Page 11234..1020..»

Category Archives: Neurotechnology

Opinion | The Fight for Your Kids’ Brains Has Already Begun – The New York Times

Posted: September 9, 2023 at 9:08 pm

I appreciated Heitners gentle encouragement to parents to stop tracking their teenagers every movement and online conversation. Ive long been opposed to LoJacking kids and believe that they deserve a reasonable degree of freedom of movement. As I wrote in 2020, monitoring younger children and teens has the potential to make them more anxious because it can send a message that theyre always potentially unsafe or that we dont trust them.

I also worry that when we track them too closely, were priming them to accept a level of surveillance from authority that has grave consequences, as outlined by another book that makes my 3 a.m. worries about violated privacy and public shaming via social media seem like childs play. These days, most parents can imagine the viral video scenario, but fewer of us might have considered that there are potentially greater existential threats to their intellectual and physical freedom looming on the horizon.

In that book, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology, Nita Farahany, a professor of law and philosophy at Duke Law School who studies the ethical, legal and social implications of emerging technologies, describes a near-future world of brain transparency, in which scientists, doctors, governments and companies may peer into our brains and minds at will.

I started the book skeptically, but Farahany convinced me that the reality of brain tracking is much closer than I imagined. She explains that in China, a variety of different employers are already using electroencephalogram, or E.E.G., sensors a kind of brain wave tracker to monitor their workers fatigue levels, productivity and emotional states.

Just last month, The Times ran an article about Ann Johnson, who had a stroke at 30 that paralyzed her and left her unable to speak. As Pam Belluck reported:

In a milestone of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, implanted electrodes decoded Mrs. Johnsons brain signals as she silently tried to say sentences. Technology converted her brain signals into written and vocalized language, and enabled an avatar on a computer screen to speak the words and display smiles, pursed lips and other expressions.

When used for good, these kinds of technologies inspire awe even E.E.G. sensors, when used sensibly and humanely, can help truck drivers and pilots avoid fatigue-related accidents. But Farahany encourages us to think ahead a few decades and ask ourselves: If these technologies are developed without appropriate legal constraints or guardrails the way social media ran roughshod for years, before lawmakers started pushing back it puts our civil liberties at risk and could push subsequent generations to greater intellectual and creative conformity.

Read more from the original source:

Opinion | The Fight for Your Kids' Brains Has Already Begun - The New York Times

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on Opinion | The Fight for Your Kids’ Brains Has Already Begun – The New York Times

DEFENDING THE BRAIN | Duke Mag – Duke University

Posted: at 9:07 pm

If Leonard White shows you around the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, theres a good chance he will hand you an actual brain. It weighs about three pounds, but unlike the squishy one in your skull, brains preserved for study feel rubbery. And visitors love to hold them.

They respond with wonder, with excitement, with maybe a bit of nervousness, but with amazing curiosity, says White. And its a very rewarding experience for my guests, as well as for myself.

As associate director of DIBS and an associate professor of neurology, White is one of about 200 researchers, scientists, physicians and educators at Duke who are working to defend our brains against an onslaught of physical, psychological and technological forces. Ailments such as stroke, Alzheimers and Lou Gehrigs disease (ALS), and disorders such as anxiety, depression and addiction are constantly on the attack. Newer, more philosophical threats are being raised by the significant advances taking place in electronic technology and artificial intelligence.

The concerns are too broad for one department to contain, says White. Its more than neuroscience, its more than psychology, its more than biology, theory or computational science. It has to involve all of that.

So DIBS, founded in 2008, acts as the hub for the network of Duke resources that share an interest in the brain: its physiology, its function, its relation to the rest of the body and the world.

We certainly imagined that there would be contributions from across the university in domains that brain scientists working in their labs seldom encountered, White says. Including folks over at the law school.

Those folks include Nita Farahany A.M.04, J.D.04, Ph.D.06, Robinson O. Everett distinguished professor of law and philosophy, founding director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, and a member of that DIBS faculty network. Her book The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right To Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology came out in March and raised a fundamental and terrifying issue about our brains whether whats in there is private.

