#neuroscience — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #neuroscience, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: August 16, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brains of teens with depression remain on high alert to social rejection
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brains-of-teens-with-depression-remain-on-high-alert-to-social-rejection/
Adolescent girls with major depressive disorder show atypical brain responses when anticipating social rejection, failing to adapt to repeated threats over time. These patterns suggest that depression alters social learning on a neurological level, keeping the brain on high alert in challenging peer interactions. The findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Adolescence is a sensitive period for social and emotional development. During these teenage years, interactions with peers become intensely important. The brain is actively learning how to navigate social environments, categorizing experiences as safe or threatening.
A specific brain structure involved in this process is the amygdala, an almond-shaped cluster of neurons deep within the temporal lobe. The amygdala helps detect emotionally salient information and potential threats in the environment.
When a person is repeatedly exposed to the same emotional stimulus, the amygdala usually adapts and its activation decreases. This process is called habituation. Habituation is a fundamental mechanism of learning that allows the brain to conserve energy when a situation becomes predictable.
In youth who suffer from major depressive disorder, neural responses to social feedback often differ from those of healthy teenagers. Michele Morningstar, a psychologist at Queen’s University, and her colleagues conducted a study to explore how depression influences the brain’s ability to learn from repeated social threats. They focused specifically on whether the amygdala successfully habituates to the anticipation of being rejected by a peer.
The researchers recruited seventy-six girls between the ages of 10 and 17. The sample was divided into three categories based on clinical interviews. Twenty-two participants were diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Thirty participants had a familial risk for the condition, meaning they had a parent with a history of depression, but they had no personal diagnosis. The remaining twenty-four girls served as a low-risk control group, having neither a personal diagnosis nor a family history of depression.
To observe the participants’ brains in action, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technology tracks blood flow in the brain to measure neural activity in real-time. While inside the scanner, the girls participated in a specialized behavioral experiment called the Chatroom Interact task.
Before the scan, the participants were asked to view profiles of other teenagers and select several individuals they would be interested in talking to online. During the scanning session, they were told they were connected to a virtual chatroom with two of these chosen peers. In reality, the peers were simulated profiles controlled by the researchers.
The task required the participants to take turns being chosen for discussions about various teenage topics, such as books, music, or friends. For each round, the virtual peers would supposedly choose someone to talk to. The researchers programmed one virtual peer to act in a “mean” manner, rejecting the participant 67 percent of the time. The other virtual peer was programmed to be “nice,” accepting the participant 67 percent of the time.
The experiment included sixty trials, allowing the participants ample opportunity to learn the behavioral patterns of the two virtual peers. The researchers specifically focused their analysis on the anticipation period of the task, the window of time when the participant was waiting to see the virtual peer’s decision. The team measured how the amygdala responded during these periods to see if brain activity changed as the girls gradually learned which peer was exclusionary.
In the low-risk and at-risk groups, the amygdala showed signs of habituation. As the trials progressed and the mean peer’s behavior became highly predictable, activation in both the left and right sides of the amygdala steadily declined. The brains of these girls learned the pattern and stopped reacting as strongly to the anticipated threat.
The girls diagnosed with major depressive disorder exhibited a different pattern. Their right amygdala showed a flatter response across the trials, failing to habituate to the anticipation of the rejecting peer’s decision. Their brains continued to react as if the social threat was new and unpredictable, maintaining a steady level of high activation.
To test if this failure to habituate was specific to social threats, the team conducted a secondary analysis focusing on the trials involving the nice peer. The amygdala did show habituation when anticipating the friendly peer’s choices. This pattern did not differ across the three groups. The sustained high alert observed in the depressed youth was unique to facing potential rejection.
The researchers also conducted an analysis to examine other brain areas involved in processing threats and rewards, including the anterior insula and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. The anterior insula habituated to the mean peer across all participants, and there were no differences between the depression groups.
The at-risk girls did show higher overall activation in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex compared to the healthy controls. However, the rate of change over time in this region was similar across all groups. The specific failure to adapt to repeated social threats was localized to the right amygdala in the group with an active depression diagnosis.
These patterns suggest that teenagers experiencing depression might struggle to update their expectations based on past social interactions. An amygdala that cannot habituate to social threats could lead to constant emotional exhaustion and heightened vigilance. This might encourage withdrawal from social situations, potentially worsening depressive symptoms over time.
While the results offer a window into adolescent brain development, the sample was restricted to girls. Because the incidence of depression increases dramatically in teenage girls, focusing on this demographic is highly relevant for public health. Still, the results cannot reliably be generalized to other gender identities or to adult populations. The researchers noted that additional studies are needed to determine if these neurological patterns hold true for boys or adults with depression.
The study also relied on implicit learning, measured purely by tracking brain activity. The researchers did not test whether the participants explicitly realized which peer was the rejecting one. Future research could measure whether this neural habituation directly affects how teenagers consciously evaluate their peers or modify their actual behavior in real-world social environments.
Investigating these neural dynamics on a larger scale could reveal how individual differences, such as baseline anxiety, influence social learning. Exploring the connections between the amygdala and other regions might also provide a more comprehensive map of how depression alters the processing of negative social feedback.
The study, “Reduced amygdala habituation to anticipated social rejection in youth with major depressive disorder,” was authored by M. Morningstar, M.N.K. Gravelle, D.P. Dickstein, J.S. Silk, R.E. Dahl, E.E. Nelson, D. Yee, and L.R. Stroud.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brains-of-teens-with-depression-remain-on-high-alert-to-social-rejection/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DepressionInTeens #AmygdalaHabituation #SocialRejection #AdolescentMentalHealth #TeenBrain #MajorDepressiveDisorder #SocialLearning #Neuroscience #GirlsHealth #MentalHealthAwareness
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DATE: August 16, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brains of teens with depression remain on high alert to social rejection
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brains-of-teens-with-depression-remain-on-high-alert-to-social-rejection/
Adolescent girls with major depressive disorder show atypical brain responses when anticipating social rejection, failing to adapt to repeated threats over time. These patterns suggest that depression alters social learning on a neurological level, keeping the brain on high alert in challenging peer interactions. The findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Adolescence is a sensitive period for social and emotional development. During these teenage years, interactions with peers become intensely important. The brain is actively learning how to navigate social environments, categorizing experiences as safe or threatening.
A specific brain structure involved in this process is the amygdala, an almond-shaped cluster of neurons deep within the temporal lobe. The amygdala helps detect emotionally salient information and potential threats in the environment.
When a person is repeatedly exposed to the same emotional stimulus, the amygdala usually adapts and its activation decreases. This process is called habituation. Habituation is a fundamental mechanism of learning that allows the brain to conserve energy when a situation becomes predictable.
In youth who suffer from major depressive disorder, neural responses to social feedback often differ from those of healthy teenagers. Michele Morningstar, a psychologist at Queen’s University, and her colleagues conducted a study to explore how depression influences the brain’s ability to learn from repeated social threats. They focused specifically on whether the amygdala successfully habituates to the anticipation of being rejected by a peer.
The researchers recruited seventy-six girls between the ages of 10 and 17. The sample was divided into three categories based on clinical interviews. Twenty-two participants were diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Thirty participants had a familial risk for the condition, meaning they had a parent with a history of depression, but they had no personal diagnosis. The remaining twenty-four girls served as a low-risk control group, having neither a personal diagnosis nor a family history of depression.
