The neurocomputational paradigm is the predominant model of explaining cognitive functioning of the brain – the generation of subjective qualia comprising a state of awareness, phenomenological experiences, as well as learning and memory. As indicated by the name, the neurocomputational model is based on the theory that the brain is analogous to a computer, and therefore mental activity arises from computational operations of neurons, specifically the synaptic connections among them.
This standard model of cognitive biology has faced significant challenges in constructing a coherent and viable explanation by which consciousness, particularly agents with free will, would arise from computational behavior. Leading some, one of the most notable of which is physicist Dr. Roger Penrose, to posit that some “intrinsic” behavior of neuronal activity is operating beyond a...
When a massive astrophysical object, such as a boson star or black hole, rotates, it can cause the surrounding spacetime to rotate along with it due to the effect of frame dragging. In a new paper, physicists have shown that a particle with just the right properties may stand perfectly still in a rotating spacetime if it occupies a "static orbit"—a ring of points located a critical distance from the center of the rotating spacetime.
The physicists, Lucas G. Collodel, Burkhard Kleihaus, and Jutta Kunz, at the University of Oldenburg in Germany, have published a paper in which they propose the existence of static orbits in rotating spacetimes in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.
"Our work presents with extreme simplicity a long-ignored feature of certain spacetimes that is quite counterintuitive," Collodel told Phys.org. "General relativity has been around for a bit more than a hundred years now and it never ceases to amaze, and exploring...
The human brain has a region of cells responsible for linking sensory cues to actions and behaviors and cataloging the link as a memory. Cells that form these links have been deemed highly stable and fixed.
Now, the findings of a Harvard Medical School (HMS) study conducted in mice challenge that model, revealing that the neurons responsible for such tasks may be less stable, yet more flexible than previously believed.
The results, published Aug. 17 in the journal Cell, cast doubt on the traditional notion that memory formation involves hardwiring information into the brain in a fixed and highly stable pattern.
The researchers say their results point to a critical plasticity in neuronal networks that ensures easier integration of new information. Such plasticity allows neuronal networks to more easily incorporate new learning, eliminating the need...
A big question in science is how life emerged from ostensibly abiotic environments. What demarcates the transition from prebiotic matter to living systems? What environments could have fostered such complex chemical circuitry? Life is supported on three primary pillars: (1) replication – a molecular system capable of encoding information, most importantly its own reproduction; (2) Synthesis – the molecular machinery to read and execute encoded information to assemble new parts and replicate; and (3) Metabolism – the ability to extract energy from the environment to drive far-from equilibrium processes including chemical synthesis of molecular “building blocks”.
A popular explanation for the emergence of the first chemical replicators is known as the ‘RNA world hypothesis’. Ribonucleic acid is a polymer that is capable of encoding information in its nucleic acid sequence, and performing enzymatic catalysis – it...
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Article by William Brown, Biophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists from the University of Birmingham have shown that a small group of cells within the plant embryo operate in a similar way to the human brain.
Such a finding may seem contradictory to the predominant conventional perception of plants, as they are often viewed in the same way inanimate objects are, or at best as living things with extremely limited informational processing capabilities. Of course, this predominant sentiment is highly erroneous, as despite our traditional perceptions regarding plants they are every bit as alive as animals and share many of the same capabilities and characteristics.
This understanding has led some pioneering and visionary scientists to investigate the practically verboten field of plant cognition. Researchers like Dr. Monica Gagliano have documented...