They do not correspond to a simple stimulus/response linkage, but arise from the networking of different neural circuits. Scientists funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) propose that the field of brain research should expand [...]]]> Science Daily draws a clearer map than ever before showing how complicated networks of neurons – not individual neurons – make thoughts happen:

They do not correspond to a simple stimulus/response linkage, but arise from the networking of different neural circuits. Scientists funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) propose that the field of brain research should expand its focus.

Many brain researchers cannot see the forest for the trees. When they use electrodes to record the activity patterns of individual neurons, the patterns often appear chaotic and difficult to interpret. “But when you zoom out from looking at individual cells, and observe a large number of neurons instead, their global activity is very informative,” says Mattia Rigotti, a scientist at Columbia University and New York University who is supported by the SNSF and the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung.

…

Around one third of the observed neurons demonstrated activity that Rigotti describes as “mixed selectivity.” A mixed selective neuron does not always respond to the same stimulus (the flowers or the sailing boat on the screen) in the same way. Rather, its response differs as it also takes account of the activity of other neurons.

Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, together with Tom Hübner from the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum in Hannover, Germany, picked the brains of 150 million year old dinosaurs.

The two palaeontologists studied different fossils of the Jurassic dinosaur Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki: a very [...]]]> PhysOrg goes *inside* the skull to figure out how – and how quickly – a dinosaur’s brain developed:

Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, together with Tom Hübner from the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum in Hannover, Germany, picked the brains of 150 million year old dinosaurs.

The two palaeontologists studied different fossils of the Jurassic dinosaur Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki: a very young (juvenile) individual of approximately three years of age and a fully grown specimen of more than 12 years of age.

Stephan Lautenschlager, lead author of the paper, said: “The two different growth stages of Dysalotosaurus provided a unique opportunity to study their brain, and how it developed during the growth of the animal.”

…

By looking at the brain and inner ear anatomy, the two researchers found that the brain of Dysalotosaurus underwent considerable changes during growth – most likely as a response to environmental and metabolic requirements. However, important parts responsible for the sense of hearing and cognitive processes were already well developed in the young individual.

Stephan Lautenschlager said: “Our study shows that the brain was already well-developed in the young dinosaurs and adapted perfectly to interact with their environment and other individuals.”

At the beginning of March of this year, a radical surgery was performed on an American patient: 75 percent of his skull was replaced with a 3D printed implant. The company that produced the implant, Oxford Performance Materials, made [...]]]> Singularity Hub reports on the pioneering surgery that used 3D printing to replace 75 percent of a patient’s skull:

At the beginning of March of this year, a radical surgery was performed on an American patient: 75 percent of his skull was replaced with a 3D printed implant. The company that produced the implant, Oxford Performance Materials, made the announcement though offered little detail about the patient or the procedure. The surgery was given the green light by the Food and Drug Administration in February.

The implant is called the OsteoFab Patient Specific Cranial Device (OPSCD) or OsteoFab for short and is made from polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) thermoplastic through an additive manufacturing process. This material is not only biocompatible but is bone-like and will not interfere with x-ray scanning. After the patient’s skull was 3D scanned, the custom-made implant was printed using an EOS P800 laser sintering 3D printer. By generating the implant layer by layer, details can be added that promote the attachment of bone and surrounding cell growth.

Turnaround time for receiving an implant after submission of scans is two weeks or less.

A medical poster about pulmonary disease. I can’t read all the writing under it (other than “yi” ((one)) and “ren” ((person))), but after the cold I’ve had this week, I think I know just a little about how this guy feels.

“I’m sorry, son. You’ve got tuberculosis.”

OK, maybe not. But I can sympathize.

From the Images from the History [...]]]>

From the Images from the History of Medicine collection of the NIH.

“On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before.”

The [...]]]> A couple months ago, NASA witnessed the largest impact on the Moon in 8 years:

“On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before.”

The meteoroid, which weighed an estimated 40 kilograms and was just over a third of a meter wide, hit the Moon at a speed of 90,000 kilometers per hour. NASA said it packed the explosive equivalent of five tons of TNT.

…

The blast on the moon was so bright that anyone looking at Earth’s closest neighbor at the time of impact could have seen the explosion without a telescope.

“The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from [...]]]> Berkeley researchers have mapped out connections between the music we hear and the colors we see. That is, blues music really is blue, and Mozart’s Flute Concerto #1 is bright orange:

“The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from hearing music to seeing colors,” said UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer, lead author of a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using a 37-color palette, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.

Scientists from the Group of Philip Walther from the Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna succeeded in prototyping a new and highly resource efficient model of a quantum computer — the boson sampling computer.

…

The huge [...]]]> Science Daily isn’t talking about fiberoptics. They’re looking at the latest breakthroughs that take the “electrons” out of “electronics” by using photons to process information:

Scientists from the Group of Philip Walther from the Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna succeeded in prototyping a new and highly resource efficient model of a quantum computer — the boson sampling computer.

…

The huge advantage of photons — a particular type of bosons — lies in their high mobility.

…

“According to the laws of quantum physics, the photons seem to take all possible paths at the same time. This is known as superposition. Amazingly, one can record the outcome of the computation rather trivially: one measures how many photons exit in which output of the network,” explains Philip Walther from the Faculty of Physics.

Photon computers can go way, way faster than electronic computers because they can literally be in more places at once. Superposition. Instead of yes-no circuits, yes-no-yes and no-neither yes nor no all become potential bits of information.

If you’re going to say goodbye to the International Space Station….

A popular genre of gastropods. Also the name of a boat (a dory, I reckon) and a mythological personage (daughter of Ocean and Tethys, wife of Neree, have no idea what she’s really known for).

Happy Mother’s Day, little nudibranch.

We’ve had The Larousse For You in these [...]]]>
“Genre de mollusques gastropodes, renfermant des animaux nus, de touts les mers.”

A popular genre of gastropods. Also the name of a boat (a dory, I reckon) and a mythological personage (daughter of Ocean and Tethys, wife of Neree, have no idea what she’s really known for).

Happy Mother’s Day, little nudibranch.

We’ve had The Larousse For You in these pages before. I’m sure we will again. Because it’s beautiful.

But below ground, most land plants are connected by fungi called mycorrhizae.

The new study, published in Ecology Letters, is the first to demonstrate these fungi also aid in communication.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen, the James Hutton Institute and Rothamsted [...]]]> BBC opens the weird world of vegetable communication, revealing the fungal networks plants use to signal one another:

But below ground, most land plants are connected by fungi called mycorrhizae.

The new study, published in Ecology Letters, is the first to demonstrate these fungi also aid in communication.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen, the James Hutton Institute and Rothamsted Research, all in the UK, devised a clever experiment to isolate the effects of these thread-like networks of mycorrhizae.

The team concerned themselves with aphids, tiny insects that feed on and damage plants.

…

As the researchers allowed single plants in the sets to be infested with aphids, they found that if the infested plant was connected to another by the mycorrhizae, the un-infested plant began to mount its chemical defence.