/ News
The Surprising Thing Exercise Can Do For Your Brain
Why do some people love working out, while others loathe it? If rats are any indication, the will to be active is at least partly genetic, according to a 2013 University of Missouri finding. And according to new research published online in theJournal of Physiology, those rats with a genetic predisposition toward being active are also more mentally mature than rats bred to be lazier.
Exercise geneticist Frank Booth, Ph.D., of the University of Missouri, is part of the research group that published both findings.
"What we're finding is that physical activity is linked to the maturing of neural networks in the brain," said Booth to The Huffington Post. There are at least two possible explanations for this: Either the genes that encourage physical activity also cause the brain to grow, or exercise itself helps to develop those neural pathways in young, pliable brains.
Booth's team took dozens of rats and identified the 26 best runners and the 26 worst runners. They bred the active rats with each other and the lazy rats (he called them "couch potato rats") with each other. After 10 generations of repeating this breeding process, the rats who were descended from the exercise-prone line chose to run 10 times more than the couch potato descendants.
Then, he examined the brains of the runner rats and lazy rats and found that the runner rats had more mature neuron cells in them, which means the neural pathways in their brains developed more quickly than the lazy rats.
Other recent genetic studies show that people may be genetically predisposed toprocrastinate, be more anxious, be obese and even hate cilantro.
But, like those other genetic predispositions, laziness genes don't have to be destiny. For example, Booth notes that rats born from "couch potato" rat parents were actually able to stave off their genetic destiny when he gave them a running wheel very early in life.
"Most complex behaviors are never determined 100 percent by genetics or 100 percent by environment," said Booth. "How the brain is used may make pathways in the brain that might be more fixed for life." Additionally, exercise has also been shown to change one's DNA by altering the expression of genes.
Booth notes that more research is needed, but he is excited about the implications his research could have on encouraging more adults to have active lifestyles. Namely: Start 'em young.
"If we keep kids active instead of letting them sit in front of a computer, would that have an effect on adult health?" Booth mused.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/exercise-mental-developme_n_5168774.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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