Could a brain ever exist on its own, divorced from or independent of a body? For a long time, philosophers have pondered such “brain-in-a-vat” scenarios, asking whether isolated brains could maintain consciousness when separated from their bodies and senses. Typically, a person’s experiences are characterized by a web of interactions between the human brain, body and environment. But recent developments in neuroscience mean this conversation has moved from the realm of hypothetical speculation and science fiction, to isolated examples where consciousness could be sealed off from the rest of the world.
It may sound like science fiction, but can actual science keep a brain alive in a vat?
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The Neuro-Network.
#Fetal #Brain begin to #experience #pain #neuroscience #science #Biology #consciousness
Context Proposed federal legislation would require physicians to inform women seeking abortions at 20 or more weeks after fertilization that the fetus feels pain and to offer anesthesia administered directly to the fetus. This article examines whether a fetus feels pain and if so, whether safe and effective techniques exist for providing direct fetal anesthesia or analgesia in the context of therapeutic procedures or abortion.
Evidence Acquisition Systematic search of PubMed for English-language articles focusing on human studies related to fetal pain, anesthesia, and analgesia. Included articles studied fetuses of less than 30 weeks’ gestational age or specifically addressed fetal pain perception or nociception. Articles were reviewed for additional references. The search was performed without date limitations and was current as of June 6, 2005.
Evidence Synthesis Pain perception requires conscious recognition or awareness of a noxious stimulus. Neither withdrawal reflexes nor hormonal stress responses to invasive procedures prove the existence of fetal pain, because they can be elicited by nonpainful stimuli and occur without conscious cortical processing. Fetal awareness of noxious stimuli requires functional thalamocortical connections. Thalamocortical fibers begin appearing between 23 to 30 weeks’ gestational age, while electroencephalography suggests the capacity for functional pain perception in preterm neonates probably does not exist before 29 or 30 weeks. For fetal surgery, women may receive general anesthesia and/or analgesics intended for placental transfer, and parenteral opioids may be administered to the fetus under direct or sonographic visualization.
A new analysis of observed temperatures shows the Arctic is heating up more than four times faster than the rate of global warming. The trend has stepped upward steeply twice in the last 50 years, a finding missed by all but four of 39 climate models.
Interpreting magnetic resonance images in the context of network control theory, researchers seek to explain the brain’s dynamics in terms of its structure, information content, and energetics.
Zero-Day vulnerability in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi browsers allow taking control of your laptop or mobile — Vulnerabilities — Information Security Newspaper | Hacking News.
Researchers, led by experts at Imperial College London, have developed a new method that allows gene expression to be precisely altered by supplying and removing electrons. Scientists engineer new tools to electronically control gene expression.
New microelectronics device can program and reprogram computer hardware on demand through electrical pulses.
Meet Daniela de Paulis, the newest member of the SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence program. Daniela is a media artist who is also a licensed radio operator and radio telescope operator at the Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands. Fusing radio technologies, neuroscience, and space research, Daniela creates pioneering art-science projects that include live performances, virtual reality (VR), electroencephalograms (EEG), and audience participation. During this SETI Live chat with SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget, Daniela will discuss her recent works COGITO in Space and OPTICKS, and give us a sneak peek of the project she has planned to complete during her time at the AIR program.