Tootfinder

What if the brain doesn't create consciousness? Christof Koch proposes it might be the fabric of reality itself https://www.sciencealert.com/what-if-the-brain-doesnt-create-consciousness-scientist-proposes-i…

What if The Brain Doesn't Create Consciousness? Scientist Proposes It Might Be The Fabric of Reality Itself
For decades, neuroscientists have searched the brain for the biological basis of consciousness, assuming our thoughts, emotions, and subjective experiences emerge from networks of neurons.

Hey folx! You probably see a lot of stuff from other social networks mirrored to Mastodon, how about we do it the other way around?
Recently, I've starred to mirror my posts to Instagram, Reddit, and other platforms, and I've had quite the success. My biggest post on Instagram, which is just one screenshot of a Mastodon post, has 44.5k likes and 256k views. My

Erik Uden on Instagram: "Babe, wake up. New man-made horrors beyond comprehension dropped!! In the end of the day, these companies probably realized that, just like with AI, they can somehow use scare tactics to attract venture capital. It's still a horrifying thing to think of, but possibly overblown to get money. The headline of the Science article reads: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing By restoring some functions to intact brains from deceased donors, the startup Bexorg hopes to create a better drug development test bed for neurodegenerative diseases, written by Sara Reardon, published on the 20th of May 2026. Though, reading this Science article made me think: aren't we the brain? Am I missing something here? Now, of course the devil lies in the detail and the article makes it clear that this startup only restores “some functions”, which is certainly more complex in action than it is in theory written here, but certain language of the article makes me question the author's understanding of what is a human. The article writes: “Just a day ago, the brain was in a living person. Now, hours after its owner died, it sits on a cart draped in tubes [...]” What do you mean “it's owner” — isn't the brain it's owner? Isn't that where it's owner is? I mean, certainly the brain had no more activity, the person must've been declared brain dead by all standards before being sent to this startup, still it's odd hearing someone donated their brain instead of saying they've donated... themselves? Also “using a set of proprietary brain-sustaining machines” is a terrible sentence I always thought the people who don't donate their full body to hospitals are religious lunatics, but this is the first time I wrote something on my organ donor card. They can take my brain, but not as one piece."
45K likes, 971 comments - erik.uden on May 21, 2026: "Babe, wake up. New man-made horrors beyond comprehension dropped!! In the end of the day, these companies probably realized that, just like with AI, they can somehow use scare tactics to attract venture capital. It's still a horrifying thing to think of, but possibly overblown to get money. The headline of the Science article reads: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing By restoring some functions to inta…

China clears brain-computer interfaces for commercial use: Is it time for a global coalition? https://thedebrief.org/china-clears-brain-computer-interfaces-for-commercial-use-is-it-time-for-a-global-coalition/

China Clears Brain-Computer Interfaces for Commercial Use: Is It Time for a Global Coalition?
Science, Tech and Defense for the Rebelliously Curious.

Giants' Cam Skattebo on viral backflip fail, wild reputation: 'They wanna say I'm brain-dead ... who cares?'

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cam-skattebo-backflip-b…

Brain-Computer-Interface: ALS-Patient nutzt Hirnimplantat 19 Monate lang
Ein ALS-Patient hat ein Brain-Computer-Interface fast zwei Jahre lang täglich zu Hause genutzt. Die Studie liefert wichtige Belege für die Alltagstauglichkeit.

Brain-Computer-Interface: ALS-Patient nutzt Hirnimplantat 19 Monate lang
Ein ALS-Patient hat ein Brain-Computer-Interface fast zwei Jahre lang täglich zu Hause genutzt. Die Studie liefert wichtige Belege für die Alltagstauglichkeit.

fly_larva: Drosophila larva brain (2023)
A complete synaptic map of the brain connectome of the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Nodes are neurons, and edges are synaptic connections, traced individually from brain image sections using three-dimensional electron microscopy–based reconstruction. Node metadata include the neuron hempisphere, hemispherical homologue, cell type, annotations, and inferred cluster. Edge metadata include the type of interaction (`'aa'`,…

"Your brain is on fire."
"How could you ever know?"
"From what comes out of it... for sure..."
#humor #idiocracy #BrainOnFire

Humans evolved to pay close attention to danger,
but today that instinct is being overwhelmed by an endless supply of bad news from around the world.
Researchers say the answer isn’t to stop following current events
—it’s to build healthier habits around how, when, and where we get our news.
https://www.

