<h2>Nightmare Factory</h2>
Nothing ruins a good night&#8217;s sleep like a dream about your teeth falling out or taking a calculus test while naked.
Thankfully, scientists are getting to the bottom of bad dreams, according to new research that tracks the neurological basis of nightmares.
<h2>Biological Culprit</h2>
The research, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2884-18.2019">expected to be published Tuesday</a> in the journal JNeurosci, tracks down which part of the brain is responsible for generating feelings of anger in sleeping people, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/one-side-of-your-brain-might-be-giving-you-nightmares">according to Cosmos Magazine</a>.
In the study, researchers woke people up when they were in the middle of what&#8217;s called <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-class-drugs-sleeping-pills-safer">REM sleep</a> — short for Rapid Eye Movement — which is linked with dreaming, according to Cosmos. Participants who reported feeling angry during their dreams had increased neural activity in the right half of their frontal cortex, suggesting that that part of the brain is responsible for dreaming up a bad time.
<h2>Small Crew</h2>
This one study, which hasn&#8217;t yet been published, reportedly only studied 17 people over the course of two nights.
While this neural asymmetry is worth probing further, it represents just the first step in figuring out why dreams go sour and, hopefully, how to fix them.
READ MORE: <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/one-side-of-your-brain-might-be-giving-you-nightmares">One side of your brain might be giving you nightmares</a> [Cosmos Magazine]
More on sleep: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-class-drugs-sleeping-pills-safer">A New Class of Drugs Could Make Safer Sleeping Pills</a>

Finally, scientists know why I keep forgetting to wear pants to my Presidential inauguration.

Scientists might have just figured out where nightmares come from

Zombie Ghosts

A new study took the first steps toward figuring out which part of the brain is responsible for giving people nightmares and negative emotions during sleep.

Scientists Might Have Just Figured Out Where Nightmares Come From

A certain part of the brain is associated with feeling angry while asleep.

<h2>Computer Brain</h2>
Scientists <a href="https://scienceblog.com/507236/new-quantum-material-could-warn-of-neurological-disease/">say they&#8217;ve developed</a> a new &#8220;quantum material&#8221; that could one day transfer information <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/translates-thoughts-gadget-speech">directly from human brains</a> to a computer.
The research is in early stages, but it invokes ideas like uploading brains to the cloud or hooking people up to a computer to track deep health metrics — concepts that until now existed solely in science fiction.
<h2>Quantum Interface</h2>
The new quantum material, described in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09660-6">research published Wednesday</a> in the journal Nature Communications, is a &#8220;nickelate lattice&#8221; that the scientists say could directly translate the brain&#8217;s electrochemical signals into electrical activity that could be interpreted by a computer.
&#8220;We can confidently say that this material is a potential pathway to building a computing device that would store and transfer memories,&#8221; Purdue University engineer Shriram Ramanathan <a href="https://scienceblog.com/507236/new-quantum-material-could-warn-of-neurological-disease/">told ScienceBlog</a>.
<h2>Running Diagnostics</h2>
Right now, the new material can only detect the activity of some neurotransmitters — so we can&#8217;t yet upload a whole brain or anything like that. But if the tech progresses, the researchers hypothesize that it could be used to detect neurological diseases, or perhaps even store memories.
&#8220;Imagine putting an electronic device in the brain, so that when natural brain functions start deteriorating, a person could still retrieve memories from that device,&#8221; Ramanathan said.
READ MORE: <a href="https://scienceblog.com/507236/new-quantum-material-could-warn-of-neurological-disease/">New Quantum Material Could Warn Of Neurological Disease</a> [ScienceBlog]
More on brain-computer interface: <a href="https://futurism.com/noninvasive-neural-implant-clinical-trials">This Neural Implant Accesses Your Brain Through the Jugular Vein</a>

"Imagine putting an electronic device in the brain, so that when natural brain functions start deteriorating, a person could still retrieve memories from that device."

Scientists say new quantum material could "'download' your brain"

Head In The Cloud

A new type of quantum material can directly measure neural activity and translate it into electrical signals for a computer.

Scientists Say New Quantum Material Could “‘Download’ Your Brain”

The material is meant to be a bridge between how brains and computers think.