Scientists, companies, governments can actually decode attention, basic emotions, and information from your brain, she says, which she finds deeply worrying. Farahany studies the ethical, legal, and social aspects of emerging technologies such as genomics and artificial intelligence. So she has watched closely as technology for interpreting internal brain processes from the outside has progressed. She calls the brain the last fortress, and she wants to make sure it has the battlements and drawbridges it needs.

Brain research goes on all over Duke, but Farahany is leading the way in defending our brains from those looking inside. After climate change, our most existential current threat she says, is the lack of ability to think freely in the age of neurotechnology and AI.

After climate change, our most existential current threat is the lack of ability to think freely in the age of neurotechnology and AI.

Nita Farahany

Farahany connects to this issue personally. She has suffered from migraines all her life, so she recognizes the enormous value in the improved capacity to look into the brain from the outside. I would be a very different human being if I didnt have the ability to intentionally both peer into my own brain and find every therapeutic method that could try to make it feel better. And her family background is Iranian, so shes seen members of her own family suffer censorship and self-censorship in reaction to the surveillance state and fears misuse of invasive technology here.

Scientists have long been able to track the brains electrical activity through electroencephalograms (EEG) and blood flow through enormous magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) machines, giving basic understanding of brain functions. Functional MRI (fMRI) gives a glimpse into the real-time status of brain activity, showing where blood flow increases during different tasks. If youre thinking of something happy, certain regions of your brain respond of something stressful, other regions. An fMRI can literally watch you think, and thus, perhaps, show someone else what youre thinking. But Farahany gives examples of much smaller, more portable devices that measure various aspects of brain function, making heretofore completely personal information plausibly public. Neurofeedback headsets, for example, that enable you to manage your state of mind but people use these devices, she warns, without thinking about where that data is going.

In some cases, these devices can do tremendous good. Chinese high-speed rail drivers wear caps that measure drowsiness and keep them from falling asleep at the wheel. On the other hand, she describes a defendant in the United Arab Emirates who was forced to undergo an EEG, in which law enforcement scientists saw a recognition pattern when he was shown pictures of the crime.

Im really careful with the language I use to not try to overstretch about what it is that can be decoded from the brain, she says. If I had launched the book a year ago, I think it would have launched into some skepticism. But in May, the University of Texas published a study that found that powerful artificial intelligence could in some circumstances decode the brainwaves of subjects listening to a news story and recreate the story from their brainwaves. Skepticism diminishes, and Farahany advises action.

If we just follow the passive approach to all this technology, she says, we know where it goes, and thats not good, right? So for Farahany that means the time to move is now. As I lay this out, most people can fill in the blanks and be like, Were screwed, right? Happily, I dont end there. But this is our last bastion of freedom; theres no other form of privacy thats left after that. So, obviously, the next step: We put into place some rights and remedies now. As she says in her book, we need to make it a clear legal priority to protect our mental experiences as much as our other physical ones.

Alison Adcock, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, director of the Duke Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and interim director of DIBS, agrees. People have a pretty impressive talent for coming up with rules that suit them and their pockets, she says. I think the kinds of guardrails that [Farahany is] interested in are important to be thinking about. She also stresses that the kind of brain information Farahany is concerned about can be gathered currently only with the cooperation of the subject. The University of Texas study, for example, required participants to spend hours in MRI machines to train the AI to interpret their brain responses.

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, a faculty network member of DIBS, Chauncey Stillman distinguished professor of practical ethics, and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, agrees. If cognitive liberty is interpreted in such a way that employers are not allowed to force their employees to wear these devices, then yes, it can make a difference. Consumers may avoid a company that forces its employees to compromise their liberty, or investors may not invest. So yes, an international law could make a difference. I dont think itll stop it, but it will certainly slow the spread. But he, like Adcock and Farahany, fears that the rapid improvement in AI and the erosion of privacy everywhere represent developments equally concerning.