Your brain was never designed for this much bad news
Humans evolved to pay close attention to danger, but today that instinct is being overwhelmed by an endless supply of bad news from around the world. Researchers say the answer isn’t to stop following current events—it’s to build healthier habits around how, when, and where we get our news.

A computer model predicted which human brain implant channels would fail #invasive

A new spinning illusion. Once your brain figures it out, you can switch the spin direction on command. Reminds me of the old stereoscopic images from the 80s.
#illusions

They use different words for things in America.
For instance they say elevator and we say lift.
They say drapes and we say curtains.
They say president and we say brain damaged git.
-- Alexie Sayle

Felony…camping
Imma go wash my brain out with bleach.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uqrng3jvztdp5xhengot5vhy/post/3mr6a6zq6lk2q

Bryce Covert (@brycecovert.bsky.social)
The phrase “felony camping” just really shouldn’t exist https://www.npr.org/2026/07/21/nx-s1-5887358/tennessee-homeless-arrest-felony-camping-ban

Cleaner city air linked to better cognitive development in children https://www.earth.com/environment/cleaner-city-air-linked-to-better-cognitive-development-in-children/

Cleaner city air linked to better cognitive development in children
Cleaner city air could have benefits that begin before birth, with new research linking pollution policies to healthier brain development in children.

Just went to look into what the “propagator model of computation” is, and read just enough to understand that it may be a better basis for actual AI than the LLM and diffusion models. Also just enough to recognize that I no longer have the brain of my 20’s, when I positively hoovered up such things.

China's BrainCo unveils what it says is the world's first integrated "brain-to-robot" platform that lets users control robots using an EEG headset (Minxiao Chang/South China Morning Post)
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trend…

BrainCo claims mind-to-robot link at China’s World AI Conference
Hangzhou-based firm says users can control robots using only their thoughts via EEG headsets, marking a leap in embodied AI tech.

Government strategy is shaping the global brain-computer interface race https://neurotechreports.com/news/government-strategy-is-shaping-the-global-brain-computer-interface-race

Government Strategy Is Shaping the Global Brain-Computer Interface Race   - Neurotech Reports
Three events converged this year to turn brain-computer interfaces from a research curiosity into a subject of government strategy. China moved a product to market, having already built the machinery to pay for it. The U.S. funded a founder. The European Union asked its regulators to study a problem. This is not an accident of timing. It reflects fundamentally different beliefs about what a government should do when a new technology can read, and may soon write to, the human brain.  

I'm watching House 3x20 "House Training" #House

House Training
The doctors try to find what's wrong with a scam artist who collapses after her brain "freezes," but the case becomes personal for Foreman.

Exploring Brain Networks Using Noninvasive Electrophysiological Measurements: Methods and Applications
Richard Leahy, Takfarinas Medani
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.17602 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.17602 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.17602
arXiv:2607.17602v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) provide noninvasive measurements of brain activity with millisecond temporal resolution, enabling the investigation of functional and effective interactions within large-scale brain networks. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the methodological foundations and practical workflows for EEG/MEG-based brain network analysis. We first review the physical principles underlying EEG and MEG, emphasizing their complementary strengths and limitations. We then describe the forward and inverse problems, including subject-specific head modeling, source reconstruction techniques, and the importance of accurate anatomical modeling for reliable source localization. Strategies for mitigating volume conduction and signal leakage are discussed, together with best practices for source-space connectivity analysis. The chapter reviews widely used functional and effective connectivity measures, including coherence, phase synchronization metrics, amplitude envelope correlation, Granger causality, dynamic causal modeling, and transfer entropy, highlighting their assumptions, advantages, and limitations. Modern end-to-end analysis pipelines are presented, with particular emphasis on Brainstorm and complementary open-source software for reproducible EEG/MEG research. Finally, we discuss emerging approaches, including time-varying connectivity, cross-frequency interactions, and network-based analyses, illustrating how noninvasive electrophysiology contributes to understanding brain organization in health and disease. The chapter provides both conceptual foundations and practical guidance for researchers and advanced students seeking to map and interpret human brain networks using EEG and MEG.
toXiv_bot_toot

budapest_connectome: Budapest Reference Connectome 3.0
A parameterizable consensus brain graph, derived from connectomes of 477 people, each computed from MRI datasets of the Human Connectome Project. Nodes are brain regions, and edges are weighted by the number of "tracks" that run between two nodes, as well as fiber length, fractional anisotropy and the number of occurrences in each of the 477 individuals.
This network has 1015 nodes and 121755 edges.
Tags: Biol…

Aldon Smith's brain donated to CTE Center as family's attorneys investigate his death at age 36 https://www.foxsports.com/articles/wcbk/aldon-smiths-brain-donated-to-cte-center-as-familys-attorneys-invest…

When we encounter something that promises enjoyment or discovery, the brain’s reward system becomes active.
One important pathway runs from the ventral tegmental area,
a dopamine-producing region in the midbrain involved in motivation,
to the nucleus accumbens, a structure that helps generate feelings of reward.
Dopamine is often described as a pleasure chemical, but that is too simple.
One of its key roles is helping the brain identify opportunities worth pursu…

Why you keep buying books you don’t read – and why it feels so good
Why a pile of unread books is not stressful, yet a pile of unread emails is.

