<h2>Math Bee</h2>
It turns out that tiny brains are more capable than previously thought.
We already knew various primates, birds, and other animals could solve <a href="http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150826-the-animals-that-can-count" target="_blank" rel="noopener">basic math problems</a>. Now, a team of Australian and French researchers has discovered that <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/feb/bees-brains-maths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">honeybees</a> can also speak the <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126951-800-mathematics-the-only-true-universal-language/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universal language of mathematics</a> on a rudimentary level — and the discovery could impact the future of artificial intelligence.
<h2>Honey and Vinegar</h2>
The researchers detail how they taught honeybees math in a <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/2/eaav0961" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
First, they trained 14 honeybees to enter a Y-shaped maze through one arm of the Y. At the entrance, the bee would see a gray square displaying between 1 and 5 shapes, all either blue or yellow. If the shapes were blue, the bee was supposed to add one to the number of shapes; if yellow, it was supposed to subtract one.
For example, if the bee saw three yellow triangles at the entrance, the correct answer to the problem was two yellow triangles.
Once the bee was in the maze, each exit corresponded to a potential answer. If the bee chose the correct exit, it got to eat tasty sugar water; the wrong exit led to a bitter-tasting solution.
At first, the bees would choose arms randomly, but according to the researchers, the insects learned over the course of more than 100 trials that blue meant adding one and yellow meant subtracting one.
<figure id="attachment_150585" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-150585 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/02/y-shaped-maze-1200x1290.jpg" alt="Researchers taught honeybees math skills, revealing that the animals' tiny brains are more capable than we previously thought." width="1200" height="1290" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Science Advances</figcaption></figure>
<h2>AI Buzz</h2>
According to researcher Adrian Dyer, the fact they they could teach honeybees rudimentary arithmetic doesn&#8217;t just reveal something new about the animal kingdom. It also demonstrates that it&#8217;s possible to pack complex problem-solving capabilities into a small package — and that knowledge could prove useful as we develop future AIs.
“You need to be able to hold the rules around adding and subtracting in your long-term memory, while mentally manipulating a set of given numbers in your short-term memory,&#8221; he said in a <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/feb/bees-brains-maths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>. &#8220;On top of this, our bees also used their short-term memories to solve arithmetic problems, as they learned to recognise plus or minus as abstract concepts rather than being given visual aids.&#8221;
&#8220;Our findings suggest that advanced numerical cognition may be found much more widely in nature among non-human animals than previously suspected,&#8221; Dyer continued. &#8220;If maths doesn’t require a massive brain, there might also be new ways for us to incorporate interactions of both long-term rules and working memory into designs to improve rapid AI learning of new problems.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/feb/bees-brains-maths" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bees Have Brains for Basic Maths: Study</a> [RMIT University]
More on bees: <a href="https://futurism.com/robo-bees-infiltrate-study-insect-societies-prevent-extinction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robo-Bees Can Infiltrate and Influence Insect Societies to Stop Them From Going Extinct</a>

The insects could add and subtract in exchange for a sweet treat.

Honeybees are smart enough to learn basic math

One, Two, Bee...

Researchers taught honeybees math skills, revealing that the animals' tiny brains are more capable than we previously thought.

Honeybees Are Smart Enough to Learn Basic Math

This discovery teaches us something about new bees — and maybe also AI.