In fact, with colleagues and students hes involved in the earliest stages of trying to design a device that would advocate for you before you interact with a website or device. You would identify your beliefs and preferences and the device, whatever it turned out to be, would predict and protect your rights. Before you give away your rights, you can be informed that this violates your values, he says, though such a device is a long way off.

Farahany raises powerful issues about privacy and, as she says, cognitive liberty. All over Duke scientists are working on brain research that, in one way or another, defends our brains. Adcocks lab works with volunteer participants to see whether they can use neurofeedback from within an MRI machine to improve their performance on motivational tasks, hopefully developing an understanding that will enable people to improve performance on tasks throughout their lives. Jamila Minga, assistant professor of head and neck surgery & communication sciences and member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, works with survivors of right-hemisphere stroke, trying to understand the unique communication issues they face.

Gregory Cogan, assistant professor in the departments of neurology and neurosurgery and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, is collaborating with the lab of Jonathan Viventi, assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering. The two are working to create flexible electronic devices that could improve the capacity of those with neurodegenerative disorders such as ALS or multiple sclerosis to communicate. And William Wetsel, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, works with mice to find pharmacological molecules that will help treat anxiety, depression and addiction.

DIBS does more than support and connect researchers; it contains a strong element of pure education. It provides internships and educational opportunities to high school and college students, and on Coursera, White teaches a course on medical neuroscience that is one of the websites most popular offerings. White calls that possibly the achievement of which I am most proud, enabling him to connect with people all over the world united in their passion for brain science.

DIBS is planning exhibits around the recognizable glass box entrance to its basement space in the Levine Science Research Center, and Adcock hopes for an on-campus MRI machine, so students, researchers and study subjects will not need to enter the medical environment of the hospital. This would not only add research capacity but increase opportunities for nonclinical MRI uses.

Adcock imagines students thinking about their relationships with their brains, she says, who can then reflect on this experience and talk to philosophy professors about it.

Read more here:

DEFENDING THE BRAIN | Duke Mag - Duke University

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on DEFENDING THE BRAIN | Duke Mag – Duke University

The Innovations and Success of Elon Musk – OPP.Today

Posted: at 9:07 pm

Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur and tech genius, has been making headlines with his groundbreaking innovations and remarkable success. As the founder and CEO of companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has revolutionized multiple industries, pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

One of Musks most notable achievements is his work in the electric vehicle industry. With the creation of Tesla, Musk brought electric cars into the mainstream consciousness, challenging the dominance of traditional combustion engines. Teslas Model S, Model 3, and Model X have gained widespread acclaim for their cutting-edge technology and impressive performance. Musks vision for a sustainable future and his commitment to renewable energy have also led to the development of Teslas solar energy division.

Space travel is another area where Musk has made significant contributions. Through SpaceX, Musk aims to make space exploration more accessible and affordable. The companys reusable rockets and ambitious plans for colonization of Mars have captured the imagination of the world. Musks SpaceX has successfully launched numerous missions, including cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.

Apart from Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is also involved in other ventures such as Neuralink and The Boring Company. Neuralink is a neurotechnology company focused on developing implantable brainmachine interfaces, while The Boring Company aims to revolutionize tunneling and transportation infrastructure.

Elon Musks strategic vision, determination, and willingness to take risks have played a crucial role in his success. He has become a symbol of innovation, inspiring countless entrepreneurs and revolutionizing industries. Musks impact is likely to continue shaping the future, as he relentlessly pursues his ambitious goals.

Sources: Definition of electric vehicle: An electric vehicle is a mode of transport that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion, instead of a traditional internal combustion engine. Definition of space exploration: Space exploration is the discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space. Definition of neurotechnology: Neurotechnology refers to any technology that has a fundamental influence on how the brain functions. Definition of tunneling: Tunneling is the process of constructing underground structures, such as tunnels or underground passages.

*This article is based on the original source material without the use of URLs.