<h2>Big Brain</h2>
For the first time, scientists have used gene-editing techniques to make monkey brains more humanlike.
The monkeys, rhesus macaques, got smarter — they had superior memories to unaltered monkeys, according to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwz043/5420749">recently-published research</a> that&#8217;s kicked off a fiery debate among ethicists about how far scientists should be able to take genetic experimentation.
<h2>Cognitive Gap</h2>
The team of Chinese scientists edited the human version of a gene called MCPH1 into the macaques. The new gene made the monkeys&#8217; brains develop along a more <a href="https://futurism.com/scientist-gene-hacked-babies-boosted-brains">human-like timeline</a>. The gene-hacked monkeys had better reaction times and enhanced short-term memories compared to their unaltered peers, <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201904/02/WS5ca31228a3104842260b3fa3.html">according to China Daily</a>.
<a href="http://iframe%20width='640'%20height='480'%20frameborder='0'%20allowfullscreen%20src='//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/candidate/latest/skin-plugin/iframe.html?ec=szNzZsaDE6lIqTG8oCjMgh-AgLen3fCx&amp;pbid=5ad1946db28d45cdb4325c91c7751266&amp;pcode=FvbGkyOtJVFD33j_Rd0xPLSo0Jiv'/iframe"><iframe frameborder="0" height="480" src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/candidate/latest/skin-plugin/iframe.html?ec=szNzZsaDE6lIqTG8oCjMgh-AgLen3fCx&amp;pbid=5ad1946db28d45cdb4325c91c7751266&amp;pcode=FvbGkyOtJVFD33j_Rd0xPLSo0Jiv" width="640"></iframe></a>
But not everyone is on board.
&#8220;The use of transgenic monkeys to study human genes linked to brain evolution is a very risky road to take,” University of Colorado geneticist James Sikela told the MIT Technology Review. &#8220;It is a classic slippery slope issue and one that we can expect to recur as this type of research is pursued.&#8221;
<h2>Evolutionary Roadmap</h2>
Pinpointing the gene&#8217;s role in intelligence could help scientists understand how humans evolved to be so smart, MIT Tech reports.
While altering one gene to enhance memory in some macaques won&#8217;t throw Darwinism off-kilter — there&#8217;s no risk of a &#8220;Planet of the Apes&#8221;-style uprising, yet — it could teach us how humanity became so intelligent and gives us hints as to why.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/">Chinese scientists have put human brain genes in monkeys—and yes, they may be smarter</a> [MIT Technology Review]
More on gene editing: <a href="https://futurism.com/scientist-gene-hacked-babies-boosted-brains">Scientist Who Gene-Hacked Babies “Likely” Boosted Their Brainpower</a>

"It is a classic slippery slope issue and one that we can expect to recur as this type of research is pursued."

Chinese scientists made super-monkeys with human brain genes

Galaxy Brain

Chinese scientists figured out that they could enhance a monkey's intelligence by introducing a single human gene linked to brain development.

Chinese Scientists Gene-Hacked Super Smart Human-Monkey Hybrids

Macaques monkeys with human brain genes are superintelligent compared to their peers.

<h2>No Rest</h2>
Chinese schools are taking extreme measures to make sure that students are paying attention.
Over the past few months, several schools have made students wear a headband that measures the brain&#8217;s electrical activity to track whether students are focused at any given moment, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2019/04/05/china-is-reportedly-trialling-attention-detecting-bands-in-schools/">The Next Web </a><a href="https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2019/04/05/china-is-reportedly-trialling-attention-detecting-bands-in-schools/">reports</a>. It&#8217;s a jarring level of high tech discipline in the classroom — and one that seems like it&#8217;s more exhausting than beneficial for young students.
<h2>High Score!</h2>
The headband, manufactured by Boston-based tech company BrainCo Inc, uses <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-scan-stressed-pilots">built-in EEG scanners</a> to track whether a student is focused or daydreaming.
All that information gets sent to a teacher&#8217;s computer, giving them a real-time feed of which students are focused. But BrainCo didn&#8217;t stop there: it also built a leaderboard of students who focus for the greatest amount of time.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fQ3eW3qQ2pk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Good Intentions</h2>
The idea behind the headband is that it could give teachers insight into how to better educate their students, according to The Next Web. For instance, if teachers notice that certain students keep losing focus during certain activities, they could change the curriculum or work one-on-one with particular students.
But odds are that there are better ways to give personalized attention to students — such as cutting down on <a href="http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/research/class-size-and-student-achievement">class sizes</a> — than strapping brain-scanning headbands onto all of them.
READ MORE: <a href="https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2019/04/05/china-is-reportedly-trialling-attention-detecting-bands-in-schools/">China is reportedly trialing attention-detecting bands in schools</a> [The Next Web]
More on education: <a href="https://futurism.com/people-reading-publishers-gamifying-books">This Ebook Company Is Trying to Make Reading More Like Videogames</a>