<h2>Insect Brains</h2>
The Pentagon&#8217;s emerging technologies unit <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&amp;mode=form&amp;id=5fdb0522f0667e24e19274519b8ef011&amp;tab=core&amp;_cview=0">put out a call</a> last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots — because they could be used to create efficient new models for artificial intelligence, but also because they could be used to explore the meaning of consciousness.
&#8220;Nature has forced on these small insects drastic miniaturization and energy efficiency, some having only a few hundred neurons in a compact form-factor, while maintaining basic functionality,&#8221; reads <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=bb2722b7974765cc9f4e93fea8efbacf">a document</a> in the proposal. &#8220;Furthermore, these organisms are possibly able to display increased subjectivity of experience.&#8221; It goes on to say that there&#8217;s evidence suggesting that &#8220;even small insects have subjective experiences, the first step towards a concept of &#8216;consciousness.'&#8221;
<h2>Bug Hunt</h2>
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is famed for funding projects that <a href="https://qz.com/860873/a-1973-map-of-the-internet-charted-by-darpa/">led to the early internet</a>. But it&#8217;s also a well-funded research arm for the U.S. military — and one of its key areas of interest, according to a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/the-pentagon-wants-to-weaponize-the-brain-what-could-go-wrong/570841/">riveting Atlantic feature</a> this past autumn, is to create brain-computer interfaces that can &#8220;program soldiers&#8217; brains.&#8221;
The feature suggested broad interest at DARPA in technologies that bridge the gap between computers and the brains of humans and animals.
&#8220;They could inject memory using the precise neural codes for certain skills,&#8221; Justin Sanchez, who directs work at DARPA about research on healing the mind and body, told the magazine about a project that had transplanted memories into the brains of rats. &#8220;If I know the neural codes in one individual, could I give that neural code to another person? I think you could.&#8221;
<h2>Moon Shot</h2>
DARPA is offering $1 million to the company it awards the insect brain proposal to. First the winning bidder will need to complete a feasibility study on mapping an insect&#8217;s central intelligence system. Then it will need to create a &#8220;proof of concept&#8221; platform that uses the insect brain architecture to create &#8220;more capable AI hardware.&#8221;
It sounds like a long shot — at least for now. But it&#8217;s another sign that DARPA is deeply interested in the mysteries of cognition and consciousness.
<div>
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a25849798/darpa-insect-brain-ai-machine-learning/">DARPA Wants to Turn Insect Brains into Robot Brains</a> [Popular Science]
</div>
<div>
More on insect brains: <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-brain-interface-device-lets-you-control-animals-with-your-thoughts">A New Brain-Interface Device Lets You Control Animals With Your Thoughts</a>
</div>

"Even small insects have subjective experiences, the first step towards a concept of 'consciousness.'"

DARPA wants to build conscious robots using insect brains

Enhanced Humans

The Pentagon's emerging technologies unit put out a call last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots.

DARPA Wants to Build Conscious Robots Using Insect Brains

The Pentagon thinks bugs could hold the secrets to conscious experience.

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 confirm 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 &#8220;glue of cognition&#8221;.
<a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/electroencephelography">Previous efforts</a> to measure the passing of information from one area to the other have relied on processes such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography">electroencephalography</a> (EEG) or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging">functional magnetic resonance imaging</a> (fMRI), which, whilenon-invasive, offer less than perfect resolution.
The study led by researchers from the University of California, Berkley, recorded the electrical activity of neurons using a precise technique called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocorticography">electrocorticograhy</a> (ECoG).
This required hundreds of tiny electrodes to be placed right up against the cortex, providing more spatial detail than EEG and improving the resolution in time of fMRI.
While this poses an unethical level of risk for your average volunteer, patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy have their brain activity monitored in this very way, giving the researchers a perfect chance to conduct a few tests.
Each of the 16 test subjects performed a number of tasks varied to suit their individual arrangement of electrodes, all while having their neural activity monitored and tracked.
Participants were required to listen to a stimulus and respond, or watch images of faces or animals on a screen and asked to perform an action.
Some tasks were more complex than others; for example, a simple action involved simply repeating a word, while a more complex version was to think of its antonym.
Researchers monitored the split-second movement of electrical activity from one area – such as areas associated with interpreting auditory stimuli – to the prefrontal cortex, to areas required to shape an action, such as the motor cortex.
<iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PgU4s_U2Lb4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
While none of this threw up any surprises, the results clearly emphasised the role of the prefrontal cortex in directing activity.
For some tasks its input was fairly limited. In others the area was required to work hard, managing signals from multiple parts of the brain to coordinate the recognition of words, possibly dredging up memories before setting to work a bunch of muscles to provide a novel answer.
&#8220;These very selective studies have found that the frontal cortex is the orchestrator, linking things together for a final output,&#8221; <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/01/17/recording-a-thoughts-fleeting-trip-through-the-brain/">says neuroscientist Robert Knight</a> from UC Berkeley.
&#8220;It&#8217;s the glue of cognition.&#8221;
The prefrontal cortex was seen to remain active throughout most of the thought process, as would be expected for a multitasking region of the brain.
The quicker the handoff from one area to the other, the faster people responded to a stimulus.
&#8220;fMRI studies often find that when a task gets progressively harder, we see more activity in the brain, and the prefrontal cortex in particular,&#8221; says the study&#8217;s lead author <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/01/17/recording-a-thoughts-fleeting-trip-through-the-brain/">Avgusta Shestyuk</a>.
&#8220;Here, we are able to see that this is not because the neurons are working really, really hard and firing all the time, but rather, more areas of the cortex are getting recruited.&#8221;
What did come as something of a surprise were details on the precise timing of each area.
Some of the responding areas lit up remarkably early, often during the stimulus, suggesting that even before we have a complete response handy, our brain is already getting those parts of the cortex ready for action.
&#8220;This might explain why people sometimes say things before they think,&#8221; <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/01/17/recording-a-thoughts-fleeting-trip-through-the-brain/">suggests Shestyuk</a>.
This research was published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0267-2">Nature Human Behaviour</a>.