See original here:

The Innovations and Success of Elon Musk - OPP.Today

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on The Innovations and Success of Elon Musk – OPP.Today

Top Companies Using AI to Transform the Healthcare Industry … – Cryptopolitan

Posted: at 9:07 pm

Description

The healthcare industry is one of the major sectors where artificial intelligence is being explored and applied the most. Several organisations and medical practitioners are increasingly harnessing technology to transform the healthcare industry, improve patient care, reduce costs, and streamline administrative processes. In February, WSJ reported about doctors who are using AI technology to help Read more

The healthcare industry is one of the major sectors where artificial intelligence is being explored and applied the most. Several organisations and medical practitioners are increasingly harnessing technology to transform the healthcare industry, improve patient care, reduce costs, and streamline administrative processes.

In February, WSJ reported about doctors who are using AI technology to help detect new heart problems. Some doctors are also using AI programs to help identify an eye condition that can lead to blindness and patients at risk for sepsis, and even for research purposes.

Whats more, AI can even be used to accelerate the drug discovery process by identifying new drug targets and designing new drugs, performing more precise and minimally invasive surgery procedures, and even providing 24/7 healthcare virtual assistance services.

There are several companies making these feats possible in the healthcare industry. In no particular order, below are some of the biggest companies transforming the procedures in healthcare with AI technology.

Cera is one of the largest digital-first home healthcare providers in Europe. The company recently launched an AI-powered tool called Falls Prediction AI, which can predict old people who are most likely to fall at home. By collecting key information such as poor sleep or a change in mood, Ceras Fall Prediction AI can reportedly tell if a patient or elderly person is at risk of falling, with an 83% accuracy rate.

In the United Kingdom, the total annual cost of fragility fractures caused by falls is estimated at a whopping 4.4 billion (over $5.6 billion). Cera said its new AI tool would eradicate this problem, prevent hospitalizations, and ultimately improve social care, Cryptopolitan reported.

Insilico Medicine is one of the leading companies exploring the use of AI technology for drug discovery. Its AI platform, Pharma.AI, leverages the technology to automate many of the steps involved in the drug discovery process, from target identification to drug design.

The application of AI helps reduce the cost and time involved in drug discovery and development processes.

Stryker, a medical device company specializing in Medical and Surgical, Neurotechnology, Orthopedics, and Spine, uses AI with robotics technology for surgery procedures. Its robotic device called Mako assists surgeons in placing knee implants based on an individual patients unique anatomy.

The robotic arm works using 3D CT-based pre-operative planning. Prior to the surgery stage, a CT scan of the patients knee is taken first and used to create a 3D virtual model of the patients unique joint.

Based on the 3D models, the doctors would then prepare a patient-specific surgical plan, with which they would guide Makos robotic arm in performing the surgery.

Healx is a UK-based company that is using AI to accelerate the discovery and development of treatments for rare diseases. The company uses AI and machine learning to analyze millions of data points, including patient records, genetic data, and drug information, to identify new drug targets and potential treatments.

We bring treatments from prediction to patient. Artificial intelligence enables us to rapidly identify which novel drug-disease relationships have the highest chance of success and effectively scale a drug pipeline that will deliver significant patient impact, Healx stated on its website.

Vuno is a healthcare company in South Korea that provides a suite of AI-powered medical image analysis tools to assist radiologists in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Its flagship product is VUNO Med covers several medical image analyzing tools that can help to detect diseases earlier, provide clinical decision support, and improve the efficiency of radiology workflows.

Read more:

Top Companies Using AI to Transform the Healthcare Industry ... - Cryptopolitan

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on Top Companies Using AI to Transform the Healthcare Industry … – Cryptopolitan

UN Warns Unregulated Neurotechnology Threatens ‘Freedom of Thought’ – Yahoo News

Posted: July 23, 2023 at 4:58 pm

UN says unregulated neuro technology poses risks to those who use it

The UN is advising against neurotechnology using unregulated AI chip implantations, saying it poses a grave risk to peoples mental privacy. Unregulated neurotechnology could pose harmful long-term risks, the UN says, such as shaping the way a young person thinks or accessing private thoughts and emotions.