Paying attention longer can earn kids a spot on the leaderboard.

In Chinese schools, brain-reading headbands measure student focus

Classroom Laboratory

Several Chinese schools have started making students wear brain-scanning headbands that can detect when they start to lose focus or slack off.

In Chinese Schools, Brain-Reading Headbands Measure Student Focus

You can't slack off with this brain-reading headband!

<h2>Brain-Computer Interface</h2>
For the first time, doctors are preparing to test a brain-computer interface that can be implanted onto a human brain, no open surgery required.
The Stentrode, a neural implant that can let paralyzed people communicate, can be delivered to a patient&#8217;s brain through the jugular vein — and the company that developed it, Synchron, just got approval to begin human experimentation.
By <a href="https://futurism.com/neural-jelly-drill-brain">leaving the skull sealed shut</a>, patients could receive their neural implants without <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-stick-needles-brains-curious-what-needles-brains/">running as great a risk</a> of seizures, strokes, or permanent neural impairments, all of which <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/awake-brain-surgery/about/pac-20384913">can be caused</a> by open-brain surgery.
In the coming months, five participants with paralyzed hands or mouths that prevent them from communicating will have Stentrodes implanted into their brains.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve commenced recruitment over the last several weeks,&#8221; Synchron founder and CEO Thomas Oxley, a physician in New York City, told Futurism. &#8220;We&#8217;ve identified some potential patients so that&#8217;s very exciting, but there&#8217;s a several-month recruitment process once they come in.&#8221;
<h2>Ongoing Process</h2>
As potentially game-changing as a neural implant that circumvents open brain surgery could be, Synchron is taking things slowly.
The work of building a functional device and showing that it&#8217;s safe in animal models is done; now it comes down to collecting and making sense of clinical data.
Before trials can begin, potential participants will need to undergo several brain scans. After that comes an evaluation from a neurologist to make sure that they would actually benefit from the Stentrode&#8217;s neural interface and that their blood vessels are in good enough shape to have the device — which looks like a standard medical stent with built-in circuitry — travel through them on its path to the brain.
But once the trial begins, Oxley said that the patients will start training to use the device and its software to generate text with their thoughts.
&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to help patients who have been paralyzed due to stroke or ALS or spinal cord injury, and who cannot communicate in the way they need to perform their work activities or their social activities,&#8221; Oxley said. &#8220;We&#8217;re working to generate text at a rate that&#8217;s comparable to texting speeds on a smartphone. That&#8217;s the goal.&#8221;
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NZlIL0iI1Sg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>One Step At A Time</h2>
A permanent neural implant that reads brain activity and churns out text could prove to be a valuable medical tool, but it also could provide doctors with an unprecedented 24/7 stream of neural data.
Oxley recognizes that an <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-brain-computer-interface-zuckerberg">endless feed of brain activity</a> could be invaluable to medical researchers, but he doesn&#8217;t have plans to tap into that yet.
&#8220;[The Stentrode is] going to show us information that we hadn&#8217;t had before. Whether that helps us understand other things is not what we&#8217;re trying to do here,&#8221; he said, clarifying that Synchron&#8217;s primary goal is to get the new brain-computer interface working so that it can help paralyzed patients. &#8220;This is a novel data set, but this raises questions around privacy and security. That&#8217;s the patient&#8217;s data, and we can&#8217;t be mining that.&#8221;
Oxley told Futurism that they&#8217;ve already built in security protocols to make sure the study participants&#8217; brain data, which will be stored locally, is future-proofed, and added that he doesn&#8217;t have plans — or regulatory approval — to analyze or study that data for other purposes in the future. In a follow-up email, he clarified that study participants are being asked to give consent for this particular experiment, but not to hand over their neural data for future research.
<h2>Distant Future</h2>
But that doesn&#8217;t mean other developments aren&#8217;t coming. Oxley said that he could envision a future in which brain-computer interface neural implants do more than just restore the ability to communicate. Though this vision of the future is fairly speculative, it&#8217;s not hard to imagine that as neural implants — from Synchron or anywhere else — grow increasingly sophisticated, they allow people to do more and more things.
&#8220;What&#8217;s behind paralysis? The intention to move. So we&#8217;re digitizing intention,&#8221; said Oxley. &#8220;Ultimately, if those signals are really fast, those patients or people are now controlling technologies with a level of superiority may not be possible with a regular human body.&#8221;
Synchron isn&#8217;t working on it now, but Oxley said that devices like the Stentrode could feasibly be used someday to control robotic limbs, exoskeletons, or other devices that improve human senses. Before Oxley or anyone else works towards those devices, he said that there&#8217;s an ethical minefield to navigate.
&#8220;When you start building software that controls devices that move — vehicles, robotic limbs, exoskeletons — what we&#8217;re doing is digitizing intent,&#8221; said Oxley. &#8220;If we can capture intent of the patient, we run our algorithm that spits out intent into mechanical use. Let&#8217;s say a robotic limb does the wrong thing: it picks up the wrong thing or pushes and hurts someone, who is responsible? It raises a lot of ethical considerations about how this technology moves forward.&#8221;
More on Brain-Computer Interface: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci">New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People&#8217;s Thoughts Into Speech</a>

