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Researchers 'Reprogram' Network of Brain Cells with Thin Beam of Light
- notaboutcode 10y ago“I always thought the brain was mostly hard-wired,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Rafael Yuste, a neuroscience professor at Columbia University. “But then I saw the results and said ‘Holy moly, this whole thing is plastic.’ We’re dealing with a plastic computer that’s constantly learning and changing.” Is this quote being taken out of context or do many neuroscience researchers really think the brain is some sort of static thing? Basic life experience would seem to tell me that this isn't the case. I'm assuming they just mean they haven't been able to observe this reprogramming ability, or do they really think the brain is some sort of immutable object?
- kakarot 10y agoWhile there have been monumental breakthroughs in understanding, the core idea of neuroplasticity is nothing new [1], and that quote certainly strikes me as odd. It sounds like what a neuroscientiest would say if he were explaining the concept of neuroplasticity to a toddler. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity#History
- blennon 10y agoIt's hard to tell since there's no context but one way I interpreted it is that he used to think it was mostly only the established synapses were changing. Instead, with this new result, perhaps he sees many more synapses being formed, not just existing synapses changing their strength.
- ivanca 10y agoAs Wikipedia points out neuroplasticity is "an umbrella term that describes lasting change to the brain throughout an individual's life course. " This is about changing active neurons in matter of hours/days, without necessarily being lasting, just induced ones.
- omginternets 10y agoI think his surprise is a question of quantity, not quality.
- blennon 10y agoThis research from Yuste's lab is really refreshing to me and probably more appealing to the HN audience than a lot of other neuroscience research. The main reason is that it focuses on how the brain carries out information processing and tests predictions made by theoretical and mathematical models of neuroscience proposed ages ago, e.g. Hebbian cell assemblies, attractor networks (Grossberg, Amari, Hopfield, et al.). And of course, there's a feedback loop here that further informs these theoretical models. I believe Numenta uses some of these principals in their models.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- jarmitage 10y agoMaybe I'm tired but where is the link to the study? It's their own PR department!
- tweav 10y agoEven after several years of studying molecular biology, my mind is still blown by something like "They injected the mouse with a virus containing light-sensitive proteins engineered to reach specific brain cells." Just think of how many people worked hard (and for how many years!) to make this possible.
- hatmer 10y agoThe military is already using it. https://hatmer.github.io/assets/documents/Document.pdf https://hatmer.github.io/assets/documents/Document.pdf