Neuroscientists have just gotten an unprecedented look at how thoughts move through our brains.

Neuroscientists have followed a thought as it moves through the brain

Hard Science

Neuroscientists were able to track a thought, from its formation to its response. The researchers used unique access given by patients undergoing surgery.

Neuroscientists Have Followed a Thought as it Moves Through the Brain

We didn't think it was possible.

Bring in the A.I. 

Artificial Intelligence is a game-changing technology that echoed in our pop culture for years before we thought it was attainable. However, today, it is a lot more than just pop culture sci-fi. Now that we are on the cusp of a reality where <a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-dawn-of-the-singularity/">we may one day come face to face</a> with our AI counterparts, the world&#8217;s greatest minds are planning for such an <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/16559-elon-musk-thinks-a-i-will-take-over-but-neural-lace-will-save-humanity?utm_source=facebook">eventuality</a>.
This is where billionaire inventor and engineer Elon Musk steps in.
According to him (and <a href="http://www.livescience.com/48972-stephen-hawking-artificial-intelligence-threat.html">many other experts</a>), an era of Artificial Intelligence could quite possibly spell the end times for humanity. Artificial Intelligence is predicted to outpace <a href="http://huddle.today/ai-coming-us/">humanity at an unprecedented rate</a>, having them look at us adoringly as house pets at best or just doing away with us at worst. These predictions have pushed Musk to suggest something daringly unconventional and almost controversial: <a href="http://gizmodo.com/scientists-just-invented-the-neural-lace-1711540938">The neural lace.</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Creating a neural lace is the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/739006012749799424">June 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script>
The neural lace is a device that is intended to grow with your brain. Its major purpose is to optimize mental output through a brain-computer interface, effortlessly accessing the internet just through singular thoughts.
Musk explaining the neural lace at the 2016 Code Conference:
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZrGPuUQsDjo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>So How Does This Save Humanity From Killer Robots?</h2>
Ironically, by becoming one with A.I.
By placing the neural lace as a layer above our brains, the playing field becomes even. While the computing  powers of A.I. is expected to surpass that of humans <a href="http://huddle.today/ai-coming-us/">greatly</a>, the neural lace is expected to push our cognitive performance levels to one that is comparable to that of A.I. But all of this contingent on how society perceives placing a mesh covering atop of their cortex.
While many fear invasive surgery that would require their heads to be split open, there is another, slightly less intimate alternative: <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/injectable-brain-implant-spies-on-individual-neurons-1.17713">injections</a>. Trials with wired neural mesh have already gone underway on mice, confirming that a syringe is a potentially viable mode of implantation. However, we are years away from anything close to what Musk was suggesting.
But here&#8217;s to waiting long hours at the doctor&#8217;s office sometime down the line for that neural lace.