Non-invasive mapping of the temporal processing hierarchy in the human visual cortex https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014434 by @…

Non-invasive mapping of the temporal processing hierarchy in the human visual cortex
Author summary Vision doesn’t happen instantaneously, but unfolds over time. While we understand a lot about how the brain processes visual space, understanding how the brain processes information over both space and time is much more challenging. Vision happens incredibly fast, space and time are tightly linked, but current technology is limited in capturing these spatiotemporal dynamics. Here, we developed a method that combines two non-invasive human brain imaging techniques using computat…

A dozen memes (in a thread) of the foreign policy moment: capitulation, surrender, losing the war.
🧵 1 of 3
#USpol #Iran #kegseth

Ten years ago today, all* of #Canada gathered together to watch The Tragically Hip's last show.
Gord Downie, the band's lead singer and main songwriter, had been diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, and The Hip went out on a farewell tour (though they did not call it that).
I did not get tickets to the Kingston show, but we watched at home with the kids. They probably barely re…

Just saw that #genAI models now have a "how to protect the environment" suggestion... which suggests to use different genAI models 😇🤣🤦
You want to know the best way to save energy and protect the environment?

• do not use genAI (use your own brain, or your friends')
• while you're at it, protest all the data centers that are getting built to support all that "energy-saving"…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #Early
Flea:
🎵 Maggot Brain
#Flea
https://officialflea.bandcamp.com/track/maggot-brain
https://open.spotify.com/track/3poJZBl2yoeWbMMxX63YcE

Memories Mysteriously Survive After Brain Shutdown, And Scientists Don’t Know Why https://www.404media.co/memories-mysteriously-survive-after-brain-shutdown-and-scientists-dont-know-why/

Recovering from (minor) brain and spine injury, I'm hand writing the same text phrase in eight distinct scripts (five new to me), with consecutive writings in "dissimilar" scripts to force my brain and hands to think each time. My goal is to repeat the whole octet 1250 times (total 10K). 🍎🏋️‍♂️🧠
#wip #wipWednesday #health

Some decisions are so hard!
Brain rot or possible survival?
Help me with this!
Europe must choose between AI and climate goals, data center lobby says.
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-choose-ai-climate-goals-data-center-chief-warn…

Europe must choose between AI and climate goals, data center lobby says
Tech sector says only carbon-emitting gas plants are reliable enough today to power the EU’s AI goals.

Fascist brutalized this man, gave him internal bleeding and a brain hemorrhage, then put an ankle monitor on him (08/11/26). They didn't let him get an MRI until 08/19/26
Let me know if the subtitles need to be edited, my Spanish isn't very good.
Video Source:
https://reddit.com/comments/1vreknd

My brain keeps mixing up The Hunt for Gollum with The Hunt for Ben Solo, and somehow I'm not too worried.

A look at Russia's push to develop homegrown AI talent, as the country is hampered by scarce access to AI hardware and a brain drain of top technical talent (Nikita Ostrovsky/Time)
https://time.com/article/2026/06/18/russia-ai-putin-chip-us-china/

Russia Wants AI Sovereignty. It Has a Chip Problem
As Vladimir Putin's daughter helps lead a new push for AI talent, Russia's biggest obstacle may be the chips it can't make.

Required reading for programmers
https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer

Companies developing brain implants for restoring vision to the blind will add smartglasses to compensate for ultra-crude vision, but smartglasses offering AI scene description, real-time talking OCR and sensory substitution may render the brain implant redundant. #BCI #blindness

Psychedelics align brain activity with context https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10910-z Under psilocybin, "the separation between internal models and sensory context on which predictive processing depends" dissolves.
Brain-wide reconfiguration of burst firin…

Psychedelics align brain activity with context - Nature
The psychedelic psilocybin reorganizes brain activity into structured, context-aligned patterns that integrate internal and external processing, providing a neural basis for the felt continuity between self and world, elucidating how the psychedelic state translates into psychological change.

