Clipmarks | wildcat's 'brain' clips

Brain and Creativity Institute

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:24:53 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The mission of the Brain and Creativity Institute is to gather new knowledge about the human emotions, decision-making, memory, and communication, from a neurological perspective, and to apply this knowledge to the solution of problems in the biomedical and sociocultural arenas.

Clip Source: www.usc.edu

The Brain and Creativity Institute was founded by Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio in 2006. Since ancient times, thinkers and scientists have sought to explain how we perceive, interpret, and shape our existence. However, until very recently, researchers interested in these questions have had to rely entirely on conjecture or indirect evidence. Now, recent technological advances in brain imaging and fresh insights into the functioning of the human brain at the level of systems, cells and molecules, provide extraordinary new opportunities for uncovering the neurological underpinnings for a large array of mental functions – from emotion and decision-making to innovation and creativity.

It is also apparent that emotion, decision-making, memory and communication, are central to our most fundamental socio-cultural endeavors

The Institute is a groundbreaking effort to make use of important new discoveries from the mind and brain sciences and confront pressing issues of our time.

Tags: brain and creativity, antonio damasio

Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of the Human Mind

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:50:26 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Subtle refinements in brain architecture, rather than large-scale alterations, make us smarter than other animals

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

The human brain lacks conspicuous characteristics—such as relative or absolute size—that might account for humans’ superior intellect.

Researchers have found some clues to humanity’s aptitude on a smaller scale, such as more neurons in our brain’s outermost layer.

Human intelligence may be best likened to an upgrade of the cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates rather than an exceptionally advanced form of cognition.

As far as we know, no dog can compose music, no dolphin can speak in rhymes, and no parrot can solve equations with two unknowns. Only humans can perform such intellectual feats, presumably because we are smarter than all other animal species—at least by our own definition of intelligence.

Of course, intelligence must emerge from the workings of the three-pound mass of wetware packed inside our skulls

Thus, researchers have tried to identify unique features of the human brain that could account for our superior intellectual abilities

Tags: brain, mind, evolution, intelligence

Brainloop

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:24:03 GMT

clipped by: cyberwiz

Clip Source: www.aksioma.org

Brainloop is an interactive performance platform that utilizes a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) system which allows a subject to operate devices merely by imagining specific motor commands. These mentally visualized commands may be seen as the rehearsal of a motor act without the overt motor output; a neural synapse occurs but the actual movement is blocked at the corticospinal level. Motor imagery such as "move left hand", "move right hand" or "move feet" become non-muscular communication and control signals that convey messages and commands to the external world. In Brainloop the performer is able - without physically moving - to investigate urban areas and rural landscapes as he globe-trots around virtual Google Earth. Through motor imagery, he selects locations, camera angles and positions and records these image sequences in a virtual world.

Pioneering Research in Neuromorphic Electronics that Function Like the Biological Brain

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:36:58 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The HRL team's ultimate goal is to build a low-power, compact electronic chip combining a novel analog circuit design and a neuroscience-inspired architecture that can address a wide range of cognitive abilities--perception, planning, decision making, and motor control. In the initial two phases of the SyNAPSE program, the team will translate the neuronal and synaptic functions of the biological cortex into similar microelectronic functions.

Clip Source: www.alzheimer.ca

Clip Source: www.prweb.com

HRL Laboratories, LLC, will begin pioneering research to develop electronics that will simulate the cognitive capabilities and efficiencies of the biological brain.

The daunting undertaking is part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) SyNAPSE, or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics, program. HRL will lead a group of industry and university research laboratories with expertise in core areas of neuro and cognitive science in the groundbreaking research.

Despite exponential advances in computing technology over the last decade, the limitations of hardware and architecture prohibit computers from functioning independently in real-world scenarios. The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to bridge biology and electronics and establish a new paradigm for creating more intelligent machines that can interact with, react to, and actually learn from their environments.

Tags: technology, neuromorphic electronics, electronics

The Mind Ball

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:10:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.techeblog.com

Mind Ball, by NovelQuest, is essentially a "two person game controlled by players' brain waves." Video after the break.

To win at Mindball, however, you need to produce theta waves (4-8 Hz) which are associated with drowsiness and alpha waves (8-12 Hz) which are associated with being relaxed.

