neurons

Science already knows what is the best “gasoline” to create new neurons: physical exercise

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We have always known that playing sports is good for the heart and also the muscles, but neuroscience is showing us that running shoes are, literally, the best tool to sculpt our brain. This is how I put it on the table the neuroscientist José Luis Trejowhich pointed out that physical exercise acts as a true “gasoline” for neurogenesis in the hippocampus adult to make us more ‘smart’ and also tend less towards depression. Neuron factory. Until a few decades ago, it was believed that you were born with a certain number of neurons and that, from there, they could only be lost. But today we know that this is completely false, since the generation of new neurons has already been demonstrated, and it occurs mainly in a region of the brain that is key to learning, memory and emotions, such as the hippocampus. The exercise. Here the different studies were focused on how this generation of neurons can be enhanced, and moderate aerobic exercise is the main switch to turn on the neuronal factory. How it works. The specific exercise and also extended over time, it raises the BDNF segregationwhich is the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and also the VEGFwhich is vascular endothelial growth factor. Two proteins that act as ‘fertilizer’ in the brain to promote neuronal plasticity and the formation of new blood vessels to nourish all these new cells that appear in the brain. There are results. Studies done in humans themselves measured cerebral blood volume using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and here they could see that there is a real increase in the volume of the hippocampus and there are also improvements in spatial memory and cognition, which is essential from certain ages onwards. And it is no wonder, because there are studies that suggest that constant exercise increases total hippocampal volume, being a first-level strategy against cognitive declineand therefore acts as a shield against Alzheimer’s. Antidepressant. In addition to being a shield against Alzheimer’s, it can also reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression, overcoming the effects of antidepressants in some patients. However, we must have common sense with the ‘dose’ of exercise we do. And a perpetual sedentary lifestyle is toxic, since sitting atrophies all brain capacities, but excess is destructive because extreme intensity training without rest generates a peak of stress in the body that completely cancels out the neurogenic benefits. That is, doing a lot of exercise at maximum capacity can block the creation of new neurons. It is hereditary. But if making new neurons is not enough to join the gym, science suggests that it can be transmitted to children thanks to epigenetics. In 2019, a study published in PNAS demonstrated that paternal exercise increases neurogenesis and mitochondrial activity in offspring, even if the latter are sedentary. But in 2024 went furtherseeing that these neuroplastic effects can be inherited up to two generations later. The dose. In summary, neuroscience suggests that doing 45-60 minutes a day of moderate aerobic activity can bring us great benefits over spending uninterrupted hours in the chair. Without a doubt, memory, mood and hippocampal volume will be truly grateful. Images | Chander R Bhautik Patel In Xataka | Scientists have connected 200,000 human neurons to a chip. And he made them play ‘Doom’

Scientists have connected 200,000 human neurons to a chip. And he made them play ‘Doom’