I get this, mostly because I fancy myself a writer:
https://caneandable.social/@WeirdWriter/117113511781387827
I also know this is true, because I have witnessed it:

Troy Aikman confesses about his "ridiculous" daily routine to protect brain after surviving 10 career concussions https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/dallas-cowboys/news/troy-aikman-concussions-daily-…

Having tinnitus, I found this interesting .
#tinnitus

Topographic reorganization of EEG complexity during visual mental imagery: Insights from Lempel-Ziv complexity in high-density EEG https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10548-026-01238-y "Visual mental imagery is the process of reconstructing perceptual experience…

Topographic Reorganization of EEG Complexity During Visual Mental Imagery: Insights from Lempel-Ziv Complexity in High-Density EEG - Brain Topography
Visual mental imagery is the process of reconstructing perceptual experience without sensory input. How the brain performs this process is poorly understood, particularly from the perspective of conventional linear EEG analysis. This study aims to evaluate if the two non-linear EEG complexity measures—Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC) and Higuchi Fractal Dimension (HFD)—can differentiate between perception and imagination and if they can be used as objective indices of neural separability of ment…

Endlose Selbstüberschätzung …
Jeff Bezos Is Funding a Wild Hunt for the Brain's 'Core Algorithm' - Slashdot https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/06/08/0418226/jeff-bezos-is-funding-a-wild-hunt-for-the-brains-cor…

fly_hemibrain: Fly hemibrain (2020)
A synaptic map of the hemibrain connectome of fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Nodes are neurons, and edges are synaptic connections, traced individually from brain image sections using EM reconstruction techniques. Neurons are labeled by their type. Edges are annotated by the connection strength between the neurons.
This network has 21739 nodes and 4259624 edges.
Tags: Biological, Connectome, Weighted, Metadata

Mum Brain
Join TV news journalist Estelle Griepink as she consults the collective mum brain to get you the answers you need to know in ten minutes or less...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/mum-brain/

Chlorpyrifos: Pesticide tied to brain damage in children, chronic disease and other health problems #environment

Chlorpyrifos: Pesticide tied to brain damage in children, chronic disease and other health problems
Chlorpyrifos, a widely used insecticide, is strongly linked to brain damage in children.

Family to have Smith's brain checked for CTE https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49081473/family-aldon-smith-having-brain-checked-cte

It’s been a brutal tactic deployed by local and federal law enforcement officials time and time again over the past year:
using teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to control protests outside ICE detention centers or during enforcement operations.
Now, a new report lays bare the scale of the use of these crowd-control weapons during
anti-immigration demonstrations across the US,
including hundreds of incidents that resulted in lasting and traumatic injuries.

ICE ‘Crowd Control’ Led to Blindings and Traumatic Brain Injuries
It’s been a brutal tactic deployed by local and federal law enforcement officials time and time again over the past year: using teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to control protests outside ICE detention centers or during enforcement operations. Now, a new report lays bare the scale of the use of these crowd-control weapons during anti-immigration demonstrations across the US, including hundreds of incidents that resulted in lasting and traumatic injuries.

From deep brain stimulation to brain–computer interfaces: current progress in implantable neurotechnology https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2026.1928223/full

Frontiers | From deep brain stimulation to brain–computer interfaces: current progress in implantable neurotechnology
Brain implants, including deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems, brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and speech neuroprostheses, are moving from the proof-of-co...

Replaced article(s) found for q-bio.NC. https://arxiv.org/list/q-bio.NC/new
[1/1]:
- State-dependent brain responsiveness, from local circuits to the whole brain
A. Destexhe, et al.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07956 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/115349048459649454
- Noise-Induced Transitions and Coherence Resonance in a 5D Conductance-Based Neuronal Model
Yefan Wu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04088 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/116532225216205715
- Dynamical Archetype Analysis: Autonomous Computation
Abel Sagodi, Il Memming Park
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05505 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_mathDS_bot/114822419091532686
- Active Electrosensing and Communication in MARL-trained Weakly Electric Fish Collectives
Singh, Johnson-Yu, Lu, Walsman, Pedraja, Turcu, Sharma, Saphra, Sawtell, Rajan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.08436 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csNE_bot/115535586856745674
toXiv_bot_toot

Israel-based Hemispheric, whose AI model can analyze brain activity measured non-invasively and turn it into quantitative metrics for diagnoses, raised $52M (Meytal Vaizberg/Globes)
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-neuroai-diagnostic-co-hemispheri…

NeuroAI diagnostic co Hemispheric raises $52m
The Israeli company’s AI model can analyze brain activity measured by non-invasive means and turn it into quantitative metrics designed to help doctors and researchers make diagnoses.

