Lifeboat Foundation

State-of-the-art prosthetic limbs can help people with amputations achieve a natural walking gait, but they don’t give the user full neural control over the limb. Instead, they rely on robotic sensors and controllers that move the limb using predefined gait algorithms.

Using a new type of surgical intervention and neuroprosthetic interface, MIT researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have shown that a natural walking gait is achievable using a prosthetic leg fully driven by the body’s own nervous system. The surgical amputation procedure reconnects muscles in the residual limb, which allows patients to receive “proprioceptive” feedback about where their prosthetic limb is in space.

In a study of seven patients who had this surgery, the MIT team found that they were able to walk faster, avoid obstacles, and climb stairs much more naturally than people with a traditional amputation.

A key challenge in the effort to link brain activity with behavior is that brain activity, measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for instance, is extraordinarily complex. That complexity can make it difficult to find recurring activity patterns across different people or within individuals.

In a new study, Yale researchers were able to take fMRI data, reduce its complexity, and in doing so, uncover stable patterns of activity shared across more than 300 different people. The findings, researchers say, are a promising step forward in uncovering biomarkers for psychiatric disorders.

The study was published Sept. 24 in the journal PLOS Biology.

Michael Levin is a Distinguished Professor in the Biology department at Tufts University and associate faculty at the Wyss Institute for Bioinspired Engineering at Harvard University. @drmichaellevin holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair and serves as director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. Prior to college, Michael Levin worked as a software engineer and independent contractor in the field of scientific computing. He attended Tufts University, interested in artificial intelligence and unconventional computation. To explore the algorithms by which the biological world implemented complex adaptive behavior, he got dual B.S. degrees, in CS and in Biology and then received a PhD from Harvard University. He did post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where he began to uncover a new bioelectric language by which cells coordinate their activity during embryogenesis. His independent laboratory develops new molecular-genetic and conceptual tools to probe large-scale information processing in regeneration, embryogenesis, and cancer suppression.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 — Introduction.
1:41 — Creating High-level General Intelligences.
7:00 — Ethical implications of Diverse Intelligence beyond AI & LLMs.
10:30 — Solving the Fundamental Paradox that faces all Species.
15:00 — Evolution creates Problem Solving Agents & the Self is a Dynamical Construct.
23:00 — Mike on Stephen Grossberg.
26:20 — A Formal Definition of Diverse Intelligence (DI)
30:50 — Intimate relationships with AI? Importance of Cognitive Light Cones.
38:00 — Cyborgs, hybrids, chimeras, & a new concept called “Synthbiosis“
45:51 — Importance of the symbiotic relationship between Science & Philosophy.
53:00 — The Space of Possible Minds.
58:30 — Is Mike Playing God?
1:02:45 — A path forward: through the ethics filter for civilization.
1:09:00 — Mike on Daniel Dennett (RIP)
1:14:02 — An Ethical Synthbiosis that goes beyond “are you real or faking it“
1:25:47 — Conclusion.

Continue reading “Michael Levin: What is Synthbiosis? Diverse Intelligence Beyond AI & The Space of Possible Minds” »

Duke University engineers are layering atom-thick lattices of carbon with polymers to create unique materials with a broad range of applications, including artificial muscles.

The lattice, known as graphene, is made of pure carbon and appears under magnification like chicken wire. Because of its unique optical, electrical, and mechanical properties, graphene is used in electronics, energy storage, composite materials, and biomedicine.

We often contemplate cyborgs, people enhanced by machines, but what would a civilization built upon cybernetics be like?

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Continue reading “Cyborg Civilizations: Humanity’s Future or Alien Reality?” »

In neuroscience and biomedical engineering, accurately modeling the complex movements of the human hand has long been a significant challenge.

Robotic exoskeletons are an increasingly popular method for assisting human labor in the workplace. Those that specifically support the back, however, can result in bad lifting form by the wearer. To combat this, researchers at the University of Michigan have built a pair of robot knee exoskeletons, using commercially available drone motors and knee braces.

“Rather than directly bracing the back and giving up on proper lifting form,” U-M professor Robert Gregg notes, “we strengthen the legs to maintain it.”

Test subjects were required to move a 30-pound kettlebell up and down a flight of stairs. Researchers note that the tech helped them maintain good lifting form, while lifting more quickly.

A research team led by Prof. Ye Hong from the University of Science and Technology of China has developed an alumina ceramic bionic wick with finger-like pores inspired by the stomatal array of natural leaves. Their research is published in Langmuir.

As the performance of electronic chips continues to improve, their power consumption also increases, posing new challenges for cooling strategies. Loop heat pipes (LHPs) are a compelling cooling solution due to their high heat transfer capability, antigravity heat transfer, and absence of moving parts.

However, the differing requirements for flow resistance and capillary force make designing the pore structure of the capillary wick within an LHP challenging. Specifically, larger pores are needed for gaseous working fluids to reduce flow resistance, while smaller pores are necessary to provide sufficient capillary force for liquid suction.

Randal Koene discusses Whole Brain Emulation on the H+ Magazine podcast. He touches on the subjects of connectomics, neural mapping, optogenetics, and neural prosthesis.