To observe the participants’ brains in action, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technology tracks blood flow in the brain to measure neural activity in real-time. While inside the scanner, the girls participated in a specialized behavioral experiment called the Chatroom Interact task.
Before the scan, the participants were asked to view profiles of other teenagers and select several individuals they would be interested in talking to online. During the scanning session, they were told they were connected to a virtual chatroom with two of these chosen peers. In reality, the peers were simulated profiles controlled by the researchers.
The task required the participants to take turns being chosen for discussions about various teenage topics, such as books, music, or friends. For each round, the virtual peers would supposedly choose someone to talk to. The researchers programmed one virtual peer to act in a “mean” manner, rejecting the participant 67 percent of the time. The other virtual peer was programmed to be “nice,” accepting the participant 67 percent of the time.
The experiment included sixty trials, allowing the participants ample opportunity to learn the behavioral patterns of the two virtual peers. The researchers specifically focused their analysis on the anticipation period of the task, the window of time when the participant was waiting to see the virtual peer’s decision. The team measured how the amygdala responded during these periods to see if brain activity changed as the girls gradually learned which peer was exclusionary.
In the low-risk and at-risk groups, the amygdala showed signs of habituation. As the trials progressed and the mean peer’s behavior became highly predictable, activation in both the left and right sides of the amygdala steadily declined. The brains of these girls learned the pattern and stopped reacting as strongly to the anticipated threat.
The girls diagnosed with major depressive disorder exhibited a different pattern. Their right amygdala showed a flatter response across the trials, failing to habituate to the anticipation of the rejecting peer’s decision. Their brains continued to react as if the social threat was new and unpredictable, maintaining a steady level of high activation.
To test if this failure to habituate was specific to social threats, the team conducted a secondary analysis focusing on the trials involving the nice peer. The amygdala did show habituation when anticipating the friendly peer’s choices. This pattern did not differ across the three groups. The sustained high alert observed in the depressed youth was unique to facing potential rejection.
The researchers also conducted an analysis to examine other brain areas involved in processing threats and rewards, including the anterior insula and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. The anterior insula habituated to the mean peer across all participants, and there were no differences between the depression groups.
The at-risk girls did show higher overall activation in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex compared to the healthy controls. However, the rate of change over time in this region was similar across all groups. The specific failure to adapt to repeated social threats was localized to the right amygdala in the group with an active depression diagnosis.
These patterns suggest that teenagers experiencing depression might struggle to update their expectations based on past social interactions. An amygdala that cannot habituate to social threats could lead to constant emotional exhaustion and heightened vigilance. This might encourage withdrawal from social situations, potentially worsening depressive symptoms over time.
While the results offer a window into adolescent brain development, the sample was restricted to girls. Because the incidence of depression increases dramatically in teenage girls, focusing on this demographic is highly relevant for public health. Still, the results cannot reliably be generalized to other gender identities or to adult populations. The researchers noted that additional studies are needed to determine if these neurological patterns hold true for boys or adults with depression.
The study also relied on implicit learning, measured purely by tracking brain activity. The researchers did not test whether the participants explicitly realized which peer was the rejecting one. Future research could measure whether this neural habituation directly affects how teenagers consciously evaluate their peers or modify their actual behavior in real-world social environments.
Investigating these neural dynamics on a larger scale could reveal how individual differences, such as baseline anxiety, influence social learning. Exploring the connections between the amygdala and other regions might also provide a more comprehensive map of how depression alters the processing of negative social feedback.
The study, “Reduced amygdala habituation to anticipated social rejection in youth with major depressive disorder,” was authored by M. Morningstar, M.N.K. Gravelle, D.P. Dickstein, J.S. Silk, R.E. Dahl, E.E. Nelson, D. Yee, and L.R. Stroud.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brains-of-teens-with-depression-remain-on-high-alert-to-social-rejection/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DepressionInTeens #AmygdalaHabituation #SocialRejection #AdolescentMentalHealth #TeenBrain #MajorDepressiveDisorder #SocialLearning #Neuroscience #GirlsHealth #MentalHealthAwareness
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It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything on the blog and at this point I’m really unsure to what extent I’ll be able to return to it, but not gonna lie, it felt good to finally hit that “Publish” button again.
This time in collaboration with Dr. Ana Dumitru, on identity: what it is, which factors influence it, and why identity changes might or might not be perceived as losses.
https://neurofrontiers.blog/do-you-know-who-you-are/
#psychology #identity #neuroscience #self #change #academia #life #blog
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It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything on the blog and at this point I’m really unsure to what extent I’ll be able to return to it, but not gonna lie, it felt good to finally hit that “Publish” button again.
This time in collaboration with Dr. Ana Dumitru, on identity: what it is, which factors influence it, and why identity changes might or might not be perceived as losses.
https://neurofrontiers.blog/do-you-know-who-you-are/
#psychology #identity #neuroscience #self #change #academia #life #blog
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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/ #neuroscience
A language network in the individualized functional connectomes of 1199 human brains doing arbitrary tasks https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-75745-8
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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/ #neuroscience
A language network in the individualized functional connectomes of 1199 human brains doing arbitrary tasks https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-75745-8
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Optic atrophy-1 (OPA1) is a mitochondrial fusion protein found in hypothalamic MC4R neurons that plays a critical role in regulating appetite and body weight in response to dietary fat intake.
#Neuroscience #CellBiology #Endocrinology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ns08162601.html -
Optic atrophy-1 (OPA1) is a mitochondrial fusion protein found in hypothalamic MC4R neurons that plays a critical role in regulating appetite and body weight in response to dietary fat intake.
#Neuroscience #CellBiology #Endocrinology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/ns08162601.html -
@neuroinformatics What I really like: #datashuttle does not force you to immediately move everything into a single container format. It keeps data discoverable as a structured folder tree, closer to how many neuroscientists actually prefer to organize and inspect their data I think 👍
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@neuroinformatics What I really like: #datashuttle does not force you to immediately move everything into a single container format. It keeps data discoverable as a structured folder tree, closer to how many neuroscientists actually prefer to organize and inspect their data I think 👍
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Awesome work by @neuroinformatics !
#datashuttle is a #Python tool for standardized #DataManagement in experimental #neuroscience. It helps create, validate, and transfer structured project folders at the point of data acquisition, bridging the gap between messy lab-specific folder systems and full standards like #BIDS or #NWB:
📄 https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.09642
🌍 https://datashuttle.neuroinformatics.dev/index.html#OpenScience #ResearchDataManagement #RDM https://mastodon.online/@neuroinformatics/116760272979194344
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Awesome work by @neuroinformatics !
#datashuttle is a #Python tool for standardized #DataManagement in experimental #neuroscience. It helps create, validate, and transfer structured project folders at the point of data acquisition, bridging the gap between messy lab-specific folder systems and full standards like #BIDS or #NWB:
📄 https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.09642
🌍 https://datashuttle.neuroinformatics.dev/index.html#OpenScience #ResearchDataManagement #RDM https://mastodon.online/@neuroinformatics/116760272979194344
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Incoming new e.p.
Neuro+Chancer - sHeFf_pOLy
#newmusic #electronica #pluto #neuroscience #bleep #lofi #scifi -
Incoming new e.p.
