On neurons, lifelong learning, meditation, humility, “empty brain calories” and more

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing 12 fas­ci­nat­ing neu­ro­science find­ings and open questions–and the beau­ti­ful image above. #1. “With this image I want to illus­trate the large advances made in imag­ing meth­ods over the past cen­tu­ry, allow­ing mod­ern neu­ro­sci­en­tists to look at neu­rons in ways that Cajal could have only dreamed of.” –…

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Fast Forward to 2040: How to prepare for the new era in brain enhancement that will change the way we think, work, and heal

Decades from now when our aug­ment­ed brains have enhanced our cog­ni­tive func­tion and trans­formed near­ly every aspect of our lives, many of us will look back and won­der why we didn’t do more to pre­pare for these inevitable changes. Gov­ern­ment lead­ers may grap­ple with the run­away effects of AI and brain enhance­ment on geopol­i­tics. Companies…

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What’s normal? When it comes to the brain, it’s hard to say, and that’s why we need to study global neurodiversity

In a small vil­lage in India—a place so remote it has no elec­tric­i­ty, no telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tem, and no cars or buses—a research work­er pre­pares to place an EEG head­set on a female villager’s head. The woman, who earns $3.75 a day labor­ing in a near­by rice pad­dy and who has nev­er ven­tured out­side her vil­lage, eyes…

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Update: 200 common prescription medications increase depression risk

___ Dear read­er, Time for Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter. It’s been a busy month, once again bring­ing to the fore­front the lim­i­ta­tions of our cur­rent health­care sys­tem and, on the pos­i­tive side, the grow­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to improve Brain Health and Men­tal Health for all, if we pay atten­tion to (and act on) lat­est research, think­ing and tools. New…

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Why the Future of Brain Enhancement and Mental Health is Digital and Pervasive

Why the Future of Brain Enhance­ment and Men­tal Health is Dig­i­tal and Per­va­sive from Sharp­Brains ___ It was a great plea­sure to share lat­est data and insights with a fan­tas­tic com­mu­ni­ty of researchers, engi­neers, inno­va­tors and investors, host­ed by the Impe­r­i­al Col­lege Cen­tre for Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy in Lon­don. Hope you enjoy the slides! Talk descrip­tion: As…

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Reminder: The Future of Mental Health & Brain Enhancement @ London, next Wednesday, May 30th

___ Heads-up: the Impe­r­i­al Col­lege Cen­tre for Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy will host a keynote by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez on Wednes­day, May 30th, titled Why the Future of Brain Enhance­ment & Men­tal Health is Dig­i­tal & Per­va­sive. Descrip­tion: As seen in patent and invest­ment trends, research find­ings and consumer/patient behav­iors, Men­tal Health and Brain Enhance­ment are rapid­ly evolv­ing in transformational…

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