[Video]

Tags: mind, ball, game, brain

The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:24:50 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Storytelling is a human universal, and common themes appear in tales throughout history and all over the the world.

These characteristics of stories, and our natural affinity toward them, reveal clues about our evolutionary history and the roots of emotion and empathy in the mind.

By studying narrative’s power to influence beliefs, researchers are discovering how we analyze information and accept new ideas.

Popular tales do far more than entertain, however. Psychologists and neuroscientists have recently become fascinated by the human predilection for storytelling. Why does our brain seem to be wired to enjoy stories? And how do the emotional and cognitive effects of a narrative influence our beliefs and real-world decisions?

Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history. Anthropologists find evidence of folktales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian

Tags: storytelling, human universals

Transistors in Space

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:17:53 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: NASA tests new radiation-proof chips

Clip Source: spectrum.ieee.org

Space Test: New radiation-resistant transistors, attached to the International Space Station for evaluation, orbit Earth.

Mission planners for future flights to the moon, Mars, and beyond rightly worry about how to keep astronauts safe from the hazards of high-energy protons, neutrons, and ions streaming through space. These particles can cause cancer and brain damage, but they can be just as damaging to a spacecraft's electronics.

NASA is now testing how well a new type of transistor, shown to be radiation-resistant on Earth, will hold up in space. The transistors went up on the space shuttle Endeavor, and astronauts placed them in a test setup on the outside of the International Space Station on 22 March. After a year, researchers will check how radiation affects the transistors' operating voltages and currents.

A typical transistor is made up of a gate separated from the channel between the source and the drain by an insulating dielectric, usually silicon dioxide

Tags: nasa, radiation-proof, chips, space

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:39:40 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial »

brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think

I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Tags: google

Quality of Sleep = Memory storage

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:57:23 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: the Belgian study shows that getting a good night’s sleep the night after learning a new fact has a direct impact on the transfer process between the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex.

Clip Source: physorg.com

Quality of Sleep Determines Where the Brain Stores Memories

As time passes, our memories are transferred to different parts of the brain in order to ideally store our past experiences. While scientists have known that sleep plays an important role in helping consolidate memories, a new study investigates the role of sleep a step further, and shows how one night of sleep can lead to changes in brain activity six months after an event has occurred.

Their research shows that a good night’s sleep after learning word pairs enhances memory processing in the hippocampus, and also induces information transfer between the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This transfer serves to consolidate memories, helping new memories become stable and immune to interfering stimuli.

Our work shows how the development of a trace left by new memories depends on sleep

This is the first time we could confirm in humans a number of predictions based on animal research.

Tags: brain, mind, memory, sleep, science, health

Is There a Laziness Gene?

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:59:57 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.time.com

Have you ever wondered why you can't get off the couch and exercise — despite paying for an expensive gym membership, despite your New Year's resolutions, even despite the doctor's scolding at your last check-up? Turns out that your inertia may be coded right into your genes.

Based on some intriguing, preliminary studies in animals, J. Timothy Lightfoot, a kinesiologist, and his team at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, suggest that genetics may indeed predispose some of us for sloth. Using mice specially bred and selected according to their activity levels, Lightfoot identified 20 different genomic locations that work in tandem to influence activity levels in mice — specifically, how far the animals will run

genes may affect either the way muscles work — perhaps causing them to use energy more efficiently and preventing fatigue — or some higher-order biochemical circuit in the brain, such as levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine or serotonin

Tags: laziness, genetics

Thought control: it's the computer world's latest game plan

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:44:22 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: “This is the tip of the iceberg for what is possible,” said Tan Le, another of Emotiv's co-founders, during a recent press demonstration. “There will be a convergence of gesture-based technology and the brain as a new interface - the Holy Grail is the mind.”

Clip Source: technology.timesonline.co.uk

First came the joystick. Then came the motion-sensing Wii remote. Now get ready for another radical and rather unsettling leap in video games technology: thought control.

Satoru Iwata, the president and chief executive of Nintendo - which is expected to sell about 25million units of its successful Wii video games console this financial year - has no doubts about the next gaming boom. “As soon as we think something in our brain, it will appear within a video game,” he told The Times in an exclusive interview.

