western viewers may look at the fish (called coy), and Eastern viewers may notice the water ripples, the light spectacle, and only modestly pay attention to smaller, individual elements in the scene.  It is unclear if these differences are purely cultural or biological in a more pure measure (dietary, genetic, environmental) or a mixture of both.  Additionally, this holds some value to those designing for media that reaches globally, for example, media on the internet.

As a side note:  How can we use this kind of thought processing to our advantage in society?
Well, another study showed zen meditation helped people from suffering too much from pain. It is because exercising the brain tends to thicken areas of the brain responsible for those tasks.  In the case of zen, researchers guess, the awkward sitting position and the activity of focusing on something else in zen meditation builds pain tolerance.  So, going on a business trip to the Orient and you need to fit in?  Take five minutes a day to look at photographs and attempt to see the image holistically.  Having trouble being a detail oriented person in fast paced Western society?  Take a moment with single minded focus on a candle flame, or a rose, or other object.  Sit and just take it in, notice the details.  Try to relax, and after five minutes of this exercise a day for a few weeks you should be a better student, worker, and pain bearer than you were before.  Western or Eastern, meditation sits here to stay.

How Big is Your Cygulate Gyrus?

In a study performed at the University of Minnesota, scientists have revealed a distinct pattern in how our brains shape who we are.  Size does matter.

Bare Brainer has always been an egghead.

Depending on how neurotic, extroverted, conscientious, or altruistic you are, you will find your brain scans reveal the size of these areas vary compared to the next guy.  What use is this information?  In a brain and media integrated technology, such as what is offered at emotiv.com, these findings may provide more crucial understanding as to what kind personalities are detected through brainwave sensing.  An interesting extension of this study would be to compare blood flow volume and cell proliferation to brainwave frequencies via UM’s data.