Mid-morning. You heard
Carol's voice loud and clear earlier and you woke straight up, got out of bed
and headed downstairs where she was fixing the cats their breakfast. She had
not called you, and you thought going down the stairs that was not the case,
that you heard her voice 'inside', and auditory illusion from the part of the
brain the 'voices' come from.
0957 hours. Yesterday I read a good
article on the brain from BBC.
**
**
16 February 2013 Last updated at 20:28 ET
Scans reveal intricate brain wiring
By Pallab
Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News, Boston
Scientists are set to release
the first batch of data from a project designed to create the first map of the
human brain.
The project could help shed
light on why some people are naturally scientific, musical or artistic.
Some of the first images were
shown at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston.
I found out how researchers are
developing new brain imaging techniques for the project by having my own brain
scanned.
Scientists at Massachusetts
General Hospital are pushing brain imaging to its limit using a purpose built
scanner. It is one of the most powerful scanners in the world.
The scanner's magnets need 22MW
of electricity - enough to power a nuclear submarine.
The researchers invited me to
have my brain scanned. I was asked if I wanted "the 10-minute job or the
45-minute 'full monty'" which would give one of the most detailed scans of
the brain ever carried out. Only 50 such scans have ever been done.
I went for the full monty.
It was a pleasant experience
enclosed in the scanner's vast twin magnets. Powerful and rapidly changing
magnetic fields were looking to see tiny particles of water travelling along
the larger nerve fibres.
By following the droplets, the
scientists in the adjoining cubicle are able to trace the major connections
within my brain.
Arcs of understanding
The result was a 3D computer
image that revealed the important pathways of my brain in vivid colour. One of
the lead researchers, Professor Van Wedeen, gave me a guided tour of the inside
of my head.
He showed me the connection
that helped me to see and another one that helped me understand speech. There
were twin arcs that processed my emotions and a bundle that connected the left
and right sides of my brain.
Prof Wedeen used visualisation
software that enabled him to fly around and through these pathways - even to
zoom in to see intricate details.
He and his team hope to learn
how the human mind works and what happens when it goes wrong
"We have all these mental
health problems and our method for understanding them has really not changed
for over a hundred years," he said.
"We don't have imaging
methods as we do for the heart to tell what's really going on. Wouldn't it be
fantastic if we could get in there and see these things and give people advice
concerning what their risks are and how we could help them overcome those
problems?"
The brain imaging technology is
being developed for a US-led effort to map the human brain called the Human Connectome Project.
And just as with the Human Genome
Project before it, the data will be publicly released to scientists as the
scans are processed, with the first tranche of data from between 80 and a 100
people to be released in a few weeks' time.
The HCP is a five-year project
funded by the National Institutes of Health. The aim the $40m programme is to
map the entire human neural wiring system by scanning the brains of 1,200
Americans.
Researchers
will also collect genetic and behavioural data from the subjects in order to
build up a complete picture of the factors that influence the human psyche.
The brain's wiring diagram is
not like that of an electronic device which is fixed. It is thought that
changes occur after each experience, and so each person's brain map is
different - an ever changing record of who we are and what we have done.
The HCP will be able to test
the hypothesis that minds differ as connectomes differ, according to Dr Tim
Behrens of Oxford University, UK.
"We're likely to learn a
lot about human behaviour," he told BBC News.
"Some of the connections
between different parts of the brain might be different for people with
different characters and abilities, so for example there's one connection we
already know about in people who like taking risks and (a different one) for
people who like playing it safe.
"So we'll be able to tell
the type of people who like skydiving and who would rather watch TV from their
brain scans.
"It will be an amazing
resource for the neuroscience community to help them in their work to
understand how the brain works," he said.
Prof Steve Petersen, who works
with the HCP at Washington University in St Louis, wants to identify the
different parts of the brain involved with our ability to think about
scientific problems, to concentrate and to hold information in our memory.
"The romance to me is that
we are getting to our humanity," he said.
A close-up view of the centre
of the brain looking back. The large green paths are the “cingulum” bundles,
and connect areas of the frontal lobes that serve executive function with the
hippocampus, which is the centre of memory. The large red bundle going left to
right is a part of the corpus callosum, a huge bundle that connects the left
and right sides of the brain.
From: BBC Science
** **
The
brain wiring is literally shown. Most awesome as are the other photos in this
article. We are on the cusp of learning so many new things about ourselves. It
helps me to imagine how 'Ship' controls everything on board and has a strong
working relationship with the captain, crew and will soon have one with the
Earthlings. 'Ship' understands the physical working of the humanoids and he has
hints of the heartansoulanmind. We are just entering this process. Imagine
twenty-thousand years from now, if we survive that long, how it would be on
Earth and how our species will be from the environs we will have traveled live
or robotically. In some ways this is hard for me to grasp as I think of
'modern' civilization only about three to five thousand years old. (1020)
This is a great part of the 'fun' of this
writing experiment/project/adventure, an "experiprojectiventure", as
the marsupial humanoids might call it. Post. - Amorella
1224
hours. I would like to use modern artwork to describe the pieces of machinery.
Will this work?
Check out the images. Select five. Then
we'll go from there. - Amorella
1236
hours. I cannot find anything useful.
1254
hours. I found stone block images. Some may be useful.
I see nothing for the present. - Amorella
In the hypnotic trance the machines
appeared as washers or dryers. -- -- Okay, I have a load of washer and dryer
images. Amazing.
2207 hours. I have five images. All are boxes.
You are
watching the DVRed primer of "Touch". Show the images as they are and
post. - Amorella
White Boxes
Black Boxes
Blue Box
Metal Boxes
Five Boxes
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