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Tag Archives: transhumanism
One gene helped human brains become complex
Two extra copies of the SRGAP2 gene appear to have led to slower human brain development, but denser interconnection between neurons, possibly contributing to our current cognitive abilities. (Total brain interconnectivity correlates moderately well with IQ.) Makes one wonder about … Continue reading
Nano-devices that cross blood-brain barrier
In my upcoming sci-fi novel Nexus , I write about a nano-device that can cross the blood-brain barrier and which has a very real impact on the mind. Not so far fetched… A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have … Continue reading
Reconstruction from brain activity – YouTube
Below is a clip showing the reconstruction of video subjects where shown via MRI scanning of their brains. Pretty remarkable. The ‘reconstructed’ video looks odd because the reconstruction method was actually to match the brain activity against snippets … Continue reading
Rat cyborg gets digital cerebellum
New Scientist covers another step towards functional neural prosthetics. Development here will be slow and complex, but we now have sufficient proof of concept across the field to see that interfacing digital systems with out brains is quite possible. … Continue reading
Memory Prosthetics – Some Progress
Theodore Berger and team, who I’ve been following since describing their work in More Than Human, achieved success earlier this year in recording a rat memory during encoding, and playing it back to the rat later. This is a very … Continue reading
Anti-Ghrelin Vaccine to Fight Obesity
Ghrelin is a hormone that helps regulate body weight and metabolism. Higher ghrelin levels lead us to expend less energy and to eat more in an attempt to conserve resources. Now a group in Portugal has shown that it’s … Continue reading
Anders Sandberg, Aubrey de Grey, Nick Bostrom on Future of Human Aging
>Three of my friends and fellow futurists commenting on the future of future of human aging. Anders focuses on uploading the brain (the best preservation, but most challenging), Aubrey de Grey on our attitudes on change. And Nick Bostrom on … Continue reading
Woman Gets New Windpipe Grown from Her Stem Cells
>Now this is really exciting. New Scientist: Woman Receives Windpipe Built from Her Stem Cells Organ transplants have lots of problems, from the number of donors and availability of the right organ, to the issues of transport and logistics, and … Continue reading
First Potential Anti-Aging Drug Clears Mouse Trials
>Back in 1990 or so, Tom Johnson demonstrated that it is possible to slow the aging process in a multi-cellular organism. Since then, our knowledge of the biology of aging and the interconnections of caloric restriction, the effects of red … Continue reading
We’re All Transhumanists
>Thinking about my conversation with Alex Pang about his review of More Than Human in the LA Times. I still think it’s a fine review, the kind that informs people about the book and calls out an honest limitation- More … Continue reading