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A study using epilepsy patients undergoing surgery has given neuroscientists an opportunity to track in unprecedented detail the movement of a thought through the human brain, all the way from inspiration to response. The findings, published in 2018, confirmed the role of the prefrontal cortex as the coordinator of complex interactions between different regions, linking our perception with action and serving as what can be considered the "glue of cognition". Previous efforts to measure the passing of information from one area to the other have relied on processes such as electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which, while...

Outgoing Sen. Claire McCaskill says she's unsure why Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has become so popular among Democrats. But the Missouri Democrat has some advice for the young rising liberal star. In an interview with CNN, McCaskill admitted, "I'm a little confused why she's the thing," after admitting she didn't know Ocasio-Cortez when asked if the self-proclaimed democratic socialist was a "crazy Democrat" like the ones she warned about during the 2018 campaign trail. McCaskill did say the 29-year-old was a "good example" of a "bright shiny new object" that came out of nowhere and surprised people when she beat...

In a mysterious addition to the brain’s family of cells, researchers have discovered a new kind of neuron—a dense, bushy bundle (above) that is present in people but seems to be missing in mice. These “rosehip neurons,” were found in the uppermost layer of the cortex, which is home to many different types of neurons that inhibit the activity of other neurons. Scientists spotted the neurons in slices of human brain tissue as part of a larger effort to inventory human brain cells by combining microscopic study of brain anatomy and the genetic analysis of individual cells. The cells were...

Thanks to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she's now taken a far left fringe issue like Abolish ICE and bringing it to the fore and causing quite the sense of trouble in paradise for the left heading into November. It is for this reason and others that poor Chris Cillizza is in the process of vigorously rubbing his worry beads over the effect the Democrat congressional nominee will have on the political fortunes of other Democrats. One odd thing about Cillizza's July 18 article at CNN is that not once is the S-word mentioned despite the fact that Ocasio-Cortez loudly identifies herself as a...

The new study identified – with a nearly 97 percent detection rate – 97 new cortex areas per hemisphere, in addition to confirming 83 that were previously known. NIMH grantees David Van Essen, Ph.D., (link is external) and Matthew Glasser (link is external), Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues at six other researcher centers, report on their discoveries July 20, 2016 in the journal Nature. Earlier studies of cortex organization often used just one measure, such as examining postmortem tissue with a microscope. Uncertain delineation of cortex areas has sometimes led to shaky comparability of brain imaging...

A large-scale study of brain development pinpoints the anatomical changes that are linked to IQ.The brains of more intelligent children appear to develop in a characteristic way, growing quickly over an extended period between the ages of 5 and 12. These findings -- some of the most detailed research on brain development and IQ -- resulted from a 15-year study done by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH.) The study, which used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to gain a detailed picture of how the brains of children change over time, found that in kids who did better on standard...

An effort to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level, was launched on Monday. The “Blue Brain” project, a collaboration between IBM and a Swiss university team, will involve building a custom-made supercomputer based on IBM’s Blue Gene design. The hope is that the virtual brain will help shed light on some aspects of human cognition, such as perception, memory and perhaps even consciousness. It will be the first time humans will be able to observe the electrical code our brains use to represent the world, and to do so in...

A team of computer scientists and mathematicians at Palo Alto, CA-based Artificial Development are developing software to simulate the human brain's cortex and peripheral systems. As a first step along the way, the company recently disclosed that it has completed the development a realistic representation of the workflow of a functioning human cortex. Dubbed the CCortex-based Autonomous Cognitive Model ('ACM'), the software may have immediate applications for data mining, network security, search engine technologies and natural language processing. The first ACM computer 'persona,' named 'Kjell' in homage to AI pioneer Alan Turing, was activated last month and is in early...