Progressive Billionaire Elon Musk has yet another innovation that he believes is crucial to humanity's existence. This time, it's not about space shuttles or fast eco-friendly cars, but our minds. The neural lace is the next step in our evolution to beat our AI counterparts.

Elon Musk: To Survive The Age of Artificial Intelligence, Humanity Must “Achieve Symbiosis With Machines”

If we can't beat 'em, join them...and then beat 'em.

<h5>SENDING MESSAGES IN THE BRAIN</h5>
How is information sent and received inside the brain? It turns out that the answer may be even more complicated than we had thought.
We have long <a href="http://www.mind.ilstu.edu/curriculum/neurons_intro/neurons_intro.php" target="_blank">known</a> that the neuronal synapses are central to the brain&#8217;s ability to process and communicate information. Using electro-chemical signals, neurons can activate each other and create intricate networks with  immense computing power. With around 200 billion neurons in a single brain, and the possibility of hundreds of thousands of connections from a single neuron, the brain can process a vast amount of information.
And now, new <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/cwru-bwm011416.php" target="_blank">research</a> out of Case Western Reserve University suggests that we may use electrical fields to communicate information across different sections of the brain.
&#8220;Researchers have thought that the brain&#8217;s endogenous electrical fields are too weak to propagate wave transmission,&#8221; <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/cwru-bwm011416.php">said Dominique Durand</a>, a biomedical engineer at Case Western Reserve University. &#8220;But it appears the brain may be using the fields to communicate without synaptic transmissions, gap junctions or diffusion.&#8221;
<h5>A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE BRAIN&#8217;S ELECTRICAL FIELDS</h5>
With all the electro-chemical processes going on in the brain, it&#8217;s not a surprise that the brain generates weak electric fields. And we have  understood for a while now that, when those electric fields aren&#8217;t under control, we&#8217;re in big trouble. This is what happens in the brains of people who have epilepsy.
<figure id="attachment_21281" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="wp-image-21281 size-medium" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/01/image-4-300x225.jpeg" alt="image" width="300" height="225" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Photo Credit: Geralt via Pixabay</figcaption></figure>
Some <a href="http://www.caltech.edu/news/neurobiologists-find-weak-electrical-fields-brain-help-neurons-fire-together-1671" target="_blank">researchers</a> have previously suggested that electric fields might be an important part of a brain&#8217;s typical functioning as well. They theorized that electric field generated by the neurons may cause feedback that alters the neuronal behavior. This means the neurons could be communicating with parts of the brain that they are not directly physically connected with.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have expanded on this hypothesis. They found spikes in neural activity that they were traveling slower in the brain than they would expect if they were operating through the typical brain mechanisms.
Since the low-amplitude electric fields travel through the brain at a speed of around 0.1 meters per second,  much slower than the typical firing neuron, they offer a compelling explanation for this phenomenon.
Researchers tested this hypothesis with experiments using computer modeling and in vitro tissue. The results were consistent with their predictions. The exact function of these fields is still unknown—hey may play a part in regulating brain functioning and communication, or perhaps they serve more direct information transfer purposes.
This work could help us make progress in better understanding and treating conditions like epilepsy. It also has deep implications for cognitive science and any serious attempts to model the functioning of the human brain.

Emerging research shows that weak electric fields may help the brain process information.

/Cognition

One, Two, Bee...

Honeybees Are Smart Enough to Learn Basic Math

Enhanced Humans

DARPA Wants to Build Conscious Robots Using Insect Brains

Hard Science

Neuroscientists Have Followed a Thought as it Moves Through the Brain

Enhanced Humans

Elon Musk: To Survive The Age of Artificial Intelligence, Humanity Must “Achieve Symbiosis With Machines”

Hard Science

Scientists Find New Way Information is Communicated Through the Brain

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