I'm watching House 3x15 "Half-Wit" #House

Half-Wit
House encounters a brain-damaged musical prodigy with inexplicable abilities while the team faces serious concerns about House's own health.

#Neuroscientists of the world - do you sometimes have questions about a new technique you're trying to setup in the lab? Or getting too much noise in your system and wondering why? Not sure why your rats / flies / humans are not learning? Which virus to get for your optogenetic experiment? How to stain brain slices? Whether an expensive piece of kit is worth buying? ...
The

NeuroMethods
A space to ask and answer questions about methods in Neuroscience (this replaces our previous Slack workspace). Prospective users: you should be able to join with an academic email :) | Cheers to Zulip for sponsoring our workspace!

One of the world's top centers for brain science is taking a huge gamble on a tiny, transparent fish.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus near Washington, D.C., has announcedan effort to use artificial intelligence and an unusual fish called Danionella to understand how the brain controls complex behaviors like social interaction.
Janelia plans to triple the space dedicated to fish to 6,000 square feet, which will make room for thousands of new t…

cintestinalis: Tadpole larva brain (C. intestinalis)
Entire connectivity matrix for the complete brain of a larva of Ciona intestinalis. Each directed edge represents a synaptic connection from pre-synaptic cell i to post-synaptic cell j (may not be a neuron). Edge weights represent the cumulative depth of presynaptic contacts in µm.
This network has 205 nodes and 2903 edges.
Tags: Biological, Connectome, Weighted

EU-approved pesticide found to have potential effects on brain development https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/02/eu-approved-pesticide-found-to-have-potential-effects-on-brain-development
…

(YouTube) No Priors podcast: From restoring sight to reimagining the brain, with Max Hodak, CEO of Science Corporation #BCI

Neuroscientists long theorized that bilingual speakers must process different languages with separate patterns of brain activity.
In a new study, however, researchers found that these patterns were more alike than had been expected.
When deciding how to make a word singular or plural, for instance,
bilingual people exhibit strikingly similar brain activity regardless of whether they are speaking in their first or second language.
“It wasn’t obvious that it was going to…

Aldon Smith's family to donate his brain for CTE research, investigating death https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7365633/2026/06/16/aldon-smith-cte-research-death/

Mysterious waves sweeping across your brain may help turn sensory chaos into what you see https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260816044827.htm "neural traveling waves may function as a computational engine in the visual cortex";

Mysterious waves sweeping across your brain may help turn sensory chaos into what you see
Traveling electrical waves sweeping across the brain may help determine what we notice, predict what comes next, and construct our internal picture of the world. Researchers now argue that these waves aren't just background activity—they could be a core computational engine behind perception and memory.

fly_larva: Drosophila larva brain (2023)
A complete synaptic map of the brain connectome of the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Nodes are neurons, and edges are synaptic connections, traced individually from brain image sections using three-dimensional electron microscopy–based reconstruction. Node metadata include the neuron hempisphere, hemispherical homologue, cell type, annotations, and inferred cluster. Edge metadata include the type of interaction (`'aa'`,…

Replaced article(s) found for q-bio.NC. https://arxiv.org/list/q-bio.NC/new
[1/1]:
- The Illusion-Illusion: Vision Language Models See Illusions Where There Are None
Tomer Ullman
https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.18613 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/113740853862270406
- An Intelligent Infrastructure as a Foundation for Modern Science
Satrajit S. Ghosh
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.10051 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/115031786313942225
- The embodied brain: Bridging the brain, body, and behavior with biorealistic neuromechanical models
Sibo Wang-Chen, Pavan Ramdya
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08056 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/115892667909757712
- Microsecond-precision sound localization emerges from slow equilibrium dynamics
Toshio Irino
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.03890 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qbioNC_bot/116877637358323806
- A portable solution for simultaneous human movement and mobile EEG acquisition: readiness potenti...
Contreras-Altamirano, Klapprott, Jacobsen, Maanen, Welzel, Debener
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.05378 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csNE_bot/113802730861926461
- Geometric origin of adversarial vulnerability in deep learning
Yixiong Ren, Wenkang Du, Jianhui Zhou, Haiping Huang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01235 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csLG_bot/115140809439719323
- Universal Approximation Theorems for Dynamical Systems with Infinite-Time Horizon Guarantees
Abel Sagodi, Il Memming Park
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08640 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_mathDS_bot/116045857797065476
toXiv_bot_toot

Stanford researchers discover a language-specific network hidden in the human brain https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/stanford-researchers-discover-a-language-specific-network-hidden-in-the-human-brain/

Stanford researchers discover a language-specific network hidden in the human brain
The brain language network can be mapped from fMRI activity even while people rest or perform tasks unrelated to language.