It specified its concerns centered around unregulated neurotechnology, and did not mention Neuralink, which received FDA approval in May to conduct microchip brain implant trials on humans.

Read more

Elon Musk, who co-founded Neuralink, has made big claims, saying the chips will cure people of lifelong health issues, allowing the blind to see and the paralyzed to walk again. But the implications of people using unregulated forms of this technology could have disastrous consequences by accessing the thoughts of those who use it, the UN said in a press release.

Neurotechnology could help solve many health issues, but it could also access and manipulate peoples brains, and produce information about our identities, and our emotions, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in the release. It could threaten our rights to human dignity, freedom of thought, and privacy. There is an urgent need to establish a common ethical framework at the international level, as UNESCO has done for artificial intelligence.

The UNs Agency for Science and Culture is developing a global ethical framework focused on how neurotechnology affects human rights as it quickly advances in the public sector.

The primary concern is neurotechnology will capture the reactions and basic emotions of individuals, something that would be very tempting for data-hungry corporations. The problem gets more complexwhen neural data is generated unconsciously, meaning the individual has not given their consent for that information to be gathered. If sensitive data is extracted, and then falls into the wrong hands, the individual may suffer harmful consequences, UNESCO said in its release.

Story continues

If the brain chips are implanted in children while they are still neurologically developing, it could disrupt the way their brain matures, making it possible to transform their minds and shape their future identity permanently.

According to UNESCO, one in eight people live with a mental or neurological disorder worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) says it affects up to one billion people globally. Neurological disorders include epilepsy, Alzheimers disease, stroke, brain infections, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinsons Disease.

UNESCO said in a separate press release that using Neurotechnology to relay information to computers, could expose those with the implant to manipulation and reduce their privacy. It said: Without ethical guardrails, these technologies can pose serious risks, as brain information can be accessed and manipulated, threatening fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms, which are central to the notion of human identity, freedom of thought, privacy, and memory.

UNESCO did not immediately respond to Gizmodos request for comment.

More from Gizmodo

Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.

Link:

UN Warns Unregulated Neurotechnology Threatens 'Freedom of Thought' - Yahoo News

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on UN Warns Unregulated Neurotechnology Threatens ‘Freedom of Thought’ – Yahoo News

I felt like there was someone in my head, and it wasn’t me. – UNESCO

Posted: at 4:58 pm

When do you first hear there could be treatment that included neurotechnology?

I still wanted to be a ballet dancer. I would have jumped at anything, just for the opportunity to get my dance career happening again. The brain operation was supposed to fix me. It was an EEG (electroencephalogram), but on the brain, not just on your head. Then there was a tube down your throat to a device in your chest that would gather the data. And there was another a device outside the body that had three lights that would beep and flash red before a seizure. So you knew when its time to go and lie on a couch.

What were your first impressions when you had it fitted?

I didn't like it from the get go, because it was flashing too much for me. I didn't realise how many seizures I was having. The device would beep for me every two seconds. The red light went on, Id take the device out and turn it off, and it just went off again. It made me depressed at university. I didn't tell any of my lecturers that I had it, I started hiding my epilepsy. And the depression got worse and worse and worse.

I felt like there was someone in my head, and it wasn't me. And I just got more and more depressed. I didn't like it at all.

When did you think about getting it removed?

I didn't believe that it was working, because it was going off all the time. I went into hospital, and they checked it, and the device was fine. That's when they realised how many seizures I was actually having. When I realised I was having more than 100 seizures a day, I wanted to throw the thing out the window. I just hated it, and wanted it gone.

With the amount of time it was going off for me, I felt like I had two choices. I could follow the device and rent a hospital bed for life and just lie down forever. Because that's what this device is saying, my life has gone. Or I could throw it out the window and say, I'm going to live my life still, and have a few seizures along the way, but have a life as well.