"It's going to show us information that we hadn't had before."

The first non-invasive neural implant is about to begin clinical trials

Plug-And-Play

The Stentrode, the first neural implant that doesn't require open surgery, is poised to begin clinical trials to help paralyzed people communicate.

This Neural Implant Accesses Your Brain Through the Jugular Vein

The brain-computer interface lets paralyzed people type using their thoughts.

<h2>Mouse Friends</h2>
In the developing brain, there&#8217;s a critical period of time when adolescents learn how to socialize.
This critical period happens right around the point of sexual maturity in mice, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1075-9">according to research</a> published Wednesday in the journal Nature. But the scientists also found that they could re-open that window by giving adult mice a single dose of the drug MDMA — a finding that could point to new treatments for humans.
<h2>Hugging Hormone</h2>
After giving mice a dose of MDMA, the scientists found increased levels of oxytocin in the rodents&#8217; brains, along with the uptick in social behaviors — suggesting that brains are more flexible than scientists previously thought.
&#8220;This suggests that we’ve reopened a critical period in mice, giving them the ability to learn social reward behaviors at a time when they are less inclined to engage in these behaviors,&#8221; Johns Hopkins scientist Gül Dölen <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/mice-mdma-brain-ptsd-1384948">told Newsweek</a>.
<h2>New Medicine</h2>
Right now, doctors are investigating MDMA as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, as <a href="https://futurism.com/mdma-therapy-help-treat-ptsd">past studies have found</a> that the drug, along with psychotherapy, has helped some people. Now, if this mouse study holds up in the human brain, scientists might know why.
&#8220;As we develop new therapies or determine when to give these therapies, it&#8217;s critical to know the biological mechanism on which they act,&#8221; Dölen said.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/mice-mdma-brain-ptsd-1384948">MICE, MDMA AND THE BRAIN: WHY DRUG COULD BE USED TO TREAT PTSD</a> [Newsweek]
More on MDMA: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mdma-clinical-trials-enrollment-sites">Five US Sites Are Now Enrolling Patients for MDMA Clinical Trials</a>

MDMA can "reopen" a part of the brain that closes after puberty.

MDMice

Scientists found the a single dose of MDMA can help adult mice re-learn social behavior. They hope it can help people with PTSD.

