brain science technologies

From "Mind Hacks"

The cutting edge of brain science technologies

National Geographic has an excellent article that gives a tour of some of the latest technologies of neuroscience that are likely to be leading the way in understanding the brain over the next decade.

You can read the full article online but you need to complete a free registration first. A typical publication ploy but, in this case, it’s well worth doing.

The article is itself fascinating but is also wonderfully illustrated with photos and videos to show exactly how the new technologies allows us to see the brain at work in many different ways.

An excellent guide to the cutting edge of lab brain science.

Link to National Geographic article ‘Secrets of the Brain’ (free reg required).

http://ngm-beta.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/articles/visions/?id=1388

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This entry was written by vaughanbell and posted on January 25, 2014 at 3:38 pm and filed under Inside the Brain. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Sugar Battery

An environmentally friendly, energy-dense sugar battery

January 24, 2014

A Virginia Tech research team has developed a battery that runs on sugar and has an unmatched energy density, a development that could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable. The findings from Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of  biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences … more…

MIT Open online courses

From Kurzweil
MIT and Harvard release working papers on open online courses

January 23, 2014

MIT and Harvard University have released a series of working papers (open access) based on 17 online courses offered on the edX platform. Run in 2012 and 2013, the courses analyzed drew upon diverse topics — from ancient Greek poetry to electromagnetism — and an array of disciplines, from public health to engineering to law. … more…

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Marvin Minsky honored for lifetime achievements in artificial intelligence

January 21, 2014

MIT Media Lab professor emeritus Marvin Minsky, PhD, 86, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the information and communications technologies category. The BBVA Foundation cited his influential role in defining the field of artificial intelligence, and in mentoring many of the leading minds … more…

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Tapping more of the sun’s energy using heat as well as light

New approach developed at MIT could generate power from sunlight efficiently and on demand

January 24, 2014

[+]

A new approach to harvesting solar energy, developed by MIT researchers, could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic cell.

This technique could also make it easier to store the energy for later use, the researchers say.

In this case, adding the extra step improves performance, because it makes it possible to…read more

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photosynthesis : quantum mechanics

Evidence that photosynthesis efficiency is based on quantum mechanics

January 17, 2014

[+]

Clover leaf (credit: Scott Robinson/Flickr)

Light-gathering macromolecules in plant cells transfer energy by taking advantage of molecular vibrations whose physical descriptions have no equivalents in classical physics, according to the first unambiguous theoretical evidence of quantum effects in photosynthesis, published in the journal Nature Communications (open access).

The majority of light-gathering macromolecules are composed of chromophores (responsible for the color of molecules) attached to proteins, which carry out the first step of photosynthesis, capturing sunlight and transferring the associated energy highly efficiently.

Previous experiments have suggested that energy is transferred in a wave-like manner, exploiting quantum phenomena, but crucially, a non-classical (quantum) explanation could not be conclusively proved because the phenomena identified could equally be described using classical physics.

Non-classicality of the molecular vibrations assisting exciton energy transfer at room temperature

• Edward J. O’Reilly
• & Alexandra Olaya-Castro

• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Corresponding author

Nature Communications

 

5,

 

Article number:

 

3012

 

doi:10.1038/ncomms4012

Received

 

02 April 2013 

Accepted

 

25 November 2013 

Published

 

09 January 2014

Article tools

Abstract

• Abstract• 
• Introduction• 
• Results• 
• Discussion• 
• Methods• 
• Additional information• 
• References•
• Acknowledgements• 
• Author information• 
• Supplementary information

Advancing the debate on quantum effects in light-initiated reactions in biology requires clear identification of non-classical features that these processes can exhibit and utilize. Here we show that in prototype dimers present in a variety of photosynthetic antennae, efficient vibration-assisted energy transfer in the sub-picosecond timescale and at room temperature can manifest and benefit from non-classical fluctuations of collective pigment motions. Non-classicality of initially thermalized vibrations is induced via coherent exciton–vibration interactions and is unambiguously indicated by negativities in the phase–space quasi-probability distribution of the effective collective mode coupled to the electronic dynamics. These quantum effects can be prompted upon incoherent input of excitation. Our results therefore suggest that investigation of the non-classical properties of vibrational motions assisting excitation and charge transport, photoreception and chemical sensing processes could be a touchstone for revealing a role for non-trivial quantum phenomena in biology.

Subject terms:

• Physical sciences
• Atomic and molecular physics
• Biophysics
• Theoretical physics

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From http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/page/2

The brain can process images seen for just 13 milliseconds

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[+]

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sedentarism

The health hazards of sitting

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Maps +

40 Maps They Didn’t Teach You In School

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• BY MAX FISHER

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Click to enlarge. (Imgur)

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ADD A COMMENT

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 Food for a feminine thought

 Human Rights Reader 331

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Wednesday, February 5, 2014 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
The New York Academy of Sciences

Presented by The Nour Foundation, The New York Academy of Sciences, and Wisconsin Public Radio's nationally-syndicated programTo the Best of Our Knowledge

Register Now

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• Description
• Speakers
• Travel & Lodging

This event is part of the Rethinking Mortality series.

Despite advances in technology and medicine, death itself remains an immutable certainty. Indeed, the acceptance and understanding of our mortality is one of the enduring metaphysical challenges that have confronted human beings from the beginning of time. How have we sought to cope with the inevitability of our mortality? How do various cultural and social representations of mortality shape and influence the way in which we understand and approach death? To what extent do personal beliefs and convictions about the meaning of life or the notion of an “afterlife” impact how we perceive and experience the process of death and dying? Psychologist Lani Leary, professor of philosophy and religion Jeff Kripal, and sociologist Allan Kellehear come together to share a multicultural perspective on death, dying, and what lies beyond.

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Featuring

Allan Kellehear, PhD

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Jeffrey J. Kripal, PhD

J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University
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Psychotherapist
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Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832)

"Pain and pleasure... govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think."

Jeremy Bentham

Born	15 February 1748 London, England
Died	6 June 1832 (aged 84) London, England
Era	18th century 19th century
School	Utilitarianism, legal positivism,liberalism
Main interests	Political philosophy, philosophy of law, ethics, economics
Notable ideas	Greatest happiness principle
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