What advice would you have for other epilepsy patients who are considering neurotechnological treatments?

I would really say to someone who had epilepsy as badly as me, it's not the right thing for you. It will just make you feel like it's not worth living a real life anymore. I think that there needs to be a bigger conversation about the negativity. And there needs to be a lot more said before somebody makes that decision.

But I would say I've heard positive stories as well, from people who felt the treatment changed their lives. For someone who has one seizure every three months, I feel maybe it would help because they could go and sit on a couch. But if youre having as many seizures as me, you've got to think of the negatives as well. You're going to just constantly, suddenly have had this sound coming out of you. You're constantly going to have a someone in your head, and it's not you.

Here is the original post:

I felt like there was someone in my head, and it wasn't me. - UNESCO

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on I felt like there was someone in my head, and it wasn’t me. – UNESCO

Unraveling Connections Between the Brain and Gut – The Good Men Project

Posted: at 4:57 pm

By Anne Trafton|MIT News Office

The brain and the digestive tract are in constant communication, relaying signals that help to control feeding and other behaviors. This extensive communication network also influences our mental state and has been implicated in many neurological disorders.

MIT engineers have designed a new technology for probing those connections. Using fibers embedded with a variety of sensors, as well as light sources for optogenetic stimulation, the researchers have shown that they can control neural circuits connecting the gut and the brain, in mice.

In a new study, the researchers demonstrated that they could induce feelings of fullness or reward-seeking behavior in mice by manipulating cells of the intestine. In future work, they hope to explore some of the correlations that have been observed between digestive health and neurological conditions such as autism and Parkinsons disease.

The exciting thing here is that we now have technology that can drive gut function and behaviors such as feeding. More importantly, we have the ability to start accessing the crosstalk between the gut and the brain with the millisecond precision of optogenetics, and we can do it in behaving animals, says Polina Anikeeva, the Matoula S. Salapatas Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center, associate director of MITs Research Laboratory of Electronics, and a member of MITs McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

Anikeeva is the senior author of thenew study, which appears today inNature Biotechnology. The papers lead authors are MIT graduate student Atharva Sahasrabudhe, Duke University postdoc Laura Rupprecht, MIT postdoc Sirma Orguc, and former MIT postdoc Tural Khudiyev.

Last year, the McGovern Institute launched the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center to study the interplay between the brain and other organs of the body. Research at the center focuses on illuminating how these interactions help to shape behavior and overall health, with a goal of developing future therapies for a variety of diseases.

Theres continuous, bidirectional crosstalk between the body and the brain, Anikeeva says. For a long time, we thought the brain is a tyrant that sends output into the organs and controls everything. But now we know theres a lot of feedback back into the brain, and this feedback potentially controls some of the functions that we have previously attributed exclusively to the central neural control.

As part of the centers work, Anikeeva set out to probe the signals that pass between the brain and the nervous system of the gut, also called the enteric nervous system. Sensory cells in the gut influence hunger and satiety via both the neuronal communication and hormone release.

Untangling those hormonal and neural effects has been difficult because there hasnt been a good way to rapidly measure the neuronal signals, which occur within milliseconds.

To be able to perform gut optogenetics and then measure the effects on brain function and behavior, which requires millisecond precision, we needed a device that didnt exist. So, we decided to make it, says Sahasrabudhe, who led the development of the gut and brain probes.

The electronic interface that the researchers designed consists of flexible fibers that can carry out a variety of functions and can be inserted into the organs of interest. To create the fibers, Sahasrabudhe used a technique called thermal drawing, which allowed him to create polymer filaments, about as thin as a human hair, that can be embedded with electrodes and temperature sensors.

The filaments also carry microscale light-emitting devices that can be used to optogenetically stimulate cells, and microfluidic channels that can be used to deliver drugs.

