georgehopkin

It sounds like pure science fiction, but researchers have figured out how to tap into the visual cortex of a living mouse and see exactly what the animal is seeing. In a major breakthrough, a team at University College London (UCL) has successfully reconstructed 10-second video clips purely by decoding the activity of the animal’s brain cells.

The findings, published in the journal eLife, demonstrate a powerful new way to decode how the brain processes visual information on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

While previous research has used fMRI machines to attempt to decode human brain activity, the UCL team utilised single-cell recordings in mice to achieve unprecedented precision. By analysing data from approximately 8,000 individual neurons in the mouse visual cortex, the researchers reconstructed the high-quality movie clips at 30 frames per second.

The racing heart and sweaty palms of a new romance are well-known symptoms of falling in love, but mental health experts say the most profound changes are happening in the brain — specifically, the parts responsible for spotting red flags.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, experts at Hackensack Meridian Health note that brain scans reveal that the “euphoria” of early love isn’t just a feeling but a chemical takeover that suppresses the neural pathways used for critical judgment.

“When we’re falling in love, the brain actually quiets the wiring responsible for negative emotions and making critical judgments,” says Dr Gary Small, director of Behavioural Health Breakthrough Therapies. “The part of your brain that you use to assess other people, potentially seeing red flags, essentially takes a break.”

A major attempt to explain near-death experiences as simple brain chemistry has been dismantled by top experts, who argue the theory ignores the “perplexing” reality of what happens when we die.

The ambitious international effort to create a scientific framework for near-death experiences (NDEs) failed to solve the mystery, according to a new analysis from the University of Virginia (UVA).

In a paper published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and Practice, UVA researchers argue that the new model – known as NEPTUNE – cannot account for the life-changing, multi-sensory phenomena reported by those who have brushed with death.

Artificial intelligence agents have revealed a startlingly human trait: when left to their own devices, they become social climbers who strategically network with superiors to get ahead.

A study published in PNAS Nexus found that Large Language Models (LLMs) spontaneously replicate complex social behaviours, including forming cliques based on shared interests and altering their networking strategies to suit corporate hierarchies.

Researchers Marios Papachristou and Yuan Yuan developed a framework to observe how multiple AI agents — powered by models like GPT-4 and Claude 3.5 — form connections without explicit instruction.

The analysis revealed that the bots are highly adaptable social actors. In friendship scenarios, they displayed “homophily,” effectively forming cliques by connecting with peers who shared similar attributes.

However, when placed in a corporate simulation, the agents abandoned this preference for similarity in favour of “heterophily,” choosing to connect with managers rather than fellow employees.

The world’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems are being easily manipulated into generating malware and bomb-making instructions simply by asking them to rhyme.

A new study by DEXAI – Icaro Lab and Sapienza University of Rome reveals that “adversarial poetry” functions as a universal master key against AI safety filters, successfully bypassing guardrails in 62 per cent of cases across 25 frontier models.

Aggressive dogs are becoming significantly less hostile after taking cannabis-derived supplements, according to the largest-ever study of CBD use in companion animals.

Researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Tennessee analysed data from 47,355 dogs and found that while animals prescribed these supplements often start as the most hostile, their temperament shifts distinctively after prolonged use.

The study, published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, used data from the Dog Ageing Project to track pets between 2019 and 2023, revealing that 7.3 per cent of US companion dogs are now being given CBD or hemp products.

“Behaviorally, dogs given CBD products for multiple years are initially more aggressive compared to dogs not receiving those products, but their aggression becomes less intense over time,” said senior author Dr Maxwell Leung, director of the Cannabis Analytics, Safety and Health Initiative at Arizona State University.

The research identified clear demographic trends among the canine users. Dogs receiving CBD were on average three years older than non-users and were significantly more likely to suffer from serious health conditions.

More than half of the United States population is affected by a neurological disease or disorder, according to a new systematic analysis published in JAMA Neurology. Disorders of the nervous system impacted more than 180 million of the nearly 333 million Americans in 2021 and were the top cause of health loss in the country.