Learn more quickly by transcranial magnetic brain stimulation, study in rats suggests What sounds like science fiction is actually possible: thanks to magnetic stimulation, the activity of certain brain nerve cells can be deliberately influenced. What happens in the brain in this context has been unclear up to now. Medical experts from Bochum under the leadership of Prof. The researchers have published their studies in the Journal of Neuroscience and in the European Journal of Neuroscience. Magnetic pulses stimulate the brain Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a relatively new method of pain-free stimulation of cerebral nerve cells. Repeated stimuli change cerebral activity Since the mid-1990's, repetitive TMS has been used to make purposeful changes to the activability of nerve cells in the human cortex: "In general, the activity of the cells drops as a result of a low-frequency stimulation, i.e. with one magnetic pulse per second. Contact points between cells are strengthened or weakened Inhibitory cortical cells react particularly sensitive to stimulation
Magnetic Mind Control How Does the Brain Work? PBS Airdate: September 14, 2011 NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Hi, I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson, your host for NOVA scienceNOW, where this season, we're asking six big questions. On this episode: How Does the Brain Work? To find out, I head to Las Vegas, where brain researchers are placing their bets on magic. MAC KING (Magician): That's a dang real fish. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Some of the world's top magicians... PENN JILLETTE (Magician): Place the ball... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: ...are making the mysteries behind our most powerful organ disappear... I saw it go over! The illusionists reveal their secrets That motion will draw the eye ...giving us new insight into how our brain pays attention. STEPHEN MACKNIK (Barrow Neurological Institute): This would be a major contribution to science from the magicians. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Also, a magnetic wand ... MO ROCCA (Correspondent): Oh! NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: ... that can control your body,... MO ROCCA: Ooh, wow! Keep your eye on the ball, son. Maria?
Where Work Is a Religion, Work Burnout Is Its Crisis of Faith People who are suffering from burnout tend to describe the sensation in metaphors of emptiness—they’re a dry teapot over a high flame, a drained battery that can no longer hold its charge. Thirteen years, three books, and dozens of papers into his profession, Barry Farber, a professor at Columbia Teachers College and trained psychotherapist, realized he was feeling this way. Unfortunately, he was well acquainted with the symptoms. Being burned out on burnout—now that was rich. Farber had burned out once before. Farber was so captivated by the notion of burnout he made it the subject of his dissertation. I can’t quite say that I’ve ever had the full-on Farber experience. Burnout is not its own category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Back in the seventies, when people marched into the world with convictions about changing it, burnout was considered a noble affliction.
#80: Magnets Can Change Your Moral Values | Memory, Emotions, & Decisions Think you have clear standards of right and wrong written into your brain? Think again. In April neuroscientist Liane Young and her colleagues at MIT and Harvard University reported that they had altered people’s moral judgments using transcranial magnetic stimulation, a procedure that briefly disrupts neural processing with a magnetic field induced by electric current. Young asked each of 20 volunteers to judge 24 scenarios that involved morally questionable behavior. Before and after, the subjects rated the scenarios on a seven-point scale, ranging from morally forbidden to morally permissible. Manipulating morality with a magnet may sound diabolical, but Young has no interest in mind control.
Neuroscience, free will and determinism: 'I'm just a machine' What does this mean in terms of free will? "We don't have free will, in the spiritual sense. What you're seeing is the last output stage of a machine. The conclusions are shocking: if we are part of the universe, and obey its laws, it's hard to see where free will comes into it. "If you see a light go green, it may mean press the accelerator; but there are lots of situations where it doesn't mean that: if the car in front hasn't moved, for example. Slowly, however, we are learning more about the details of that complexity. "What happens if someone commits a crime, and it turns out that there's a lesion in that brain area? This runs shockingly contrary to the sense of freedom that we feel in terms of controlling our actions, on which we base our whole sense of self and system of morality. "It's a rule that we need to have as social animals. Maybe, I suggest, we've over-defined free will. "Yes, interacting intelligently with your environment might be enough. Prof Haggard is dismissive.
Neuroscience of magic NEW YORK — There is a place for magic in science. Five years ago, on a trip to Las Vegas, neuroscientists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde realized that a partnership was in order with a profession that has an older and more intuitive understanding of how the human brain works. Magicians, it seems, have an advantage over neuroscientists. "Scientists have only studied cognitive illusions for a few decades. She and Macknik, her husband, use illusions as a tool to study how the brain works. After their epiphany in Las Vegas, where they were preparing for a conference on consciousness, the duo, who both direct laboratories at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, teamed up with magicians to learn just how they harness the foibles of our brains. The psychological concepts behind illusions are generally better understood, but they treat the brain as something of a black box, without the insight into brain activity or anatomy that neuroscience can offer, they write.
Joi Ito's Web: Health and Medicine Archives I wrote a longish update on my diet. The one line summary is that I'm excited and enjoying it. If you are interested read the rest of this post. I'm on my 8th day of the "Eat to Live" (ETL) diet. Eat to Live 6-Week Plan UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want): * all raw vegetables, including raw carrots (goal: 1 lb. daily) * cooked green vegetables (goal 1 lb. daily) * beans, legumes, bean sprouts, or *tofu (minimum 1 cup daily in total of these) * fresh fruit (at least 4 daily). * eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomato and other non-starchy vegetables, cooked and raw (unlimited) *Beans should be eaten daily; tofu should be eaten less frequently. As part of this, I've stopped drinking alcohol (again) and increased my exercise to a target of one hour every other day. As my friends know, I'm rather obsessive and your mileage may vary in following my path since I tend to hyper-focus on stuff I'm excited about. The first few days were slightly disorienting. The beans...
Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system.[1] Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, medicine and allied disciplines, philosophy, physics, and psychology. It also exerts influence on other fields, such as neuroeducation[2] and neurolaw. The term neurobiology is usually used interchangeably with the term neuroscience, although the former refers specifically to the biology of the nervous system, whereas the latter refers to the entire science of the nervous system. Because of the increasing number of scientists who study the nervous system, several prominent neuroscience organizations have been formed to provide a forum to all neuroscientists and educators. History[edit] The study of the nervous system dates back to ancient Egypt. Modern neuroscience[edit] Human nervous system
Don’t try this at home: Researchers use tDCS to release your brain’s strongest opioid painkillers A team of international researchers headed up by the University of Michigan has used noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to release endogenous opioids — the human body’s most powerful, euphoria-inducing painkillers that are very similar to opiates such as morphine. This approach is significant because releasing these opioids is as simple as strapping a couple of damp sponges to your scalp and attaching a 9-volt battery. tDCS is a new application of neuroscience that is frankly a little bit scary. Basically, by applying a very small current to your scalp (2 milliamps), you can alter the behavior of neurons in your brain. Pain relief from tDCS. Now, it seems, researchers — led by Alexandre DaSilva of the University of Michigian — have found that tDCS, when the electrodes are placed above the motor cortex, releases endogenous μ-opioid. Now read: Curing depression and super-charging cranial capacity with deep brain stimulation
Will we hear the light? Public release date: 27-Mar-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Lee Siegelleesiegel@ucomm.utah.edu 801-581-8993University of Utah SALT LAKE CITY, March 28, 2011 – University of Utah scientists used invisible infrared light to make rat heart cells contract and toadfish inner-ear cells send signals to the brain. "We're going to talk to the brain with optical infrared pulses instead of electrical pulses," which now are used in cochlear implants to provide deaf people with limited hearing, says Richard Rabbitt, a professor of bioengineering and senior author of the heart-cell and inner-ear-cell studies published this month in The Journal of Physiology. The studies – funded by the National Institutes of Health – also raise the possibility of developing cardiac pacemakers that use optical signals rather than electrical signals to stimulate heart cells. Shedding Infrared Light on Inner-Ear Cells and Heart Cells "Calcium does that normally," says Rabbitt. [ Print | E-mail
Get the diet scoop: 6 promising supplements, 6 to avoid By Eric Steinmehl Health.com Adjust font size: The sales pitches are irresistible: "Lose 2 Pounds a Day!" "Burn Fat Round the Clock!" Truth is, lifestyle changes are the key to healthy weight loss. Caffeine What it is: The wake-you-up chemical in your coffee appears to be the most effective weight-loss ingredient. Why try it: A stimulant, caffeine speeds up metabolism and can ward off listlessness from dieting. Why not: More than 400 milligrams per day (equivalent to three to four cups of coffee) won't help you lose more weight and could bring on jitteriness, headaches, and insomnia. What it is: It's green tea's main antioxidant -- the same stuff that may protect against cancer and heart disease -- and is available in green tea supplements. Why try it: EGCG appears to work synergistically with the caffeine in green tea to boost metabolism. Why not: EGCG has no risks, but the caffeine in green tea may lead to jitters if you drink coffee or take a caffeine supplement, too. Chromium
Pill To Fight Alcoholism -- Neuropharmacologists Find Topiramate Effective For Treatment Of Alcoholism Aug. 11, 2023 — The skin, hair and eye color of more than eight billion humans is determined by the light-absorbing pigment known as melanin. New research has identified 135 new genes associated with ... Aug. 10, 2023 — Researchers introduce a new tool to measure bias in text-to-image AI generation models, which they have used to quantify bias in the state-of-the-art model Stable ... Aug. 10, 2023 — Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student's study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles ... Aug. 10, 2023 — Sodium, Potassium and zinc have all been promising contenders for lithium's place in rechargeable batteries of the future, but researchers have added an unusual and more abundant competitor to ... Aug. 10, 2023 — The best heart rate for burning fat differs for each individual and often does not align with the 'fat burning zone' on commercial exercise machines, researchers report.
Temporally structured replay of awake hippocampal ... [Neuron. 2001] - PubMed result Learning From Losers When it comes to dieting, everyone wants to be a loser. But only 10 percent of people who manage to drop pounds also manage never to see them again. The good news is that as a runner, you already have a head start in joining this enviable club. For the past dozen years, researchers Rena Wing, Ph.D., and James Hill, Ph.D., have meticulously tracked about 6,000 people who have met the minimum requirements to participate in their National Weight Control Registry: They must have lost at least 30 pounds and maintained that for at least a year. The successful losers didn't turn to wacky eating plans, fad diets, or extreme measures like gastric-bypass surgery. Keep Up the Carbs You won't find NWCR folks on a high-protein diet. Action plan Divide and conquer your dinnerware. Take Good Notes Most dieters typically stop bothering to write down what they eat after a few months of weight loss. Become a Morning Person Sit down for breakfast. Weigh In Keep Moving Boost Your Burn