Neuro+Chancer - sHeFf_pOLy
#newmusic #electronica #pluto #neuroscience #bleep #lofi #scifi -
DATE: August 16, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists uncover an energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep
URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-an-energy-paradox-in-the-brain-during-rem-sleep/
A recent study published in Communications Biology provides evidence that the brain manages its energy resources in surprisingly different ways depending on whether it is in a deep sleep or a dreaming state. By monitoring live brains, scientists observed that during rapid eye movement sleep, the brain receives a surge of blood and energy nutrients, yet the actual energy levels inside neurons drop. This indicates that the sleeping brain might prioritize complex memory processing or biological protection over maintaining steady energy reserves.
The brain requires a constant supply of energy to process information and maintain basic biological functions. When a neuron fires an electrical signal, it alters the balance of charged ions across its cellular membrane. Restoring this balance requires massive amounts of energy to power specialized molecular pumps. This energy is primarily delivered through the bloodstream in the form of glucose.
Once inside the brain, glucose is taken up directly by neurons or by star-shaped support cells called astrocytes. Astrocytes convert glucose into a molecule called pyruvate, which acts as a stepping stone to produce adenosine triphosphate, commonly known as ATP. ATP is the primary chemical fuel that powers cells. Under normal waking conditions, the supply of these energy substrates usually matches the brain’s activity levels.
During sleep, the brain remains highly active, sorting memories and restoring biological systems. Sleep is broadly divided into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, characterized by deep, slow brain waves, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a state marked by faster brain waves and vivid dreaming. The authors wanted to understand exactly how the brain distributes its limited metabolic resources across these distinct physiological states.
“REM sleep is a paradoxical state: the body is deeply relaxed, but the brain is remarkably active,” explains Ko Matsui, a professor of super-network brain physiology at the Graduate School of Life Sciences at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. “That made us wonder what happens to the brain’s energy system during this unusual state.”
Matsui notes that because REM sleep involves vivid dreaming and intense electrical activity, the team suspected its metabolic demands would reflect that intensity. “With new fluorescence imaging approaches, we were able to observe blood volume and energy-related molecules across large areas of the brain and ask how they change as the brain shifts between non-REM and REM sleep,” Matsui said.
To track these metabolic changes, the researchers observed the brains of 15 live male mice. They used genetically modified animals that expressed fluorescent sensors, allowing the team to visually measure ATP levels inside neurons and pyruvate levels inside astrocytes. The scientists applied a transparent UV-curable resin to the animals’ intact skulls to maintain visibility. This technique avoided invasive surgeries that might disrupt natural blood flow or alter intracranial pressure.
The researchers then placed the animals under wide-field fluorescence microscopes to simultaneously monitor brain blood volume, pyruvate, and ATP. They recorded the animals for several hours as the mice naturally transitioned through different sleep and wake states. Electrical monitors attached to the skull and neck muscles allowed the team to precisely identify when the mice were awake, in NREM sleep, or in REM sleep based on their brain waves and muscle relaxation.
During NREM sleep, the researchers observed a tight coordination between electrical brain activity and energy delivery. Specific electrical patterns, known as theta-band brain waves, reliably predicted changes in brain blood volume about four to five seconds in advance. In this deep sleep phase, blood volume fluctuated in fast waves that swept from the front of the brain to the back in about one second.
By dividing the images of the cortex into a grid, the researchers mapped how different brain regions synchronized their blood flow. During NREM sleep, the blood volume changes were somewhat localized. The cortex partitioned into multiple distinct functional clusters, suggesting an organized system that adjusts local blood flow to anticipate the energetic needs of specific resting brain circuits.
The metabolic environment shifted drastically as the mice transitioned into REM sleep. About 50 seconds before the official onset of REM sleep, brain blood volume began to surge. This large-scale increase originated in the posterior regions of the brain and slowly propagated forward over 15 seconds. During REM sleep, the localized, fast fluctuations diminished, and the brain experienced a massive wave of blood volume that synchronized broad swaths of the cerebral cortex.
Once REM sleep fully commenced, blood volume remained elevated, and the levels of pyruvate in astrocytes increased accordingly. Under normal circumstances, an increase in blood flow and intermediate nutrients like pyruvate would be expected to boost cellular energy. But the researchers found that neuronal ATP levels dropped sharply during REM sleep.
“The brain’s energy system is much more dynamic than simply ‘more blood flow means more energy for neurons,'” Matsui told PsyPost. “During REM sleep, we found what we call an ‘energy paradox’: cerebral blood volume increased and pyruvate increased in astrocytes, yet ATP in neurons decreased.”
Astrocytes belong to a broader category of support cells known as glial cells. As Matsui explained, this disconnect between nutrient delivery and final energy production hints at a highly complex support system. “This tells us that energy supply, energy transfer, energy production, and energy consumption can behave very differently from one another. It also suggests that blood vessels, glial cells, and metabolism may be more actively involved in brain function than we traditionally assumed.”
To verify that this energy drop was unique to REM sleep, the team conducted a separate test on three of the mice, encompassing nine total trials. They used a drug called sodium nitroprusside, a chemical vasodilator, to artificially widen the blood vessels. When this medication was administered, the resulting increase in blood volume was accompanied by expected increases in both astrocytic pyruvate and neuronal ATP.
Reflecting on these differences, Matsui points out that the vasodilator test behaved as anticipated, making the natural sleep findings even more unexpected. “The biggest surprise was that neuronal ATP decreased during REM sleep even though blood volume increased,” Matsui says. “When we artificially increased blood volume with a vasodilator, astrocytic pyruvate increased and neuronal ATP eventually increased as well, which was what we expected. REM sleep behaved very differently.”
The physical movement of the blood also stood out to the researchers. “We were also surprised by how complex the vascular activity itself was: blood-volume changes formed spatial waves, changed direction, and reorganized dramatically depending on the sleep state,” Matsui says.
Interpreting these energy fluctuations requires acknowledging a few biological contexts. The study relies on animal models, and mouse brain metabolism might differ from human brain function. The imaging techniques measure fluorescent signals as proxies for blood volume and chemical concentrations, meaning they do not provide absolute numerical values of molecules in the brain. The researchers also did not directly measure local oxygen levels or other metabolites like lactate, which could offer a more complete picture of the chemical environment.
Matsui cautions against drawing overly simplistic conclusions from the ATP drop. “Our results do not mean that REM sleep is simply an ‘energy-deficient’ state, nor do they show that changes in blood vessels cause the transition into REM sleep,” Matsui says. Instead, the findings reflect a complex internal economy, involving specialized cellular components like mitochondria, which generate most of a cell’s ATP.
“ATP concentration reflects the balance between ATP production and consumption,” Matsui explained. “A decrease could therefore result from increased energy use, altered transfer of metabolic substrates from astrocytes to neurons, changes in mitochondrial ATP production, or some combination of these mechanisms.” He adds, “Our experiments were also performed in mice, so further work will be needed to determine how directly these findings translate to the human brain.”
Moving forward, the research team hopes to untangle exactly why this energy drop occurs. “In the short term, we would like to understand why neuronal ATP falls during REM sleep, including possible changes in astrocyte-to-neuron metabolic transfer and mitochondrial function,” Matsui said. “Our long-term goal is to understand how the brain’s metabolic network interacts with its neuronal information-processing network.”