Lucid dreaming is fascinating for its vividness and visual realism, but sound-guided mental imagery may have more immediate practical applications (for the blind). Can the human brain learn new tricks and even switch states as in awake vs asleep, now for veridical hallucinations?

Intermittent fasting triggers surprising changes in the brain #health

Intermittent fasting triggers surprising changes in the brain
Losing weight may involve rewiring the gut and the brain at the same time. In a study of obese adults, an intermittent fasting-style diet led to significant weight loss, healthier metabolic markers, and notable shifts in gut bacteria. Brain scans also revealed changes in regions tied to appetite, cravings, and self-control. The results suggest the gut microbiome and brain may work together to influence weight-loss success.

A visual imagery paradigm for #BCI strategies using imagined flickering patterns https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-41324-6 (table correction at

A visual imagery paradigm for BCI strategies using imagined flickering patterns - Scientific Reports
Steady state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) are a popular type of control signals in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), in which they are typically elicited by observing a visual stimulus flashing at a specific frequency. For some patients, using SSVEP as control signal for a BCI can be difficult, for instance if they are unable to focus their gaze over the visual stimuli. To address this issue, some approaches were presented to design a gaze-independent SSVEP-controlled BCI but some diffic…

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have shown that
bacteria can learn from past experiences,
store memories across generations
and adapt their behavior to changing environments
all without a brain or nervous system
https://www.cmu.edu…

Bacteria Can Learn and Form Memories Without a Brain
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have shown that bacteria can learn from past experiences, store memories across generations and adapt their behavior to changing environments all without a brain or nervous system.

RE: https://mas.to/@seeingwithsound/116770859835603764
(YouTube, 2010) Paul Bach-y-Rita on the Brain Machine Interface https…

StairMed's penetrating BCI trial at Huashan reaches 18 cumulative implants https://insidebci.com/news/2026-07-20-stairmed-18-patients-huashan-shanghai-penetrating-bci-trial/

StairMed's penetrating BCI trial at Huashan reaches 18 cumulative implants
On 20 July 2026, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, StairMed disclosed that its cortex-penetrating invasive BCI clinical trial at Huashan Hospital has now reached 18 cumulative implants since March 2025. The Shanghai firm co-founded by Zhao Zhengtuo and Xue Li at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Center for Excellence in Brain Science demonstrated a patient three months post-op controlling a wheelchair by thought and hitting 6.19 bits per second on a cursor task, alongs…

At an Arkansas school, a boy was hit by the school’s founder and attacked by classmates in a group session the founder led, prompting a complaint and her arrest.
State Money Still Flows: Despite a jail term for the school’s founder, "The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain" continues to operate and Arkansas still sends it public funds.
Unregulated and Growing: BY DESIGN, private schools get little oversight in Arkansas even as new opportunities to receive state m…

This Private School Had Students Scrub Floors and Attack a Fellow Classmate. The State Still Funds It.
One of the few requirements for Arkansas private schools is that they have an American flag and a flagpole. But millions in state funds go to the largely unmonitored schools while complaints about safety and fraud have gone unanswered, parents say.

Brain implant helps paralysed man to feed himself and drink from cup https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/16/neural-bypass-brain-implant-paralysed-man-feed-himself-drink-from-cup "Keith Thomas can move ar…

Brain implant helps paralysed man to feed himself and drink from cup
Keith Thomas can move arms and hands, and feel sensation of touch after ‘double neural bypass’ and months of training

Scientists discover a surprising link between vitamin C and brain health #nutrition

Scientists discover a surprising link between vitamin C and brain health
Could something as simple as vitamin C help support a healthier aging brain? In a study of more than 2,000 older adults in Japan, researchers found that people with lower vitamin C levels in their blood also tended to have less gray matter and weaker connections in a key brain network involved in memory, attention, and other cognitive functions.

