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All motion is relative. That simple fact makes tracking the motion of distant objects outside our galaxy particularly challenging. For example, there has been a debate among astronomers for decades about the path that one of our nearest neighbors, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), took over the last few billion years. A new paper from Scott Lucchini and Jiwon Jesse Hand from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics grapples with that question by using a unique technique - the paths of hypervelocity stars.

Cutting-edge simulations show that Enceladus’ plumes are losing 20–40% less mass than earlier estimates suggested. The new models provide sharper insights into subsurface conditions that future landers may one day probe directly.

AlphaEvolve, an AI system created by Google DeepMind, is helping mathematicians do research at a scale that was previously impossible - even if it does occasionally "cheat" to find a solution

Facing its worst drought in decades, Iran is attempting to stimulate rain by spreading seeding agents in clouds, but the technique is likely to have modest benefits at best

Stories claim that this region of Alaska is home to a huge number of unexplained disappearances.

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Years ago, when I was a mere lad using Word Perfect on MS DOS, it was 4 a.m. and I just finished the final draft of a grant proposal that was due to the next day. I spun around in my chair and managed to kick out the power cord. I was a Mac user then, but had to use a PC […]

The post AI (Acupunctures Inevitable) Slop first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

I am currently in Dubai at the Future Forum conference, and later today I am on a panel about the future of the mind with two other neuroscientists. I expect the conversation to be dynamic, but here is the core of what I want to say.

As I have been covering here over the years in bits and pieces, there seems to be several technologies converging on at least one critical component of research into consciousness and sentience. The first is the ability to image the functioning of the brain, in addition to the anatomy, in real time. We have functional MRI scanning, PET, and EEG mapping which enable us to see cerebral blood flow, metabolism and electrical activity. This allows researchers to ask questions such as: what parts of the brain light up when a subject is experiencing something or performing a specific task. The data is relatively low resolution (compared to the neuronal level of activity) and noisy, but we can pull meaningful patterns from this data to build our models of how the brain works.

The second technology which is having a significant impact on neuroscience research is computer technology, including but not limited to AI. All the technologies I listed above are dependent on computing, and as the software improves, so does the resulting imaging. AI is now also helping us make sense of the noisy data. But the computing technology flows in the other direction as well – we can use our knowledge of the brain to help us design computer circuits, whether in neural networks or even just virtually in software. This creates a feedback loop whereby we use computers to understand the brain, and the resulting neuroscience to build better computers.

The third technology is the brain machine interface (BMI). This allows biological brains to talk to computer software, and through that to robotic prosthetics and any other application that can be run digitally. So far it seems like our brains are happy to accept input from software and can learn to control robotic limbs. A robotic hand, for example, can have sensory feedback in addition to motor control, and this closes the loop in the brain so that the user feels as if they own and operate the robotic limb, more like their original biological limb.

All these technologies together, but especially the first two, are building toward a final goal (among many) of creating a human connectome – a map of all the circuits in the human brain at a functional level of resolution. Along the way there have been some interesting milestones. Back in 2011 researchers built the first computer model of a mouse cortical column, a complete circuit in the brain. Since then this kind of research has taken off.

There are several things happening at once: Researchers are modeling brains in some combination of hardware and software, and sometimes in “wetware” that mimics how neurons function. They can also create circuits that combine silicon and living neurons, which can function and learn. Further they can map brain circuits virtually to see how they behave, learn and function. They are also using our knowledge of how the brain and neurons work to design computers and AI that is perhaps more efficient and powerful.

I see no reason why all of these technologies, working together, will not eventually achieve, through nothing but incremental advances, a complete model of a human brain, either virtually in software, or in hardware, or in some combination. This will enable us to confirm (sort of) the ultimate question about the human mind – is the mind an emergent property of brain circuits functioning in real time? If so, then a virtual or silicon brain should be conscious.

Of course, we will not know if the virtual brain experiences its own existence, only that it acts as if it does. We may create an AI p-zombie – a philosophical zombie that acts sentient but does not experience its own existence (no qualia, as the philosophers say). But at this point I think we will be obligated to treat a virtual brain as if it is a sentient being, since it will be indistinguishable from one.

But even if we set aside this question aside, we will be able to model human brain function and measure its behavior and output. This would give us an amazing research tool. We can endlessly alter the circuits to see what happens. We can model psychiatric conditions, like schizophrenia. We can find out how different circuits behave and interact to create the human mind in all its aspects.

