WIRED's weekly round-up of developments in brain science.
Star Trek promised us teleportation as convenient as an Uber motorcycle. Many have tried, but none have quite succeeded in making it happen. What we do know, however, thanks to research from the University of California, Davis, is how the brain might handle being beamed from one location to another.
In a study published in Neuron, a team from the university measured neural response to a virtual teleportation. Patients, all of whom suffered from a severe form of epilepsy, were monitored by electrodes as they navigated a virtual environment. While most of the environment was pretty banal -- it took place largely on a nondescript street -- the volunteers virtual avatars were also navigated inside a teleporter, which beamed them to a different, but known, location in the map. During the teleportation sequence, the screen went black.
Researchers found that brain oscillations were not interrupted during this sequence, but did change rhythm depending on how far they travelled during the teleportation. This, they say, shows that "oscillations are driven entirely by memory and learning processes in the brain and do not depend on external senses." The study only covered virtual teleportation, though, so we still don't know exactly how the brain would respond in a real life teleportation situation. And it's still best to avoid Jeff Goldblum just in case.
Teleportation may be fast, but so is the brain itself. The human mind is able to process information at lightning speed. But why? According to a study from McGill University, in collaboration with the universities of Oxford and Liverpool, it's partly down to proteins.
The study took a look at protein macromolecules, also known as AMPA receptors, which play a part in brain signalling. Using a computational model called molecular dynamics allowed the team to simulate the brain's activity in "very high detail". And apparently, this microscope showed that the "interplay between AMPA receptors and their protein partners is much more complex than previously thought". This could have ramifications for our understanding of brain disorders including autism and Alzheimer's.
Other conditions also cause cognitive functions to slow down. One such disease is HIV, which has a number of associated neurocognitive disorders which affect learning, memory, decision making and motor co-ordination. But this isn't inevitable, say a team from Johns Hopkins University; in fact, the antidepressant paroxetine is actually able to moderately improve many of these symptoms.
A 24 week long study of patients with HIV found that cognitive test scores improved by an average of 0.15 -- compared to a deterioration in score by -0.33 in those who did not take the paroxetine. It's the first time that an SSRI has been shown to improve levels of cognition in people with HIV.
As for the rest of us? We can boost our neurotransmitters another way -- by exercising vigorously. Another team from UC Davis found that vigorous exercise boosts levels of glutamate and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), two neurotransmitters linked to chemical messaging in the brain.
Although the team say more work needs to be done, it could have an impact on the treatment of major depressive disorder -- GABA and glutamate are both depleted during episodes of depression.
We also learned exactly how doctors can tell how conscious you are and were given definitive proof that your friends are happier than you. So get exercising.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
