Lifeboat Foundation

All memory storage devices, from your brain to the RAM in your computer, store information by changing their physical qualities. Over 130 years ago, pioneering neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal first suggested that the brain stores information by rearranging the connections, or synapses, between neurons.

Since then, neuroscientists have attempted to understand the physical changes associated with memory formation. But visualizing and mapping synapses is challenging to do. For one, synapses are very small and tightly packed together. They’re roughly 10 billion times smaller than the smallest object a standard clinical MRI can visualize. Furthermore, there are approximately 1 billion synapses in the mouse brains researchers often use to study brain function, and they’re all the same opaque to translucent color as the tissue surrounding them.

In a scene straight out of a spy movie, an elderly couple reportedly escaped from an assisted living facility using some cunning military expertise—and an antiquated telecommunications method.

On March 2, 2020, a resident of a secure memory care unit in Elmcroft of Lebanon, a Tennessee nursing facility, “eloped” with his wife from the premises, according to a state report on the incident. (The Tennessean first reported the incident last month.) The man was admitted to Elmcroft with a diagnosis of dementia, while the woman was admitted with Alzheimer’s disease.

A stranger spotted the residents, who were safe, walking two blocks from Elmcroft about 30 minutes after they left and picked them up.

In a first, U.S. surgeons transplant pig heart into human patient.

Unusual opportunity

Last week’s procedure marks the first time that a pig organ has been transplanted into a human who has a chance to survive and recover. In 2021, surgeons at New York University Langone Health transplanted kidneys from the same line of genetically modified pigs into two legally dead people with no discernible brain function. The organs were not rejected, and functioned normally while the deceased recipients were sustained on ventilators.

Continue reading “First pig-to-human heart transplant: what can scientists learn?” »

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮? 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝘾 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝, 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙞. 𝙒𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 15 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨.… See more.

The Neuro-Network.

Continue reading “Our brains take a little while to update, study” »

Strokes are among the leading cause of long-term disability in the elderly, although most can be avoided by adopting a healthy lifestyle.

An editorial writer and columnist for the Washington Post wrote a screed attacking electric cars this week. His heavily slanted piece was filled with misinformation. Here’s the truth about driving an electric car in winter.

Last week, hundreds of motorists on I-95 in Virginia were stuck for hours when a blizzard closed the highway south of Washington, DC. Highway crews couldn’t spread ice-melting chemicals before the storm arrived because the rain that preceded it would have washed them away. But when temperatures dropped, the rain quickly turned to ice. Then the snow came and made the ice treacherously slippery. Tractor trailers trying to get off the highway lost control, blocking many exit ramps. Senator Tim Kaine was trapped in the tangled mess of stalled cars for 27 hours.

Continue reading “Responding To The Washington Post Hatchet Job On Electric Cars & Winter Driving” »

Even in people with signs of Alzheimer’s and other dementia, a new study found exercise boosted proteins in the brain that may prevent cognitive decline.

𝙀𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙯𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙞𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 — 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 — 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.

𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙨.

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 “𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙚” 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖… See more.

Continue reading “‘Dark genome’ offers insight into bipolar and schizophrenia” »

Elon Musk’s Neuralink technology will see its first human implant this year. If you’re excited to see how Musk’s brain chip will work on humans, we might find out very soon.

The brain-interface tech company was founded by Elon Musk in 2016 and its chip will finally be implanted into a human brain this year. In 2021, the implant was seen in action in a monkey who played MindPong. The monkey was able to play the game by simply thinking it, with help from Neuralink chip.

Elon Musk, Neuralink Demonstration.