Back to BMI – we will also be able to network all of this with biological human brains. We will be able to merge with our AI, to extend our brain capacity with silicon. Will this work? Every indication so far says that it will. I imagine it can function like a third hemisphere. Each hemisphere of our brain is capable of generating independent consciousness – each hemisphere is you. They also contribute their unique function. But they are so robustly connected and networked together that they function like one mind (to our subjective experience).

So – a third silicon hemisphere, robustly connected to the two biological ones, should also function as part of a single mind, just one with expanded capacity and function. Imagine living much of your life with such a computer extension. It would become part of you – it would become you. If it were powerful enough, you may not even notice when the biological hemispheres are damaged or die – unless they are still needed to interface with your body. But if that could be duplicated as well, to create redundant connection from your silicon brain to all the brain’s inputs and outputs, then you would not notice.

But even if we cannot do that last part, your consciousness would continue, perhaps with little change. It could theoretically be placed in a virtual environment, or in an android, or (as in the series Altered Carbon) in another biological body.

These last applications are for the far future – but creating an entire human brain in some combination of hardware, wetware, and software will likely happen sometime this century. Perhaps it will run on a quantum computer, or some advanced neural network that models human neurons as much as possible. Either way, it is the ultimate extension of the current paradigm of neuroscience – the mind is what the brain does, it is an emergent property of brain function. Silicon or virtual brains should demonstrate the same emergent behavior.

The post The Future of the Mind first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

Scientists built a tiny clock from single-electron jumps to probe the true energy cost of quantum timekeeping. They discovered that reading the clock’s output requires vastly more energy than the clock uses to function. This measurement process also drives the irreversibility that defines time’s forward direction. The insight could push researchers to rethink how quantum devices handle information.

Scientists built a tiny clock from single-electron jumps to probe the true energy cost of quantum timekeeping. They discovered that reading the clock’s output requires vastly more energy than the clock uses to function. This measurement process also drives the irreversibility that defines time’s forward direction. The insight could push researchers to rethink how quantum devices handle information.

A major settlement in Central Asia called Semiyarka dating back to 1600 BC had houses, a big central building and even an industrial zone for producing copper and bronze

Let’s rewind the clock back…oh, I don’t know, let’s say a hundred years.

Observations of a supernova explosion have revealed its shape only one day after it was first detected. The exact nature of supernovae explosions are unclear and the subject of ongoing, detailed debate. These new observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope will advance the debate.

A 12,000-year-old clay sculpture found in Israel depicts a goose on the back of a woman, and archaeologists suggest it may be a depiction of an animistic mythological scene

Neanderthals were thought to have structures inside their noses that helped them deal with the cold, but analysis of an exceptionally preserved specimen contradicts that

Astronomers have found more than 6,000 exoplanets in the Milky Way. They've even begun to characterize the atmospheres of some of them. But the Milky Way has consumed many of its dwarf satellites. How have exoplanets fared in these remnants? How are they different? To answer those questions, astronomers have to find some of these planets, and a new survey is poised to do just that.

Some ants kill the queens of another species and take over their colonies, but we now know at least one species gets workers to do the dirty work for them through a kind of chemical subterfuge

The discovery that fat is a communicative organ with a role in everything from bone health to mood is forcing a rethink of how we view our bodies

A new dual-light microscope lets researchers observe micro- and nanoscale activity inside living cells without using dyes. The system captures both detailed structures and tiny moving particles at once, providing a more complete view of cellular behavior. Its creators tested it by analyzing changes during cell death and were able to estimate particle size and refractive index. They hope to push the technique toward imaging particles as small as viruses.

The popularity of the acai berry as a so-called “superfood” is a triumph of marketing over reality. This is a berry from the Amazon that was eaten by local people – because it was available – but was then marketed by a company called Sambazon and became an international sensation.

There are lots of berries around the world that are a fairly good source of vitamins, but none of them deserve the moniker “super”. That is pure marketing hype. Acai is bitter (does anyone actually like acai?) and has to be imported from the Amazon, while if you live in the US there are lots of better choices, like blueberries. Why would people bother? Because they were lied to by celebrities.

The idea is that a superfood packs so much nutrition, including things like antioxidants, that they have specific health benefits. This is not a credible claim, and there is no solid scientific data to back up such claims. Generally the companies trying to market these foods will finance some studies designed to generate marketing copy, but nothing am0unting to serious research.

The very concept of a “superfood” is flawed, and likely to be counterproductive. What matters is one’s entire diet, not one component of the diet. The best approach is a simple one – eat a varied diet containing plenty of fruits and vegetables. That’s it – there, I just saved you from having to buy any healthy eating books, spending time or money on fancy diets, or obsessing over minutiae regarding your diet. Just eat your fruits and veg.