Matsui emphasized a growing interest in how support systems might dictate brain capabilities. “More broadly, however, we are interested in whether vascular, glial, and metabolic states can actively influence what neuronal circuits are able to do, rather than simply responding to neuronal activity,” Matsui says.
“One message I find particularly exciting is that there may be a great deal of biological information hidden in signals that neuroscience has often treated mainly as supporting signals,” Matsui said. “Blood vessels, astrocytes, and metabolic molecules showed rich spatial and temporal dynamics that could not be predicted simply from neuronal electrical activity.”
This indicates that intelligence and brain function rely on a much wider array of biological players than neurons alone. “We may therefore be seeing an additional layer of brain information processing one created by interactions among neuronal, glial, vascular, and metabolic networks,” Matsui said.
The study, “Energy paradox in REM sleep: balancing supply and consumption in brain metabolism,” was authored by Yusuke Takahashi, Yoko Ikoma, and Ko Matsui.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-an-energy-paradox-in-the-brain-during-rem-sleep/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #REMsleep #EnergyParadox #BrainMetabolism #Neuroscience #GlialCells #Astrocytes #ATP #BloodFlow #DreamingBrain #SleepResearch
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DATE: August 16, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists uncover an energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep
URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-an-energy-paradox-in-the-brain-during-rem-sleep/
A recent study published in Communications Biology provides evidence that the brain manages its energy resources in surprisingly different ways depending on whether it is in a deep sleep or a dreaming state. By monitoring live brains, scientists observed that during rapid eye movement sleep, the brain receives a surge of blood and energy nutrients, yet the actual energy levels inside neurons drop. This indicates that the sleeping brain might prioritize complex memory processing or biological protection over maintaining steady energy reserves.
The brain requires a constant supply of energy to process information and maintain basic biological functions. When a neuron fires an electrical signal, it alters the balance of charged ions across its cellular membrane. Restoring this balance requires massive amounts of energy to power specialized molecular pumps. This energy is primarily delivered through the bloodstream in the form of glucose.
Once inside the brain, glucose is taken up directly by neurons or by star-shaped support cells called astrocytes. Astrocytes convert glucose into a molecule called pyruvate, which acts as a stepping stone to produce adenosine triphosphate, commonly known as ATP. ATP is the primary chemical fuel that powers cells. Under normal waking conditions, the supply of these energy substrates usually matches the brain’s activity levels.
During sleep, the brain remains highly active, sorting memories and restoring biological systems. Sleep is broadly divided into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, characterized by deep, slow brain waves, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a state marked by faster brain waves and vivid dreaming. The authors wanted to understand exactly how the brain distributes its limited metabolic resources across these distinct physiological states.
“REM sleep is a paradoxical state: the body is deeply relaxed, but the brain is remarkably active,” explains Ko Matsui, a professor of super-network brain physiology at the Graduate School of Life Sciences at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. “That made us wonder what happens to the brain’s energy system during this unusual state.”
Matsui notes that because REM sleep involves vivid dreaming and intense electrical activity, the team suspected its metabolic demands would reflect that intensity. “With new fluorescence imaging approaches, we were able to observe blood volume and energy-related molecules across large areas of the brain and ask how they change as the brain shifts between non-REM and REM sleep,” Matsui said.
To track these metabolic changes, the researchers observed the brains of 15 live male mice. They used genetically modified animals that expressed fluorescent sensors, allowing the team to visually measure ATP levels inside neurons and pyruvate levels inside astrocytes. The scientists applied a transparent UV-curable resin to the animals’ intact skulls to maintain visibility. This technique avoided invasive surgeries that might disrupt natural blood flow or alter intracranial pressure.
The researchers then placed the animals under wide-field fluorescence microscopes to simultaneously monitor brain blood volume, pyruvate, and ATP. They recorded the animals for several hours as the mice naturally transitioned through different sleep and wake states. Electrical monitors attached to the skull and neck muscles allowed the team to precisely identify when the mice were awake, in NREM sleep, or in REM sleep based on their brain waves and muscle relaxation.
During NREM sleep, the researchers observed a tight coordination between electrical brain activity and energy delivery. Specific electrical patterns, known as theta-band brain waves, reliably predicted changes in brain blood volume about four to five seconds in advance. In this deep sleep phase, blood volume fluctuated in fast waves that swept from the front of the brain to the back in about one second.
By dividing the images of the cortex into a grid, the researchers mapped how different brain regions synchronized their blood flow. During NREM sleep, the blood volume changes were somewhat localized. The cortex partitioned into multiple distinct functional clusters, suggesting an organized system that adjusts local blood flow to anticipate the energetic needs of specific resting brain circuits.
The metabolic environment shifted drastically as the mice transitioned into REM sleep. About 50 seconds before the official onset of REM sleep, brain blood volume began to surge. This large-scale increase originated in the posterior regions of the brain and slowly propagated forward over 15 seconds. During REM sleep, the localized, fast fluctuations diminished, and the brain experienced a massive wave of blood volume that synchronized broad swaths of the cerebral cortex.
Once REM sleep fully commenced, blood volume remained elevated, and the levels of pyruvate in astrocytes increased accordingly. Under normal circumstances, an increase in blood flow and intermediate nutrients like pyruvate would be expected to boost cellular energy. But the researchers found that neuronal ATP levels dropped sharply during REM sleep.
“The brain’s energy system is much more dynamic than simply ‘more blood flow means more energy for neurons,'” Matsui told PsyPost. “During REM sleep, we found what we call an ‘energy paradox’: cerebral blood volume increased and pyruvate increased in astrocytes, yet ATP in neurons decreased.”
Astrocytes belong to a broader category of support cells known as glial cells. As Matsui explained, this disconnect between nutrient delivery and final energy production hints at a highly complex support system. “This tells us that energy supply, energy transfer, energy production, and energy consumption can behave very differently from one another. It also suggests that blood vessels, glial cells, and metabolism may be more actively involved in brain function than we traditionally assumed.”
To verify that this energy drop was unique to REM sleep, the team conducted a separate test on three of the mice, encompassing nine total trials. They used a drug called sodium nitroprusside, a chemical vasodilator, to artificially widen the blood vessels. When this medication was administered, the resulting increase in blood volume was accompanied by expected increases in both astrocytic pyruvate and neuronal ATP.
Reflecting on these differences, Matsui points out that the vasodilator test behaved as anticipated, making the natural sleep findings even more unexpected. “The biggest surprise was that neuronal ATP decreased during REM sleep even though blood volume increased,” Matsui says. “When we artificially increased blood volume with a vasodilator, astrocytic pyruvate increased and neuronal ATP eventually increased as well, which was what we expected. REM sleep behaved very differently.”
The physical movement of the blood also stood out to the researchers. “We were also surprised by how complex the vascular activity itself was: blood-volume changes formed spatial waves, changed direction, and reorganized dramatically depending on the sleep state,” Matsui says.
Interpreting these energy fluctuations requires acknowledging a few biological contexts. The study relies on animal models, and mouse brain metabolism might differ from human brain function. The imaging techniques measure fluorescent signals as proxies for blood volume and chemical concentrations, meaning they do not provide absolute numerical values of molecules in the brain. The researchers also did not directly measure local oxygen levels or other metabolites like lactate, which could offer a more complete picture of the chemical environment.