“You'll probably need to wear some kind of hat or helmet or something.”

As far-fetched as it sounds, Mr Iwata's claim - which brings to mind the plot of Craig Thomas's bestselling 1977 novel Firefox, about a mind-reading Soviet fighter aircraft - is already coming true: the world's first thought-controlled game is expected to be launched by the Sydney company Emotiv by the end of this year.

Tags: gaming, neuroscience, mind, emotiv

New Memory Technologies

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:41:54 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Considering the recent advances in Brain-Machine interface, and the development of new neural implants, it is quite clear that Memory management is only the tip of the iceberg, I definitely agree with D.Peletier that the main effect of these new technologies will be to vastly improve our wellbeing

Clip Source: www.positivefuturist.com

By Dick Pelletier

If there was a pill that could immediately improve your memory, enabling you to recall any selected event in your past with sharp detail, would you take it? How about a pill that would erase an unwanted memory, like a traumatic childhood event that still bothers you in adult life?

And even more radical, would you like to download knowledge directly into your brain enabling you to immediately speak and understand a new language, or instantly learn any new subject matter, without suffering through the lengthy process of learning from scratch?

Memory-managing drugs hold promise to change the boundaries of freedom of thought similar to how the Internet is changing freedom of speech

As we enter into what positive futurists refer to as a “magical future” time, we realize that science and technologies can do more than just repair sick people; they can raise our standard of living, add to our happiness, and greatly improve how we interact with the world around us

Tags: memory, technologies, mind upgrade

The Death of HAL –the Evolving Digital Ecosystem

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:07:58 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

One of the greatest fears of many is the underlying knowledge that, all the wonderful advances of technology, the internet and robotics is simply bringing us closer to being subservient to our robotic overlords. It is essentially a historical imperative, and we can see it coming a mile away.

However British Computer Society President and ECS Professor of Artificial Intelligence Nigel Shadbolt, believes differently.

Instead of intelligence that is a “brain in a box”, we are seeing intelligence that is assistive, adaptive and flexible. They are helping us “drive our cars, diagnose disease and provide opponents in computer games.”
In other words, instead of an intelligence that is “…agonizing about their existence or whether we are about to switch them off” we are seeing the growth of intelligence that, in years to come, will immerse us and center around humans, rather than feel the need to enslave humans.

“What is emerging now is a digital ecosystem,’

Tags: ai, evolution, digital ecosystem, the net, the grid

Mind over Matter

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:07:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

From the Hollywood film Firefox to the television show Heroes, science fiction writers have always dreamt of the day when humans could control machines with the power of thought alone.

Now British scientists are turning the vision into reality with a device that allows objects to be manipulated with brain waves.

The prototype, developed at Essex University, can already be used to play simple computer games. By imagining a movement, the wearer of the hat-shaped device can tell the computer to move an object around a screen or a robot around a room.

The researchers hope their technology will eventually allow people to move wheelchairs and drive cars with their thoughts.

How I translated my brainwaves into motion

The development came as the video games maker Nintendo disclosed that it wanted to build on the success of the motion-sensitive technology used in the best-selling console, the Wii, by developing games that can be controlled by thought.

Tags: mind, matter, brain waves

Roadmap For Brain Augmentation via the Internet.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:55:49 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Once we have hardware connected to the nerves ( our senses and our brain ), then software transforms that hardware into brain augmentation - of the serious sort

Clip Source: www.nanofuture2030.com

Society, now and for the foreseeable future, is a rather resistant beast to change of the status quo. So I doubt any mainstream company will set out to add RAM, splice in processing units, or in any fundamental way try to change our brains. Too dangerous to get “politically incorrect” dumped on your plate.

The cell phone is how it started. And the thing will soon start to blend with the animal as it makes the internet into one of our core senses. The human animal will have taken the latest step in a long march toward “Information Animal”.

We get the internet because everybody wants the internet, and then we get brain augmentation because it helps us get the internet. An upgrade of the familiar, that will usher in the fantastic.

We need to get personal displays of information that are carefully honed to our needs on the job and while we play. First it comes in eyeglasses. The hot fad effect will make them cool once they have a cool purpose

Tags: roadmap, brain augmentation, internet