If you want to make sure your diet is varied enough, then read up on some basic nutrition facts (like we all had to in middle school). If you are healthy then it’s not complicated – again, variety is your friend. If you have a medical condition or a family history affected by your diet then you will want to consult a health expert for special dietary issues.

You can get pretty close to an optimal diet by simply following that basic guide, but people often obsess, trying to squeeze out an extra percent or two of benefit (of course, they have been false lead to believe the benefits are much more). You end up spending lots of money and time, and likely do more harm than good. Relying on an alleged superfood is likely to make your diet less varied and may also give you a false sense of security.

This also relates to another inherent flaw in the superfood narrative – it is largely based on the notion that if some is good, then more must be better. But nutrition (and biology in general) does not work that way. Once you are getting enough vitamins, more is of no magical benefit.

Since almost every item marketed as a superfood makes the antioxidant claim, let me quickly review why this is also bunk. Your body makes its own antioxidants, and they are 1000 times (literally) more potent than anything you can eat. We evolved a dynamic homeostasis in which our mitochondria produce oxygen free radicals as part of generating energy from food. The oxygen radicals can cause cell damage, which is why we produce the antioxidant to scavenge these oxygen radicals before they can do damage. But (this is critical) our immune systems also use oxygen radicals as part of how they kill invading cells. Also, oxygen radicals are a good measure of metabolism, so we also evolved to use them as a signal to also perform other important measures to keep cells healthy.

If it were better to shift this balance in the direction of anti-oxidants, we would have evolved that balance already. You are not going to hack millions of years of evolution and make is better simply by eating some anti-oxidants. This is not something you need to worry about – unless you have a genetic illness which impairs your normal anti-oxidants. And of course, the clinical research does not show any benefit to routine supplementation with anti-oxidants (it’s actually possible with high enough doses to cause harm, but this is not clear in the research).

Researchers had this figured out two decades ago, but the marketing ploy of “superfoods” and “anti-oxidants” is still effective, so companies are still exploiting this bit of fiction. They are also always on the look out for the next superfood – it’s a great money-making formula. Find some obscure food that no one wants, create false hype about it being a superfood, as a bonus you can pay for some bogus research you can spin to support this narrative, get a celebrity to endorse it, and then watch people flock to trendy cafes to give you their money.

 

The post Superfoods Are Bunk first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

Intellectual hero and UC Davis math professor Abby Thompson again has a batch of lovely intertidal photos for us. Abby’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them:

The first two pictures were taken on my cellphone at the Berkeley marina, where a friend was taking us sailing. Fortunately for me, the boat needed more than an hour of preparation, which I got to spend lying flat on the dock looking at the marine life growing underneath it. There’s an entire community on inaturalist devoted to observations of such “dock fouling”; it’s an incredibly rich environment. Because all I had was my phone, only a couple of the pictures I took were legible- next time I’ll bring a camera (and hope the boat needs even more work).

Clathria prolifera (red beard sponge). Most sponges can’t be identified from a photo, but apparently this brilliant one is an exception:

Genus Ciona (tunicate). Pretty much any blobby thing you see lying around the beach is some kind of tunicate, an animal with an inflow and an outflow, and usually not too much else to recommend them (unlike, say, clams, which are at least delicious). These at the marina were lovely, however, looking flower-like:

The rest of the pictures were taken in my usual spot on the coast, near or after sunset (that’s when the great winter low tides happen). At night it’s cold, wet, slippery and, of course, dark, which makes things a bit tricky.

Genus Crepidula; Slipper snail – this clings to the rock looking almost like a limpet:

Slipper snail top view:

Order Amphipoda; I liked this guy’s eyes:

   Genus Polycirrus; Spaghetti worm- it’s one worm, with many tentacles. The main body of the worm is curled up and coated in sand:

Dirona picta:  A nudibranch, munching on some matching bryozoans:

Cebidichthys violaceus (Monkeyface eel, or monkeyface prickleback) Despite its common name and looks, this is a fish, not an eel (all eels are fish, but not vice versa). Supposedly delicious, it’s one of the creatures for which I regularly see people foraging. They’re caught by “poke-poling”; a baited wire hook is just stuck into the end of a long pole, and the fishing method is to poke the hook into crevices under the rocks.    One of the advantages of nighttime tide-pooling is that there are a few creatures- this was one- that seem to get stunned by a flashlight, and they stay completely still.  In the daylight you seldom see one of these, and they’re gone in a flash, too quick to photograph:

Anthopleura xanthogrammica (tentative) (giant green anemone) Several species of anemone fluoresce like this under UV light:

For the second group of pictures [after number 4] the camera was my Olympus TG-7, in microscope mode, with a lot of extra lights.