Matsui cautions against drawing overly simplistic conclusions from the ATP drop. “Our results do not mean that REM sleep is simply an ‘energy-deficient’ state, nor do they show that changes in blood vessels cause the transition into REM sleep,” Matsui says. Instead, the findings reflect a complex internal economy, involving specialized cellular components like mitochondria, which generate most of a cell’s ATP.
“ATP concentration reflects the balance between ATP production and consumption,” Matsui explained. “A decrease could therefore result from increased energy use, altered transfer of metabolic substrates from astrocytes to neurons, changes in mitochondrial ATP production, or some combination of these mechanisms.” He adds, “Our experiments were also performed in mice, so further work will be needed to determine how directly these findings translate to the human brain.”
Moving forward, the research team hopes to untangle exactly why this energy drop occurs. “In the short term, we would like to understand why neuronal ATP falls during REM sleep, including possible changes in astrocyte-to-neuron metabolic transfer and mitochondrial function,” Matsui said. “Our long-term goal is to understand how the brain’s metabolic network interacts with its neuronal information-processing network.”
Matsui emphasized a growing interest in how support systems might dictate brain capabilities. “More broadly, however, we are interested in whether vascular, glial, and metabolic states can actively influence what neuronal circuits are able to do, rather than simply responding to neuronal activity,” Matsui says.
“One message I find particularly exciting is that there may be a great deal of biological information hidden in signals that neuroscience has often treated mainly as supporting signals,” Matsui said. “Blood vessels, astrocytes, and metabolic molecules showed rich spatial and temporal dynamics that could not be predicted simply from neuronal electrical activity.”
This indicates that intelligence and brain function rely on a much wider array of biological players than neurons alone. “We may therefore be seeing an additional layer of brain information processing one created by interactions among neuronal, glial, vascular, and metabolic networks,” Matsui said.
The study, “Energy paradox in REM sleep: balancing supply and consumption in brain metabolism,” was authored by Yusuke Takahashi, Yoko Ikoma, and Ko Matsui.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-an-energy-paradox-in-the-brain-during-rem-sleep/
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #REMsleep #EnergyParadox #BrainMetabolism #Neuroscience #GlialCells #Astrocytes #ATP #BloodFlow #DreamingBrain #SleepResearch
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DATE: August 16, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychedelic drug calms hyperactive brain cells linked to chronic pain
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-single-dose-of-psilocybin-relieves-chronic-pain-and-depression-in-mice/
A single dose of the psychedelic compound psilocybin can rapidly relieve both chronic pain and the symptoms of anxiety and depression that often accompany it. The drug achieves this dual effect by calming hyperactive brain circuits associated with these linked conditions. The research was published in Nature Neuroscience.
Chronic pain rarely exists in isolation. People who suffer from persistent physical pain often develop mood disorders like anxiety and depression. These conditions can feed into one another, making the pain feel worse and making the depression harder to treat. Standard medical treatments usually address the physical pain and the mood symptoms separately, often with limited success.
Researchers suspect these conditions share an underlying physical root in the brain. Brain scans of individuals with chronic pain and depression often show abnormal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. This region of the brain helps process emotions and the unpleasantness of pain.
Psilocybin is the primary psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms. Once ingested, the body converts it into an active molecule called psilocin. Psilocin binds to serotonin receptors in the brain, which are the same receptors targeted by many standard antidepressant medications.
Recent clinical trials have shown that psilocybin can provide lasting relief for severe depression. Separate observations suggest it might also help with chronic nerve pain. University of Pennsylvania researchers Joseph Cichon, Ahmad Hammo, and Stephen Wisser wanted to see if a single treatment could target the shared brain circuits of both conditions at the same time.
To study this, the research team first established chronic pain in laboratory mice using two different methods. One group of mice received a minor surgical nerve injury to simulate long-lasting nerve pain. Another group received a specialized injection in their paw to create persistent inflammatory pain.
After a few weeks, both groups of mice displayed severe sensitivity to a light physical touch. They also began to show behaviors that researchers use to gauge anxiety and depression in rodents. For example, they spent less time exploring open, exposed areas, and they showed less motivation to keep moving when placed in water.
The researchers then gave the mice a single systemic injection of psilocybin. The next day, the mice showed a complete reversal of their physical pain sensitivity. Their mood-related behaviors also returned to normal baseline levels. This restorative effect lasted for at least twelve days, which was the end of the testing period.
To verify that the psilocybin was actually relieving the negative experience of pain, the team used a behavioral test involving two connected rooms. The mice were given psilocybin in one specific room and a plain saline solution in the other.
When given the freedom to choose, the mice with chronic pain strongly preferred to spend time in the room where they had received psilocybin. Healthy mice without pain did not show this preference. This indicates that the mice associated the environment with the relief of their discomfort.
Pain signals travel from the body, up the spinal cord, and into the brain. The researchers needed to find out exactly where the drug was acting to provide relief. They injected psilocin directly into the lower spinal cords of a group of mice with nerve pain. This local spinal treatment did not improve the animals’ pain or mood behaviors.
Next, they injected the psilocin directly into the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain. This direct brain application rapidly reversed both the physical pain sensitivity and the signs of depressed mood. This result suggests that the drug works by altering networks in the higher brain centers rather than blocking pain signals at the spinal level.
To observe this brain activity in real time, the team used a technique called two-photon calcium imaging. This allowed them to look at individual brain cells in the anterior cingulate cortex of awake mice.
They found that mice with chronic pain had abnormally high levels of spontaneous cellular activity in this brain region. When the researchers applied psilocin to the area, it rapidly suppressed this erratic hyperactivity. The overactive cells quieted down to match the activity levels seen in healthy mice.
Psilocin interacts with several types of serotonin receptors, specifically ones known as 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A. To figure out which receptors were responsible for the healing effect, the team gave the mice drugs that block these specific receptors before administering the psilocybin.
Blocking either the 5-HT2A receptor or the 5-HT1A receptor completely stopped the psilocybin from working. The mice remained in pain and continued to show depressed behaviors. This demonstrates that psilocybin requires access to both of these serotonin receptor types simultaneously to initiate its healing effects.
In pharmacology, a full agonist is a drug that turns a receptor on completely. A partial agonist, like psilocin, only turns it on partially. The researchers tested what would happen if they used different drugs to fully activate the 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors in the mice.
Activating these receptors fully, even at the same time, failed to replicate the broad therapeutic effects of psilocybin. The mice did not experience the same comprehensive relief from pain and mood issues. The researchers suspect that the partial activation provided by psilocin creates a specific, balanced modulation of brain cells that full activation cannot achieve.
While these animal studies offer a detailed look at brain circuitry, mice are not humans. Brain structures and the subjective experience of pain differ between species. It is not yet known if the specific dosage that provided relief in mice will translate safely and effectively to human patients.
The researchers tracked the mice for twelve days after the single dose. It remains unseen exactly how long the pain relief might last beyond that window.
Future studies will need to explore how this brief chemical intervention translates into long-term physical changes in the brain. The authors suggest that calming the hyperactive brain cells might allow the brain to physically rewire itself, breaking the cycle of chronic pain and depression over time.