MDMA Can “Reopen” a Part of the Brain That Closes After Puberty

It may lead to MDMA-assisted treatments for PTSD.

<h2>Neurogenesis</h2>
New research has found that the brains of healthy adult humans continue to produce new neurons throughout life.
The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0375-9">study</a>, published Monday in Nature Medicine, is the latest on a topic that has divided neuroscientists for decades — if it holds up, it could set the groundwork for new ways to treat conditions ranging from Alzheimer&#8217;s to strokes.
<h2>Back And Forth</h2>
Adult human neurogenesis, or the growth of new neurons after birth, has never been fully confirmed or debunked. Many of the studies claiming to find new neural growth used a <a href="https://www.bio-rad-antibodies.com/blog/brdu-in-neurogenesis-part1.html">biomarker called BrdU</a> that indicates the presence of new neurons but also <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/research/research-turns-another-fact-into-myth-56627">also flagged new glial cells</a>, which grow in the brain but function differently from neurons. Others found neurogenesis in the brains of people who had <a href="https://futurism.com/this-fda-approved-drug-could-permanently-repair-brain-damage-in-stroke-victims">cancer or strokes</a>, but not in healthy brains.
The <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/614">controversy got so heated</a> that esteemed scientists in either camp were publicly trying to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/us/researchers-differ-over-generating-neurons-in-brain.html">discredit the others&#8217; work</a> each time new findings got published.
But this new study seems to have overcome those barriers.
&#8220;Methodologically, it sets the bar for future studies,&#8221; Fred &#8220;Rusty&#8221; Gage, president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, told <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-adult-brain-does-grow-new-neurons-after-all-study-says/">Scientific American</a>. &#8220;This paper in a very nice way&#8230; systematically evaluates all the issues that we all feel are very important.&#8221;
<h2>Unresolved</h2>
Gage didn&#8217;t work on the new study, but he was on the team that first found evidence of adult human neurogenesis <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1198_1313">back in 1998</a>. His excitement is just as unsurprising as others&#8217; skepticism.
The scientists behind it had access to 58 brains — far more than most studies — and conducted a thorough analysis. But not everyone&#8217;s convinced.
&#8220;I don’t think this at all settles things out,&#8221; Arturo Avarez-Buylla told Scientific American. Avarez-Buylla led a team of scientists that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25975">published research</a> in March 2018 that made compelling arguments against adult human neurogenesis. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been studying adult neurogenesis all my life. I wish I could find a place [in humans] where it does happen convincingly.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-adult-brain-does-grow-new-neurons-after-all-study-says/">The Adult Brain Does Grow New Neurons After All, Study Says</a> [Scientific American]
More on neurogenesis: <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-get-first-glimpse-new-memories-born">Scientists Get Their First Glimpse At How New Memories Are Born</a>

New study suggests adult brains might grow new neurons

Controversial Research

New research suggests that human brains continue to grow new neurons after birth, tipping the scales of a decades-long scientific debate.

New Study Suggests Adult Brains Might Grow New Neurons

The research breathes new life into a decades-old scientific debate.