The mechanical properties of the fibers can be tailored for use in different parts of the body. For the brain, the researchers created stiffer fibers that could be threaded deep into the brain. For digestive organs such as the intestine, they designed more delicate rubbery fibers that do not damage the lining of the organs but are still sturdy enough to withstand the harsh environment of the digestive tract.

To study the interaction between the brain and the body, it is necessary to develop technologies that can interface with organs of interest as well as the brain at the same time, while recording physiological signals with high signal-to-noise ratio, Sahasrabudhe says. We also need to be able to selectively stimulate different cell types in both organs in mice so that we can test their behaviors and perform causal analyses of these circuits.

The fibers are also designed so that they can be controlled wirelessly, using an external control circuit that can be temporarily affixed to the animal during an experiment. This wireless control circuit was developed by Orguc, aSchmidt Science Fellow, and Harrison Allen 20, MEng 22, who were co-advised between the Anikeeva lab and the lab of Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MITs School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Using this interface, the researchers performed a series of experiments to show that they could influence behavior through manipulation of the gut as well as the brain.

First, they used the fibers to deliver optogenetic stimulation to a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which releases dopamine. They placed mice in a cage with three chambers, and when the mice entered one particular chamber, the researchers activated the dopamine neurons. The resulting dopamine burst made the mice more likely to return to that chamber in search of the dopamine reward.

Then, the researchers tried to see if they could also induce that reward-seeking behavior by influencing the gut. To do that, they used fibers in the gut to release sucrose, which also activated dopamine release in the brain and prompted the animals to seek out the chamber they were in when sucrose was delivered.

Next, working with colleagues from Duke University, the researchers found they could induce the same reward-seeking behavior by skipping the sucrose and optogenetically stimulating nerve endings in the gut that provide input to the vagus nerve, which controls digestion and other bodily functions.

Again, we got this place preference behavior that people have previously seen with stimulation in the brain, but now we are not touching the brain. We are just stimulating the gut, and we are observing control of central function from the periphery, Anikeeva says.

Sahasrabudhe worked closely with Rupprecht, a postdoc in Professor Diego Bohorquez group at Duke, to test the fibers ability to control feeding behaviors. They found that the devices could optogenetically stimulate cells that produce cholecystokinin, a hormone that promotes satiety. When this hormone release was activated, the animals appetites were suppressed, even though they had been fasting for several hours. The researchers also demonstrated a similar effect when they stimulated cells that produce a peptide called PYY, which normally curbs appetite after very rich foods are consumed.

The researchers now plan to use this interface to study neurological conditions that are believed to have a gut-brain connection. For instance, studies have shown that autistic children are far more likely than their peers to be diagnosed with GI dysfunction, while anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome share genetic risks.

We can now begin asking, are those coincidences, or is there a connection between the gut and the brain? And maybe there is an opportunity for us to tap into those gut-brain circuits to begin managing some of those conditions by manipulating the peripheral circuits in a way that does not directly touch the brain and is less invasive, Anikeeva says.

The research was funded, in part, by the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research and the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Materials Science and Engineering, the NSF Center for Neurotechnology, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a National Institutes of Health DirectorsPioneer Award, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Reprinted with permission of MIT News.

***

All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.

A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.

Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.

Photo credit: iStock.com

See the article here:

Unraveling Connections Between the Brain and Gut - The Good Men Project

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on Unraveling Connections Between the Brain and Gut – The Good Men Project

Neurotechnology: what it is, applications – Iberdrola

Posted: February 10, 2023 at 11:49 am

You wake up in the morning and think about having some chocolate scones for breakfast. As soon as you visualise the sweets in your head, your mobile phone sends you a notification: "Craving detected, wouldn't you rather eat something healthier? It sounds like science fiction, but it is just one of the countless applications that neurotechnology will bring us in the coming decades.

Neurotechnology encompasses all technologies developed to understand the brain, visualise its processes and even control, repair or improve its functions. Although electroencephalography is almost a century old, the first major breakthrough in this field has come in recent decades with brain imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. This technique, among other things, has allowed researchers to identify which areas of the brain are activated or deactivated during certain tasks.