The study, “Single-dose psilocybin rapidly and sustainably relieves allodynia and anxiodepressive-like behaviors in mouse models of chronic pain,” was authored by Ahmad Hammo, Stephen Wisser, and Joseph Cichon.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-single-dose-of-psilocybin-relieves-chronic-pain-and-depression-in-mice/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #psilocybin #chronicpain #anxiodepressive #serotoninreceptors #5HT2A #5HT1A #neuroscience #NatureNeuroscience #painrelief #psychedelictherapy
-
DATE: August 16, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychedelic drug calms hyperactive brain cells linked to chronic pain
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-single-dose-of-psilocybin-relieves-chronic-pain-and-depression-in-mice/
A single dose of the psychedelic compound psilocybin can rapidly relieve both chronic pain and the symptoms of anxiety and depression that often accompany it. The drug achieves this dual effect by calming hyperactive brain circuits associated with these linked conditions. The research was published in Nature Neuroscience.
Chronic pain rarely exists in isolation. People who suffer from persistent physical pain often develop mood disorders like anxiety and depression. These conditions can feed into one another, making the pain feel worse and making the depression harder to treat. Standard medical treatments usually address the physical pain and the mood symptoms separately, often with limited success.
Researchers suspect these conditions share an underlying physical root in the brain. Brain scans of individuals with chronic pain and depression often show abnormal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. This region of the brain helps process emotions and the unpleasantness of pain.
Psilocybin is the primary psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms. Once ingested, the body converts it into an active molecule called psilocin. Psilocin binds to serotonin receptors in the brain, which are the same receptors targeted by many standard antidepressant medications.
Recent clinical trials have shown that psilocybin can provide lasting relief for severe depression. Separate observations suggest it might also help with chronic nerve pain. University of Pennsylvania researchers Joseph Cichon, Ahmad Hammo, and Stephen Wisser wanted to see if a single treatment could target the shared brain circuits of both conditions at the same time.
To study this, the research team first established chronic pain in laboratory mice using two different methods. One group of mice received a minor surgical nerve injury to simulate long-lasting nerve pain. Another group received a specialized injection in their paw to create persistent inflammatory pain.
After a few weeks, both groups of mice displayed severe sensitivity to a light physical touch. They also began to show behaviors that researchers use to gauge anxiety and depression in rodents. For example, they spent less time exploring open, exposed areas, and they showed less motivation to keep moving when placed in water.
The researchers then gave the mice a single systemic injection of psilocybin. The next day, the mice showed a complete reversal of their physical pain sensitivity. Their mood-related behaviors also returned to normal baseline levels. This restorative effect lasted for at least twelve days, which was the end of the testing period.
To verify that the psilocybin was actually relieving the negative experience of pain, the team used a behavioral test involving two connected rooms. The mice were given psilocybin in one specific room and a plain saline solution in the other.
When given the freedom to choose, the mice with chronic pain strongly preferred to spend time in the room where they had received psilocybin. Healthy mice without pain did not show this preference. This indicates that the mice associated the environment with the relief of their discomfort.
Pain signals travel from the body, up the spinal cord, and into the brain. The researchers needed to find out exactly where the drug was acting to provide relief. They injected psilocin directly into the lower spinal cords of a group of mice with nerve pain. This local spinal treatment did not improve the animals’ pain or mood behaviors.
Next, they injected the psilocin directly into the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain. This direct brain application rapidly reversed both the physical pain sensitivity and the signs of depressed mood. This result suggests that the drug works by altering networks in the higher brain centers rather than blocking pain signals at the spinal level.
To observe this brain activity in real time, the team used a technique called two-photon calcium imaging. This allowed them to look at individual brain cells in the anterior cingulate cortex of awake mice.
They found that mice with chronic pain had abnormally high levels of spontaneous cellular activity in this brain region. When the researchers applied psilocin to the area, it rapidly suppressed this erratic hyperactivity. The overactive cells quieted down to match the activity levels seen in healthy mice.
Psilocin interacts with several types of serotonin receptors, specifically ones known as 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A. To figure out which receptors were responsible for the healing effect, the team gave the mice drugs that block these specific receptors before administering the psilocybin.
Blocking either the 5-HT2A receptor or the 5-HT1A receptor completely stopped the psilocybin from working. The mice remained in pain and continued to show depressed behaviors. This demonstrates that psilocybin requires access to both of these serotonin receptor types simultaneously to initiate its healing effects.
In pharmacology, a full agonist is a drug that turns a receptor on completely. A partial agonist, like psilocin, only turns it on partially. The researchers tested what would happen if they used different drugs to fully activate the 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors in the mice.
Activating these receptors fully, even at the same time, failed to replicate the broad therapeutic effects of psilocybin. The mice did not experience the same comprehensive relief from pain and mood issues. The researchers suspect that the partial activation provided by psilocin creates a specific, balanced modulation of brain cells that full activation cannot achieve.
While these animal studies offer a detailed look at brain circuitry, mice are not humans. Brain structures and the subjective experience of pain differ between species. It is not yet known if the specific dosage that provided relief in mice will translate safely and effectively to human patients.
The researchers tracked the mice for twelve days after the single dose. It remains unseen exactly how long the pain relief might last beyond that window.
Future studies will need to explore how this brief chemical intervention translates into long-term physical changes in the brain. The authors suggest that calming the hyperactive brain cells might allow the brain to physically rewire itself, breaking the cycle of chronic pain and depression over time.
The study, “Single-dose psilocybin rapidly and sustainably relieves allodynia and anxiodepressive-like behaviors in mouse models of chronic pain,” was authored by Ahmad Hammo, Stephen Wisser, and Joseph Cichon.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-single-dose-of-psilocybin-relieves-chronic-pain-and-depression-in-mice/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #psilocybin #chronicpain #anxiodepressive #serotoninreceptors #5HT2A #5HT1A #neuroscience #NatureNeuroscience #painrelief #psychedelictherapy
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Why Do We Feel Déjà Vu? The Science Behind the Strange Feeling
Why does a new moment sometimes feel strangely familiar? Discover what science says about déjà vu, memory, perception, and how the brain may create this mysterious feeling.https://curiositysphereblog.wordpress.com/2026/08/16/why-do-we-feel-deja-vu/
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Why Do We Feel Déjà Vu? The Science Behind the Strange Feeling
Why does a new moment sometimes feel strangely familiar? Discover what science says about déjà vu, memory, perception, and how the brain may create this mysterious feeling.https://curiositysphereblog.wordpress.com/2026/08/16/why-do-we-feel-deja-vu/
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We associate some hormones with stress because they are common in those situations. But some of them also have other functions. E.g., CRH, which seems to help control how neurons mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation.
Link: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)01245-8
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We associate some hormones with stress because they are common in those situations. But some of them also have other functions. E.g., CRH, which seems to help control how neurons mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation.
Link: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)01245-8
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FRANKENSTEIN ON A CHIP 💎
HAVE WE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH?I watched a creepy video this morning:
We're Not Ready for Biocomputing
https://youtu.be/uKhsbQcFVwQ?si=ByqFGsi-gpr4qw64Researchers at Cortical Labs have built a biological computing system using around 200,000 living human neurons connected to electrodes.
The neurons receive signals, respond to feedback, and contribute to controlling a computer game. They demonstrated it with Doom.
There is currently no evidence that these neurons are conscious or suffering.
The video pushes that idea further than the science supports. Much of the Doom system is ordinary computing, with the neurons contributing a smaller but real part.
But I kept thinking about Frankenstein.
The curse of Frankenstein was not simply that Victor created something new.
