December 28, 2008 by sean.

LiveScience.com explores brain prosthetics, artificial cells, regrown bone, wearbale kidneys and even new corpora cavernosa [you’ll have to look it up] in Top 10 Technologies for the Bionic Human.

Posted in science, bionics | No Comments »

December 28, 2008 by sean.

Dr. Jerald Block writes in the latest issue of the American Journal Of Psychiatry that “people who send large numbers of text messages and emails may have a mental disorder” [via smh.com.au]:

“[I]nternet addiction” was a “common disorder” that deserved inclusion in a manual of mental disorders used by health professionals.

Those with the condition suffered withdrawal symptoms of anger and tension when a computer was inaccessible, and often lost their sense of time through excessive use… Other symptoms included feeling “the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use”, and having arguments, lying, social isolation and fatigue.”

Posted in science, pervasive computing | No Comments »

December 28, 2008 by sean.

Allen Institute for Brain Science encouraging open collaboration and personal philantropy re: brain research [via economist.com]:

Clearly the model of providing a freely accessible database is a successful one. In a sense, we have challenged other researchers to offer greater access to their findings. Will they take the challenge? My bet is that over the next 18 months we are going to see more open access and more collaboration.

In the next decade we will make great strides in uncovering the complex network of gene interactions that govern every major brain disease and will create effective therapies through traditional drug discovery or new methods for modifying gene activity. Just as the use of cardiac pacemakers or artificial knees is common today, a new generation of implantable pacemakers for the brain will be widely used to treat everything from depression to addiction and Parkinson’s disease.

Our increasing knowledge will shed light on how information is processed and stored in the human brain at a molecular level. Even now, scientists are already mimicking the brain’s information-processing capabilities to create a new generation of computer processes. We are going to get far better at this as our understanding of the brain improves.

Private philanthropy will continue to grow and help to accelerate scientific discovery. I believe we are nearing a tipping-point in brain research where the discoveries, treatments and cures will come more quickly than the questions. Private dollars, combined with broader adoption of open collaboration and data-sharing models, will help push us over the top. Success will follow.

Posted in science, neuroscience, collective intelligence, social networks | No Comments »