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Activity of entire central nervous system captured on film for first time
The neural activity of an entire central nervous system has been captured in a fairly complex animal for the first time.
The video footage shows neurons firing in the nervous system of a fruit fly larva,Drosophila melanogaster, as it crawls back and forth.
This video shows the neural activity (yellow/red) throughout the entire central nervous system (grey) of a Drosophila larva as it crawls backwards.
Credit: Keller et al. Nature Communications
Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Virginia, imaged patterns of motor neuron activity in the organism as it crawled backwards and forwards.
The images were captured five times per second for up to an hour, at a resolution high enough to see single neurons firing.
“We are curious to see neural activity as behaviours are being produced,” said Philipp Keller, an author of the study in Nature Communications.
A 2D video showing motor neurons firing (yellow/red) throughout the entire central nervous system (grey) of a Drosophila larva. Credit: Keller et al. Nature Communications
“By imaging different parts of the nervous system at the same time, we can see how behaviours are controlled and then build models of how it all works.”
The study advances on previous work which was limited to large scale imaging of tiny creatures, such as nematode worms, or to parts of more complex animals, such as the brains of zebrafish larvae.
The team measured the neural activity of the millimetre-long larva with a technique called light-sheet microscopy. The procedure illuminates the specimen with laser light from both sides, while twin cameras record images from the front and back. The scientists genetically modified the larva’s neurons to make them fluoresce when they fire.
Light-sheet microscopy produces two views of the specimen, usually its back and belly, which build up to produce high-resolution 3D images. They could help scientists understand how the brain and nerve cord interact to generate behaviour.
The work lays the foundations for further studies in fruit flies and larger organisms by providing a new method to image their entire central nervous systems in real time.
The researchers are now looking at neural activity in adult fly brains, zebrafish and early-stage mouse embryos.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/11/activity-of-entire-central-nervous-system-captured-on-film-for-first-time
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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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