Long-term stability of cellular-resolution brain-computer interface recordings after stroke #BCI

Long-term stability of cellular-resolution brain-computer interface recordings after stroke
Implantable brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) with single-neuron resolution are showing great promise for restoring mobility and communication in individuals with spinal cord injury or motor neuron disease. Stroke is the most common cause of acquired brain injury and a major contributor to long-term disability, making chronic stroke a highly relevant indication for iBCIs. However, whether stable intracortical recordings can be obtained from the structurally lesioned human brain is unknown. We r…

cintestinalis: Tadpole larva brain (C. intestinalis)
Entire connectivity matrix for the complete brain of a larva of Ciona intestinalis. Each directed edge represents a synaptic connection from pre-synaptic cell i to post-synaptic cell j (may not be a neuron). Edge weights represent the cumulative depth of presynaptic contacts in µm.
This network has 205 nodes and 2903 edges.
Tags: Biological, Connectome, Weighted

Human-machine learning boosts noninvasive brain-computer control in untrained users https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-human-machine-boosts-noninvasive-brain.html "working on noninvasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to develop technology that is…

Version v3 of the white paper and living document on The vOICe vision BCI and brain implants for restoring vision is now on Zenodo #BCI

budapest_connectome: Budapest Reference Connectome 3.0
A parameterizable consensus brain graph, derived from connectomes of 477 people, each computed from MRI datasets of the Human Connectome Project. Nodes are brain regions, and edges are weighted by the number of "tracks" that run between two nodes, as well as fiber length, fractional anisotropy and the number of occurrences in each of the 477 individuals.
This network has 1015 nodes and 121755 edges.
Tags: Biol…

(LinkedIn) According to some, China takes global lead in regulated brain-computer interfaces, speeding US medtech's regulatory race https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/china-takes-global-lead-regulated-brain-computer-interfaces-panda-yu-agy…

China Takes Global Lead in Regulated Brain-Computer Interfaces, Speeding U.S. Medtech’s Regulatory Race
China’s Strategic Lead in the BCI Medtech Landscape ### 1. Regulatory Leadership & Rapid Commercialization Pathways ### 2.

RE: https://c.im/@cdarwin/116939454993880699
ICE ‘Crowd Control’ Led to Blindings and Traumatic Brain Injuries
Doctors and human rights experts documented
hundreds of incidents
from June 2025 through May 2026
-- and estimate true number is ‘fa…

Building brain-computer interfaces: the 3 pillars of #Paradromics https://paradromics.com/blog/building-brain-computer-interfaces-3-pillars/ referencing TK Kozai (2015…

Building Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)
We treat safety, performance, & durability not as tradeoffs but as minimum thresholds. Learn how the Connexus BCI was designed to meet all 3.

#Paradromics and University of Michigan complete first #Connexus BCI implantation for the FDA-approved Connect-One clinical study

For Elon Musk, Neuralink Blindsight likely merely temporarily serves his current PR needs ("Jesus-level" technology) and as a stepping stone to treating other conditions that are not for a niche market like blindness, or as a stepping stone to mass-market consumer BCIs with AI. Musk is unlikely to do anything mature and sustainable for blindness.
The vOICe vision BCI, on the other hand, has the singular goal of bringing a lasting equivalent of (low) vision to the world

The vOICe vision BCI, or a brain implant?
White paper and living document comparing Neuralink Blindsight and other brain implants with The vOICe vision BCI for the totally blind.

"We don't see with our eyes, we see with our brain" - Paul Bach-y-Rita https://www.seeingwithsound.com/BCI.html

SciAm: U.S. scientists are being lured abroad - and they aren't looking back https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-scientists-are-being-lured-abroad-and-they-arent-looking-back/

U.S. scientists are being lured abroad—and they aren't looking back
The great American brain drain could define science for a generation

WIRED: Her brain was broken. It was fixed with sound - not a scalpel https://www.wired.com/story/brain-focused-ultrasound/ (archived at https://a…

Spatial transcriptomics on an expanded dataset at the brain-electrode interface: exploration of variability and identification of novel biomarkers https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2026.1852774/full "…

Frontiers | Spatial transcriptomics on an expanded dataset at the brain-electrode interface: exploration of variability and identification of novel biomarkers
The foreign body reaction to implanted electrodes in the brain has long been recognized as a major challenge impacting the performance and reliability of ind...