It was that he created something and then failed to take responsibility for what he had created.
That seems rather relevant.
Researchers are already working with increasingly sophisticated human neural tissue, including three-dimensional brain organoids.
So perhaps we need one simple principle now:
LIVING HUMAN NEURAL TISSUE SHOULD NOT LOSE ETHICAL CONSIDERATION SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS OUTSIDE A HUMAN BODY.
That does not mean a dish of neurons is a person.
It does not mean these neurons are suffering.
It means we should not wait until something can clearly tell us that it suffers before deciding we have obligations toward it.
Inside a skull, living human brain tissue is treated with extraordinary care.
Put similar tissue on a chip, call it “computing substrate”, and our responsibility should not simply disappear.
These systems are still relatively simple.
But the whole direction of biocomputing is toward systems that are more organised, more adaptive and more complex.
That is why the ethics need sorting out before we get there.
Frankenstein’s mistake was not curiosity.
It was creating first and asking what he owed his creation afterwards.
We have already started creating.
Perhaps this time we should ask the question early:
AT WHAT POINT DO WE OWE THE THING WE HAVE GROWN SOME CONSIDERATION?
I would rather we answer that before we build something we can no longer confidently say has no awareness.
@3goodthings @DigitalCoup @meditation @economics_that_works
#Biocomputing #Neuroscience #Bioethics #BrainOrganoids #Frankenstein
-
FRANKENSTEIN ON A CHIP 💎
HAVE WE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH?I watched a creepy video this morning:
We're Not Ready for Biocomputing
https://youtu.be/uKhsbQcFVwQ?si=ByqFGsi-gpr4qw64Researchers at Cortical Labs have built a biological computing system using around 200,000 living human neurons connected to electrodes.
The neurons receive signals, respond to feedback, and contribute to controlling a computer game. They demonstrated it with Doom.
There is currently no evidence that these neurons are conscious or suffering.
The video pushes that idea further than the science supports. Much of the Doom system is ordinary computing, with the neurons contributing a smaller but real part.
But I kept thinking about Frankenstein.
The curse of Frankenstein was not simply that Victor created something new.
It was that he created something and then failed to take responsibility for what he had created.
That seems rather relevant.
Researchers are already working with increasingly sophisticated human neural tissue, including three-dimensional brain organoids.
So perhaps we need one simple principle now:
LIVING HUMAN NEURAL TISSUE SHOULD NOT LOSE ETHICAL CONSIDERATION SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS OUTSIDE A HUMAN BODY.
That does not mean a dish of neurons is a person.
It does not mean these neurons are suffering.
It means we should not wait until something can clearly tell us that it suffers before deciding we have obligations toward it.
Inside a skull, living human brain tissue is treated with extraordinary care.
Put similar tissue on a chip, call it “computing substrate”, and our responsibility should not simply disappear.
These systems are still relatively simple.
But the whole direction of biocomputing is toward systems that are more organised, more adaptive and more complex.
That is why the ethics need sorting out before we get there.
Frankenstein’s mistake was not curiosity.
It was creating first and asking what he owed his creation afterwards.
We have already started creating.
Perhaps this time we should ask the question early:
AT WHAT POINT DO WE OWE THE THING WE HAVE GROWN SOME CONSIDERATION?
I would rather we answer that before we build something we can no longer confidently say has no awareness.
@3goodthings @DigitalCoup @meditation @economics_that_works
#Biocomputing #Neuroscience #Bioethics #BrainOrganoids #Frankenstein
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#sciencefiction, #fantasy, & #horror #writer & #audiobooknarrator, #teacher of #biology, #ecology, #genetics & #more.
Other interests include #neuroscience, #entomology, #ornithology, #mindfulness, #meditation, #boardgames, #weightlifting, #volleyball, and #80s pop culture stuff.
-
#sciencefiction, #fantasy, & #horror #writer & #audiobooknarrator, #teacher of #biology, #ecology, #genetics & #more.
Other interests include #neuroscience, #entomology, #ornithology, #mindfulness, #meditation, #boardgames, #weightlifting, #volleyball, and #80s pop culture stuff.
-
👨🔬🤯 "Stunned" neuroscientists discover proteins exist, apparently skipping Biology 101. 🎓 Meanwhile, designer protein therapies strut their stuff, leaving scientists wondering if they should start a fashion line.👗🔬
https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/biotechnology/human-trial-chemogenetic-brain-therapy/104/web/2026/08 #neuroscience #designerproteins #biology101 #proteintherapies #sciencefashion #HackerNews #ngated -
👨🔬🤯 "Stunned" neuroscientists discover proteins exist, apparently skipping Biology 101. 🎓 Meanwhile, designer protein therapies strut their stuff, leaving scientists wondering if they should start a fashion line.👗🔬
https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/biotechnology/human-trial-chemogenetic-brain-therapy/104/web/2026/08 #neuroscience #designerproteins #biology101 #proteintherapies #sciencefashion #HackerNews #ngated -
First human trials of designer protein therapies stun US neuroscientists
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49313097
#HackerNews #designerprotein #humantrials #neuroscience #biotechnology #braintherapy
-
First human trials of designer protein therapies stun US neuroscientists
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49313097
#HackerNews #designerprotein #humantrials #neuroscience #biotechnology #braintherapy
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Full disclosure: I've long been suspicious of psychology and its claims. Sabine Hossenfelder points out how psychology corrupts neuroscience and cognitive science. At least that's my take.
#philosophy #psychology #cognitivescience #neuroscience #agency #substack #blog #essay #fMRI #scepticism #pseudoscience #tarot #ontology #methodology
Post not endorsed by Sabine Hossenfelder, though I appreciate her prompts.
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Full disclosure: I've long been suspicious of psychology and its claims. Sabine Hossenfelder points out how psychology corrupts neuroscience and cognitive science. At least that's my take.
#philosophy #psychology #cognitivescience #neuroscience #agency #substack #blog #essay #fMRI #scepticism #pseudoscience #tarot #ontology #methodology
Post not endorsed by Sabine Hossenfelder, though I appreciate her prompts.
-
CW: healthcare
Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds
A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory.
#health #neuroscience
https://www.livescience.com/health/neuroscience/memory-may-not-work-how-we-thought-study-of-mice-in-artificial-hibernation-finds -
CW: healthcare
Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds
A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory.
#health #neuroscience
https://www.livescience.com/health/neuroscience/memory-may-not-work-how-we-thought-study-of-mice-in-artificial-hibernation-finds -
Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds
A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory.
https://s.faithcollapsing.com/qzvmo#health #neuroscience
-
Memory may not work how we thought, study of mice in artificial hibernation finds
A new study induced artificial hibernation in lab mice and may have revealed something fundamental about the nature of memory.
https://s.faithcollapsing.com/qzvmo#health #neuroscience
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WIRED: Her brain was broken. It was fixed with sound - not a scalpel https://www.wired.com/story/brain-focused-ultrasound/ (archived at https://archive.ph/lJOwD); #tFUS #neuroscience
tFUS is not without unknowns and risks: "Last year, about a month after Erin's procedure, a 44-year-old volunteer in the WVU trial suffered a brain injury in the MRI machine. While researchers were increasing the #ultrasound's intensity, the man suddenly became unresponsive."
"Scans showed that the man suffered tiny hemorrhages in and around his nucleus accumbens."