<h2>Paging Magneto</h2>
Many animals, including certain birds and turtles, can find their way while migrating by sensing the Earth&#8217;s magnetic field. But humans never seemed to possess the ability to feel the earth&#8217;s magnetism — up until scientists pulled off <a href="http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2019/03/18/ENEURO.0483-18.2019">a new experiment</a> published Monday in the journal eNeuro.
&#8220;For the first time in humans, clear responses to magnetic field changes were observed,&#8221; Michael Winklhofer, a biologist at Carl von Ossietzsky University of Oldeburg who did not work on the new research <a href="https://gizmodo.com/fascinating-experiment-suggests-some-humans-can-sense-e-1833377029">told Gizmodo</a>. &#8220;Even though the magnetic field was not consciously perceived in the test persons that showed brain responses to the field, the study invites [other scientists] to follow up research to understand the mechanism by which the magnetic field elicits neuronal activity.&#8221;
<h2>The Worst X-Man</h2>
The scientists <a href="https://futurism.com/researcher-claims-evidence-of-another-sense">looked at the brain scans of people</a> in an enclosed room where they generated a shifting magnetic field. As the field changed directions, parts of some participants&#8217; brains&#8217; electrical activity shifted as well.
A major caveat to this research: the participants had no conscious knowledge that their brains were responding to a simulated shift in Earth&#8217;s magnetic pole, so scientists don&#8217;t yet know whether there are any behavioral or physiological implications to their findings.
&#8220;It is one thing to find a subtle change in brain activity in response to a weak magnetic field, and another thing to show that people really detect and use magnetic field information in a meaningful way,&#8221; University of North Carolina biologist Kenneth Lohmann, who also did not contribute to the research, told Gizmodo. Lohmann also called the research &#8220;fascinating and provocative.&#8221;
<h2>Magnetic Leftovers</h2>
The scientists who conducted the brain scan study suspect that humans capable of this magnetoreception may have some sort of vestigial abilities from our genetic ancestors. This research didn&#8217;t answer how it works, but researcher Joseph Kirschvink, a Caltech geophysicist who worked on the study, suspects some brain cells may contain tiny, magnetic crystals.
&#8220;Magnetoreception is a normal sensory system in animals, just like vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, gravity, temperature, and many others,&#8221; Krischvink told Gizmodo. &#8220;All of these systems have specific cells that detect the photon, sound wave, or whatever, and send signals from them to the brain, as does a microphone or video camera connected to a computer. But without the software in the computer, the microphone or video camera will not work. We are saying that human neurophysiology evolved with a magnetometer — most likely based on magnetite — and the brain has extensive software to process the signals.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://gizmodo.com/fascinating-experiment-suggests-some-humans-can-sense-e-1833377029">Some Humans Can Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field, Fascinating Experiment Suggests</a> [Gizmodo]
More on brain scans: <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-activity-creates-consciousness">Scientists Claim to Find “Neurological Signature” of Consciousness</a>

"We are saying that human neurophysiology evolved with a magnetometer — most likely based on magnetite — and the brain has extensive software to process the signals."

"Provocative" research: some people can sense magnetic fields

Magneto 

A new study found that some humans possess the ability to detect Earth's magnetism. We don't know why or how, but scientists think it's vestigial.

"Provocative" Research: Some People Can Sense Magnetic Fields

Some of your brain cells might contain tiny, magnetic crystals.

“Provocative” Research: Some People Can Sense Magnetic Fields

<h2>Natural Growth</h2>
In the ongoing quest to build an artificial human brain, scientists from UCLA may have just taken a big step forward. While a real <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-building-quantum-computer-acts-like-brain">synthetic brain is still far away</a>, a team of chemical engineers found out how to grow self-assembling circuitry that resembles the structure and electrical activity of parts of a brain, <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/neuromorphic-computing-and-the-brain-that-wouldnt-die/">according to ZDNet</a>.
The research is the pet project of UCLA chemical engineer James Gimzewski, who proclaimed that he wanted to create a synthetic brain back in 2012.
&#8220;I want to create a synthetic brain,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nims.go.jp/mana/jp/pror/periodical/n28red0000003whw-att/convergence_no12_en.pdf">Gimzewski wrote</a> at the time. &#8220;I want to create a machine that thinks, a machine that possesses physical intelligence&#8230; Such a system does not exist and promises to cause a revolution one might call the post-human revolution.&#8221;
<h2>Reaching Out</h2>
Gimzewski and his team found that a grid of tightly-packed copper posts, when treated with silver nitrate, grew nanowires out in seemingly random directions that mirror the branching, interconnect neurons found in a brain.
On the atomic scale, the connections among the silver nanowires resemble synapses, which are the junctions at which two neurons meet up and transmit signals among with each other. The way that the nanowires organized themselves mirrors the sort of structures that would pop up during an MRI of a brain as it stores memories, according to ZDNet.
When the network of wires is hit by an electrical signal, the nanowires seemed to be organizing information as a brain does — all on their own.
&#8220;When they&#8217;re all combined, they start to talk to each other,&#8221; Gimzewski told ZDNet. &#8220;In a way, the whole circuitry comes alive, in a sense, in that every part is interacting with every other part. And there are pathways in which we can establish stronger neuromorphic connections.&#8221;
<h2>Not Quite There</h2>
In spite of his 2012 proclamation, Gimzewski now urges caution.
&#8220;It&#8217;s dangerous to directly correlate things like, &#8216;This is a brain!'&#8221; Gimzewski told ZDNet. &#8220;It&#8217;s exhibiting electrical characteristics which are very similar to a functional MRI of brains, similar to the electric characteristics of neuronal cultures, and also EEG patterns.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/neuromorphic-computing-and-the-brain-that-wouldnt-die/">Neuromorphic computing and the brain that wouldn’t die</a> [ZDNet]
More on brain-like circuitry: <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-based-circuitry-just-made-artificial-intelligence-faster">Brain-Based Circuitry Just Made Artificial Intelligence A Whole Lot Faster</a>