The Brain and The Chip 2026, October 26-28, Spain #BCI

Discovering functionally selective brain regions with a deep topographic multimodal model #AI #NeuroAI

Discovering Functionally Selective Brain Regions with a Deep Topographic Multimodal Model
Nearby neurons in cortex share similar response profiles, producing systematic spatial organization across sensory and cognitive systems. Recent topographic models reproduce aspects of this structure but remain unimodal and spatially constrain each layer separately, yielding fragmented maps that capture neither the contiguity of cortical processing streams nor their integration across modalities. We introduce Topo-Omni, a topographic multimodal model in which visual, auditory, and language/cogn…

What does sound do to your brain's gene expression, RNA?
Prenatal acoustic communication triggers adaptive vascular programming in the developing avian brain https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/229/11/jeb252287…

Music evokes shared neural representations of imagined narratives across sensory modalities https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-76452-0
"The knowledge that auditory information can be encoded in visual areas and vice versa is not new, as is shown, for example in the…

Do non-language regions become language regions? The case of deprived sensory cortices https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awag242/8728959 "Deprived sensory cortices, contrary to many claims, do not become language regio…

China has approved the world's first invasive brain-computer chip - here's what's next https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/01/1138133/china-world-first-brain-chip/ (archived at

China has approved the world’s first invasive brain-computer chip—here’s what’s next
The country wants to become a global leader in brain implants. Strong government support is expected to help accelerate that process.

A congenitally blind woman who I have known for many years, stated yesterday: "Not many of us actually seem too interested in brain implants. Maybe it's more of a late blind thing, but even among people who have lost their sight, I don't hear much about brain implants."

Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution may be the supplemental "glue" needed to make brain implants for restoring vision shine: textures and shading, undistorted visual feedback, fill-in for failing electrodes, etc https://www.artificialvision.com/neuralink.htm

Scientists discover the brain can rewire itself to truly multitask https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-the-brain-can-rewire-itself-to-truly-multitask/ Implications for sensory substitution? Sensory overload?
Extensive experienc…

Scientists Discover the Brain Can Rewire Itself To Truly Multitask
Extensive practice can rewire the brain so a learned skill runs more automatically, making some forms of true multitasking possible.

It's now well over 2 months after the third blind person received an ICVP brain implant for restoring vision. How is she doing? Here are video clips of ICVP recipient Chyvonne Wilson Blanchard in her first days of training https://www.facebook.com/chyvonne.blanchard/owner_reels

Sound can complement electrode-based brain implants (BCIs) in multiple ways. https://bioniclab.substack.com/p/sound-waves-against-scar-tissue "What if we could redirect the brain's immune response using nothing but sound?"

🔊 Ultrasound Against the Foreign Body Response: What Sound Did to Microglia
Why BCIs Fail Series: Post 16

What patients actually think about 'minimally invasive' brain implants https://archive.ph/gm7le (archived from https://www.…

China's first commercial insurance policy for invasive BCI surgery is out https://insidebci.com/market/2026-08-16-picc-property-casualty-china-first-commercial-insurance-invasive-bci-surgery-zhejiang/

China's first commercial insurance policy for invasive BCI surgery is out
State-owned PICC Property and Casualty signed China's first commercial insurance policy covering invasive brain-computer interface surgery on Wednesday 12 August 2026. Counterparty is the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Zhejiang Provincial Government Office released a same-day industry-policy package. Hong Kong and Shenzhen BCI-tagged stocks rallied.

(LinkedIn) The BCI race: innovation vs. scale (and why the US might lose the brain-to-computer war) 🧠💥 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bci-race-innovation-vs-scale-why-us-might-lose-war-panda-yu-6ba5c/

The BCI Race: Innovation vs. Scale (And why the US might lose the brain-to-computer war) 🧠💥
The BCI Race: Innovation vs. Scale (And why the US might lose the brain-to-computer war) 🧠💥 While the West fixates on Neuralink’s latest patient milestones and venture-backed celebrity founders, a massive shift is happening in the East that the global tech community is largely ignoring.

Non-invasive optical stimulation for induction of auditory perception https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1136516 "It may also open new avenues for sensory substitution devices"
Optical induction of auditory perception via cochlear stimulation in Mongolian gerbils …

Non-invasive optical stimulation for induction of auditory perception
Hearing loss affects communication, learning, independence, and social well-being. While cochlear implants have transformed treatment for severe hearing impairment, they require surgery and are often associated with post-operative complications. They also rely on electrical stimulation, which can limit their precision. Researchers are therefore exploring whether applying optical neural stimulation through brain-machine interfaces can mitigate these limitations. However, the effect of laser stim…

Revision Implant lands oversubscribed €4M round to take brain-powered sight implant into the clinic https://bmmagazine.co.uk/get-funded/revision-implant-4m-funding-brain-visual-prosthesis/ Brain implant for restoring vision to the blind;

Revision Implant lands oversubscribed €4m round to take brain-powered sight implant into the clinic
Belgian neurotech ReVision Implant secures an oversubscribed €4m round to bring cortical visual prosthesis manufacturing in-house ahead of first-in-human trials in Q3 2026.