-
WIRED: Her brain was broken. It was fixed with sound - not a scalpel https://www.wired.com/story/brain-focused-ultrasound/ (archived at https://archive.ph/lJOwD); #tFUS #neuroscience
tFUS is not without unknowns and risks: "Last year, about a month after Erin's procedure, a 44-year-old volunteer in the WVU trial suffered a brain injury in the MRI machine. While researchers were increasing the #ultrasound's intensity, the man suddenly became unresponsive."
"Scans showed that the man suffered tiny hemorrhages in and around his nucleus accumbens."
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Have you ever been anxious because they haven't replied yet? It's an intense and incredibly fascinating microstorm of emotions that is deeply rooted in our history as a species.
https://athinkerinnature.substack.com/p/they-havent-replied-yet
-
Have you ever been anxious because they haven't replied yet? It's an intense and incredibly fascinating microstorm of emotions that is deeply rooted in our history as a species.
https://athinkerinnature.substack.com/p/they-havent-replied-yet
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There seems to be a link between dopamine vs serotonin levels, and apathy. I'm reading study papers and not many have looked into the apathy link except that in Parkingsons increased dopamine reduces apathy.
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Where is the mind? In Buddhism, mind/awareness (citta/viññāṇa) is a basic property of nature, similar to panpsychism. Mind clings to matter & animates it, eventually aggregating into a mind-body (nāmarūpa) complex which fabricates perceptions like space & time.
#buddhism #mind #awareness #consciousness #nature #panpsychism #science #psychology #neuroscience #biology #physics #matter #construction #fabrication #hallucination
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Where is the mind? In Buddhism, mind/awareness (citta/viññāṇa) is a basic property of nature, similar to panpsychism. Mind clings to matter & animates it, eventually aggregating into a mind-body (nāmarūpa) complex which fabricates perceptions like space & time.
#buddhism #mind #awareness #consciousness #nature #panpsychism #science #psychology #neuroscience #biology #physics #matter #construction #fabrication #hallucination
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 07:35AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: A stress hormone may help the brain repair itself
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
A surprising stress-related signal may help the brain repair itself after injury. Researchers found that myelin-producing precursor cells rapidly release the stress hormone CRH near damaged brain tissue, helping control how those cells mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation. The same system also influences brain development and the thickness of myelin later in life. The findings could offer new clues about how early-life stress contributes to psychiatric disorders.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRepair #CRH #Myelin #Neuroscience #BrainInjury #StressHormone #Neuroplasticity #Oligodendrocyte #MentalHealth #Neurodevelopment
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 07:35AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: A stress hormone may help the brain repair itself
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
A surprising stress-related signal may help the brain repair itself after injury. Researchers found that myelin-producing precursor cells rapidly release the stress hormone CRH near damaged brain tissue, helping control how those cells mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation. The same system also influences brain development and the thickness of myelin later in life. The findings could offer new clues about how early-life stress contributes to psychiatric disorders.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRepair #CRH #Myelin #Neuroscience #BrainInjury #StressHormone #Neuroplasticity #Oligodendrocyte #MentalHealth #Neurodevelopment
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 07:35AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEEDTITLE: A stress hormone may help the brain repair itself
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
A surprising stress-related signal may help the brain repair itself after injury. Researchers found that myelin-producing precursor cells rapidly release the stress hormone CRH near damaged brain tissue, helping control how those cells mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation. The same system also influences brain development and the thickness of myelin later in life. The findings could offer new clues about how early-life stress contributes to psychiatric disorders.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRepair #CRH #Myelin #Neurobiology #BrainInjury #NeuralRegeneration #StressHormone #MentalHealthResearch #Neuroscience #EarlyLifeStress
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 07:35AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEEDTITLE: A stress hormone may help the brain repair itself
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
A surprising stress-related signal may help the brain repair itself after injury. Researchers found that myelin-producing precursor cells rapidly release the stress hormone CRH near damaged brain tissue, helping control how those cells mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation. The same system also influences brain development and the thickness of myelin later in life. The findings could offer new clues about how early-life stress contributes to psychiatric disorders.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRepair #CRH #Myelin #Neurobiology #BrainInjury #NeuralRegeneration #StressHormone #MentalHealthResearch #Neuroscience #EarlyLifeStress
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 07:35AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: A stress hormone may help the brain repair itself
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
A surprising stress-related signal may help the brain repair itself after injury. Researchers found that myelin-producing precursor cells rapidly release the stress hormone CRH near damaged brain tissue, helping control how those cells mature and rebuild protective nerve insulation. The same system also influences brain development and the thickness of myelin later in life. The findings could offer new clues about how early-life stress contributes to psychiatric disorders.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011044.htm
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainRepair #CRH #Myelin #Neuroregeneration #BrainInjury #StressHormone #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #Neurodevelopment #ResearchNews
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 09:28AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Immune cells flood into the aging brain, Stanford scientists discover
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011033.htm
Scientists have discovered that the aging human brain may be far less isolated from the rest of the body than once believed. Stanford researchers found that large numbers of immune cells from the blood begin entering the brain as early as middle age, where they can transform into microglia, the brain’s specialized immune cells. The finding overturns a long-standing assumption that these cells remain largely separate from the body’s immune system throughout life.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011033.htm
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AgingBrain #ImmuneCells #Microglia #StanfordResearch #Neuroscience #BrainHealth #Immunology #MiddleAge #Neuroinflammation # BrainBodyConnection
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DATE: August 14, 2026 at 09:28AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Immune cells flood into the aging brain, Stanford scientists discover
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011033.htm
Scientists have discovered that the aging human brain may be far less isolated from the rest of the body than once believed. Stanford researchers found that large numbers of immune cells from the blood begin entering the brain as early as middle age, where they can transform into microglia, the brain’s specialized immune cells. The finding overturns a long-standing assumption that these cells remain largely separate from the body’s immune system throughout life.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011033.htm
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AgingBrain #ImmuneCells #Microglia #StanfordResearch #Neuroscience #BrainHealth #Immunology #MiddleAge #Neuroinflammation # BrainBodyConnection
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 11:45PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Why your brain keeps making the same decisions – even when better options exist
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015218.htm
Why do we keep making the same choices even when better options are available? Researchers found that simply repeating a decision can reshape what we prefer, causing familiar choices to feel better than alternatives. Instead of weighing every option from scratch, the brain often remembers what it chose before and repeats it. That shortcut may help explain many everyday habits and seemingly irrational decisions.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015218.htm
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DecisionMaking #BrainShortcuts #HabitFormation #BehavioralScience #CognitiveBias #DecisionFatigue #PreferenceShift #Neuroscience #RationalVsIrrational #ChoiceArchitecture
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 11:45PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Why your brain keeps making the same decisions – even when better options exist
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015218.htm
Why do we keep making the same choices even when better options are available? Researchers found that simply repeating a decision can reshape what we prefer, causing familiar choices to feel better than alternatives. Instead of weighing every option from scratch, the brain often remembers what it chose before and repeats it. That shortcut may help explain many everyday habits and seemingly irrational decisions.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015218.htm
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DecisionMaking #BrainShortcuts #HabitFormation #BehavioralScience #CognitiveBias #DecisionFatigue #PreferenceShift #Neuroscience #RationalVsIrrational #ChoiceArchitecture
