Cynthia Horton’s earaches are the stuff of nightmares. “I can wake up from my sleep in horrible pain, like I’m having a root canal with no anesthesia,” she said. “When I sit up, my ear is often weeping with infection, even oozing blood.” Already weakened by a lifelong battle with lupus, Horton’s immune system was [...]
The study hypothesizes that ‘pre-digested’ foods contributed to the development of larger brains. The large, capable human brain is a marvel of evolution, but how it evolved from a smaller primate brain into the creative, complex organ of today is a mystery. Scientists can pinpoint when our evolutionary ancestors evolved larger brains, which roughly tripled in [...]
Neuroscientists demonstrate how the brain improves its ability to distinguish between similar experiences, findings that could lead to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. Think of a time when you had two different but similar experiences in a short period. Maybe you attended two holiday parties in the same week or gave two presentations [...]
Sensors built with a new manufacturing approach are capable of recording activity deep within the brain from large populations of individual neurons—with a resolution of as few as one or two neurons—in humans as well as a range of animal models, according to a study published in the Jan. 17, 2024 issue of the [...]
A team of international researchers, led by Francesca Santoro from Jülich, has developed a biochip that imitates the human retina. This innovation is part of a broader effort in bioelectronics aimed at repairing bodily and brain dysfunctions. The creation of this chip is a collaborative achievement involving experts from Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH Aachen University, Istituto [...]
The brain, despite its comparatively shallow structure with limited layers, operates efficiently, whereas modern AI systems are characterized by deep architectures with numerous layers. This raises the question: Can brain-inspired shallow architectures rival the performance of deep architectures, and if so, what are the fundamental mechanisms that enable this? Neural network learning methods are [...]
The annual total of deaths from fungal disease worldwide has risen to 3.75 million, double the previous estimate, according to a new study. In a paper, titled "Global incidence and mortality of severe fungal disease" published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, David Denning, a professor of infectious disease at The University of Manchester also [...]
Molecular biology's central dogma posits a simple recipe for the construction of the human body: a DNA blueprint is transcribed into an RNA message, and the RNA message is translated into the proteins that make you. Translating the mRNA message is a bit like an assembly line. The individual nucleotide "letters" in mRNA form [...]
The question of how living organisms emerged from non-living matter remains one of the most profound mysteries in science. Despite numerous theories, a conclusive explanation remains elusive. This is hardly unexpected, considering these events occurred three to four billion years ago, under Earth’s drastically different ancient conditions. Justifying hypotheses with experimental data “Over this [...]
With human retinas grown in a petri dish, researchers discovered how an offshoot of vitamin A generates the specialized cells that enable people to see millions of colors, an ability that dogs, cats, and other mammals do not possess. "These retinal organoids allowed us for the first time to study this very human-specific trait," [...]
