Lifeboat Foundation

In Brief

• A new system developed at Honeywell Aerospace makes it possible for a pilot to control a working airplane with his or her mind.
• The system working in itself is a revelation; if this is the beginning of actual mind control, there is no telling where the tech will lead us.

The mere mention of “quantum consciousness” makes most physicists cringe, as the phrase seems to evoke the vague, insipid musings of a New Age guru. But if a new hypothesis proves to be correct, quantum effects might indeed play some role in human cognition. Matthew Fisher, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, raised eyebrows late last year when he published a paper in Annals of Physics proposing that the nuclear spins of phosphorus atoms could serve as rudimentary “qubits” in the brain — which would essentially enable the brain to function like a quantum computer.

Isher’s hypothesis faces the same daunting obstacle that has plagued microtubules: a phenomenon called quantum decoherence. To build an operating quantum computer, you need to connect qubits — quantum bits of information — in a process called entanglement. But entangled qubits exist in a fragile state. They must be carefully shielded from any noise in the surrounding environment. Just one photon bumping into your qubit would be enough to make the entire system “decohere,” destroying the entanglement and wiping out the quantum properties of the system. It’s challenging enough to do quantum processing in a carefully controlled laboratory environment, never mind the warm, wet, complicated mess that is human biology, where maintaining coherence for sufficiently long periods of time is well nigh impossible.

Continue reading “Qubits in brain can make it a quantum computer?” »

In China, there are fewer regulations and ethical quandaries standing in the way of genetic progress.

Implanting false memories could cure Alzheimer’s, PTSD, and depression. It could also make scapegoating easier, allow for witness tampering, or give those under a brutal dictatorship false patriotism.

Transfer printing microstructures onto novel hydrogel interfaces and customised composite electrodes could increase the compatibility and information transfer between body tissue and electronic devices.

Implantable devices such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, and deep brain stimulation devices enhance the quality of life for many people. Improving the integration of such devices with the body could enable the next generation of brain-machine interfaces (such as, implantable devices that can record and modulate neurological function in vivo) to monitor physiology, detect disease, and deploy bioelectronic medicines.

Experts call the technology a “significant achievement,” but critics say the risks may not be justified.

• By R. Douglas Fields on November 17, 2016

Time to hit the trail and run for your life!

Your brain creates new cell growth and repair during aerobic exercises, such as running.

Placement of five anode electrodes (left) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode (right) over the right shoulder (to avoid spurious cognitive effects from cortical excitability) (credit: Justin Nelson et al./ Front. Hum. Neurosci.)

In an experiment at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, researchers have found that transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) of the brain can improve people’s multitasking skills and help avoid the drop in performance that comes with information overload.

The study was reported in a pre-publication paper in the open-access journal Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. It was motivated by the observation that various Air Force operations such as remotely piloted and manned aircraft operations require a human operator to monitor and respond to multiple events simultaneously over a long period of time. “With the monotonous nature of these tasks, the operator’s performance may decline shortly after their work shift commences,” according to the researchers.

Continue reading “Test of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the brain shows improved multitasking performance” »