"It's dangerous to directly correlate things like, 'This is a brain!'"

Chemists grew a "synthetic brain" that stores memories in silver

Metal Brain

A self-assembling network of silver nanowires responds to electrical signals in a similar way to how the brain stores memories.

Chemists Grew A “Synthetic Brain” That Stores Memories in Silver

One of its creators thinks it could usher in "the post-human revolution."

<h2>Rotting Brains</h2>
No matter what your mother tells you about your smartphone frying your brain, there&#8217;s not a lot of solid scientific research on what smartphones do to the adolescent brain.
Evidence that smartphone use, especially social media, is correlated with signs of depression often sounds reasonable — but <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-find-smartphone-addiction-alters-brain-chemistry">lacks scientific rigor</a>. That&#8217;s because many times, the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0506-1">studies are based on large surveys</a> in which teens answer questions about their lives that may be vague or poorly defined.
To get to the bottom of things, some researchers have set their eyes on the treasure trove that is Google and Apple&#8217;s data stores about how people use Android and iOS devices, <a href="https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2019/2/20/18210498/smartphones-tech-social-media-teens-depression-anxiety-research">according to Vox</a>.
<h2>Fellow Kids</h2>
There are two main problems with trying to understanding how smartphones affect brains. First, internet trends change rapidly, with apps rapidly falling in and out of fashion. Given that each of these apps, from TikTok to Fortnite, allow people to interact in different ways, it&#8217;s hard to come up with a universal explanation for how they impact people.
Second, it&#8217;s hard to get the right answers to even the best questions. Often, the surveys that have informed past studies lumped together all smartphone use.
&#8220;Screen time isn’t a thing; it’s 100 things,&#8221; Laureate Institute for Brain Research neuroscientist Florence Breslin from the ABCD Study told Vox. &#8220;It&#8217;s social media, it&#8217;s video games. It&#8217;s research, it&#8217;s reading.&#8221;
<h2>Access Granted</h2>
Google has already agreed to share its data about how adolescents user their smartphones — with both participant and parent permission — with the <a href="https://abcdstudy.org/">Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study</a>, but Apple hasn’t yet signed off on it.
With information from the two tech giants, scientists can better understand how teens use smartphones. The researchers would be able to discover whether kids are using their phones to socialize and whether social media is actually correlated with signs of depression, as anecdotal evidence often suggests.
&#8220;Naturally, we can&#8217;t actually do a pure experimental study where some children grow up with social media, some don&#8217;t,&#8221; Oxford Internet Institute psychologist Amy Orben told Vox. &#8220;Because, if not, we&#8217;re just going to have this debate without any evidence involved,&#8221; she said.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2019/2/20/18210498/smartphones-tech-social-media-teens-depression-anxiety-research">Have smartphones really destroyed a generation? We don’t know.</a> [Vox]
More on smartphones: <a href="https://futurism.com/screen-time-smartphone-obsession">I Tried Apple’s Screen Time Tool. The Results Were Not Heartening.</a>

Most of the evidence that social media is harmful is anecdotal at best.

Google and Apple can help learn how phones affect kids' brains

Teen Studies

In order to better understand how smartphone use correlates with mental health in adolescents, scientists want to access Google and Apple's data stashes.

/Neuroscience