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If they tell us that human neurons are playing ‘Doom’, the first thing we would think of is science fiction. However, that is exactly what the Australian company Cortical Labs has shown with your CL1 system: about 200,000 live neurons grown on an array of electrodes on a chip, capable of receiving information from the game and responding through electrical patterns. We are not talking about conventional artificial intelligence, but rather biological tissue interacting with software through an interface designed for that purpose. Human neurons and ‘Doom’. The demo isn’t just launching the game and letting something random happen. In the material shared by Cortical Labs, those responsible explain that the system receives signals from the video game environment and generates electrical patterns that translate into the character’s actions. This is a form of learning in which the system modifies its response depending on the result obtained. The key here is not skill, but the ability to adapt, which, according to the company, they are managing to train and mold in real time. How the interaction loop is established. For the experiment to work, it is not enough to display images on a screen. According to CTO David Hogan, an independent developer managed to convert the game’s visual signal into “electrical stimulation patterns” that are applied directly to the cell culture. These stimuli provoke electrical responses in neurons, and certain firing patterns translate into specific actions within ‘Doom’. In this way, the system creates a closed loop in real time in which each decision has an immediate effect on the virtual environment. look back. In 2021, the same company managed to make a system based on more than 800,000 neurons play ‘Pong’an experiment that required years of scientific work and specific training. That precedent laid the foundations for what would later become the CL1, the equipment presented at the Mobile World Congress in 2025 as the world’s first commercial biological computer. As we explained at the time, the system combines neurons grown on silicon with software called biOS, responsible for exchanging electrical information with living tissue. It is advisable to adjust expectations. The system, it should be noted, falls far short of advanced human performance. Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs emphasizes that the experiment is not intended to replicate a miniature brain, and rejects the direct comparison: “Yes, it is alive, and yes, it is biological, but it is actually used as a material that can process information in very special ways that we cannot recreate in silicon.” The emphasis, therefore, is not on skill, but on the type of processing that this biological substrate allows. Starting point. In the video, the team encourages researchers and developers to interact with the CL1 open API. Cortical Labs hopes to address progressively more demanding tasks than a classic video game, although the video itself also recognizes that there is room to fine-tune the feedback of successes and errors. For now, what we have is a proof of concept that shows potential, but whose path will depend on what others manage to build on this platform. Images | Cortical Labs In Xataka | Sam Altman has spent his entire life saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite. And this time it didn’t even take 48 hours.

Hunger and thirst begin in the head and we have found neurons responsible for it

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Hunger and thirst are basic sensations for our annoying subsistence that are. Our body needs to remind us that it needs water and nutrients regularly and evolution has laid the foundations for a more complex mechanism than we might think in principle. So complex, that we are still studying it. Interpret the signal. A new study has found New clues On the way in which our brain interprets the existence of a need to feed and hydrate, and how this need into action becomes. The team was even able to make drinks that were avoided by mice became desired by these thanks to the stimulation of certain neurons. Generalist and specialized. The team managed to identify groups of nerve cells from the tonsil involved in the sensations of hunger and thirst, some of them specialized in one of the functions, others more versatile. This led to the discovery of the first group of “thirst neurons” in the tonsil. “When we activated these neurons, the mice drank more, and when we suppressed their activity, the mice drank less,” indicated in a press release Federica Fermani, who led the study. “We also identified another group of neurons in the same region of the tonsil that generated thirst but also played a role in regulating hunger.” Optogenetics The team resorted to various tools Genetic for the study of the activity, including a so -called optogenetic. This technique allows to activate specific neurons using light -sensitive proteins and a laser capable of accurately reaching the cell. The team He combined this tool With silenced techniques that allowed to “turn off” neurons to study how their absence affects the animal’s behavior. They also resorted to methods focused on the monitoring of individual neurons in different brain regions to, through their connections with other cells, map the functioning of neuronal networks. The details of the methodology and the results of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature Communications. And in humans? As is logical, what we find in mice does not always have its reflection in humans. Despite this, the study responsible for the study indicates that the structure of the amygdala is similar in mice and humans. This implies that the recent findings could help us in understanding how emotions and motivations can influence our eating habits, both in regard to food and in relation to the drink, they explain. Beyond subsistence. The team studied how the work of these neurons shapes our tastes and preferences. Eating and drinking is not only a matter of subsistence but also awakens taste, although this sometimes depends on preferences that we do not fully understand. In its analysis, the team analyzed this connection by offering mice a less desires but stimulating neurons in the central region of its tonsil. They observed that this neuronal stimulation changed the preferences of the animal, which increased its predilection for a beaten before disdained. As explained by those responsible for the study, the work of these neurons can also facilitate the work of understanding why some people feed on less or more. Knowing the work of these neurons could help us avoid health problems derived from these behaviors associated with them. In Xataka | Neuroplasticity: the people who defend that the Internet is changing our brain forever Image | Tukhfatullina Food Photography/Stylist / Lakshmiraman Oza

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