From there, neurotechnology has reached other areas that normally go unnoticed, ranging from the development of drugs to treat mental disorders such as depression, insomnia or attention deficit disorder, to technologies dedicated to neurological rehabilitation after cerebrovascular accidents or to hearing recovery with cochlear implants. And this, as we shall see below, has only just begun.

Neurotechnology uses different techniques to record brain activity and stimulate parts of the brain at will. Non-invasive techniques are those that allow action from the outside, while invasive techniques require the implantation of electrodes through surgery.

Among those dedicated to recording brain activity are:

In terms of techniques to stimulate the brain, these are the most commonly used:

Neurotechnology is related to cognitive technologies. According to consulting firm Deloitte, these are technologies derived from artificial intelligence that allow tasks to be performed that previously could only be done by humans. Some examples are artificial vision, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing or robotic process automation, among others.

In particular, the data obtained on the functioning of the brain is used to develop artificial neural networks. For example, the aforementioned machine vision can be used to identify a person's emotions by analysing their facial expressions. In addition, the use of these technologies will also enable further development of neurodidactics, thus improving learning methods and processes.

Below, we review some of the most recent applications:

Using real-time EEG or fMRI, someone can be taught to control their central nervous functions, such as heartbeat.

Behavioural and molecular neuropharmacology are benefiting from a better understanding of the nervous system to develop more effective drugs.

These devices are able to replace motor, sensory or cognitive abilities damaged as a result of injury or disease.

Brain-computer interfaces are fundamental in the development of new sensors and prostheses, allowing signals to be sent and received in real time.

The combination of neurotechnology, genetics and optogenetics allows specific genes in neural tissue to be switched on or off using focused light.

Read the original:

Neurotechnology: what it is, applications - Iberdrola

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on Neurotechnology: what it is, applications – Iberdrola

Forget Media Manipulation And Misinformation via TikTok And Twitter, Neurotechnology Heralds The New Battle For Our Brains – Forbes

Posted: at 11:49 am

Forget Media Manipulation And Misinformation via TikTok And Twitter, Neurotechnology Heralds The New Battle For Our Brains  Forbes

Originally posted here:

Forget Media Manipulation And Misinformation via TikTok And Twitter, Neurotechnology Heralds The New Battle For Our Brains - Forbes

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on Forget Media Manipulation And Misinformation via TikTok And Twitter, Neurotechnology Heralds The New Battle For Our Brains – Forbes

The Jacob Laboratory Translational Neurotechnology

Posted: January 2, 2023 at 6:23 am

Welcome to the Translational NeuroTechnology Laboratory!

In the Jacob lab, we study complex cognitive functions at the level of individual neurons and their networks. Intelligent, goal-directed behavior is produced by the interaction of populations of neurons in the cognitive brain centers such as the prefrontal cortex, the parietal cortex and the basal ganglia. We are particularly interested in how we learn and memorize behaviorally relevant information on multiple time scales, how this information is transformed into purposeful actions, and how neuromodulators such as dopamine regulate the underlying circuits.

We investigate cognitive mechanisms in animal models and in humans. To study specific brain functions, we design and train controlled behavioral tasks. We then combine multiple state-of-the-art techniques in mice, including large-scale extracellular recordings, optogenetic manipulation of defined cell types and networks, fluorescent imaging and computational analysis and modelling. In a unique interdisciplinary approach, we develop and use technologies for recording from populations of individual neurons in human neurosurgical patients. This translational line of research allows us to work towards a deep understanding of the principles of high-level cognitive functioning.

Cognitive functions are impaired in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. Very little is known about the neuronal mechanisms. Our long-term goal is to contribute to a better understanding of the cellular basis of mental health and disease.

Read the original:

The Jacob Laboratory Translational Neurotechnology

Posted in Neurotechnology | Comments Off on The Jacob Laboratory Translational Neurotechnology

Page 11234..1020..»