DARPA invests in nonsurgical neurotechnologies for eventual use in healthy human subjects

___ Non­sur­gi­cal Neur­al Inter­faces Could Sig­nif­i­cant­ly Expand Use of Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy (DARPA News): “Over the past two decades, the inter­na­tion­al bio­med­ical research com­mu­ni­ty has demon­strat­ed increas­ing­ly sophis­ti­cat­ed ways to allow a per­son­’s brain to com­mu­ni­cate with a device, allow­ing break­throughs aimed at improv­ing qual­i­ty of life, such as access to com­put­ers and the inter­net, and more…

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Update: Why monitoring Typing Cadence may help detect early Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease

_____ Time for Sharp­Brains’ first eNewslet­ter in 2018, offer­ing a fas­ci­nat­ing sneek peek into the rapid­ly grow­ing toolk­it to mea­sure and improve brain health.  (And don’t miss the fun teas­er at the end!) New think­ing: Brain­no­va­tions Win­ner Jan Samzelius on why mon­i­tor­ing Typ­ing Cadence may help detect ear­ly Parkin­son’s and Alzheimer’s Dis­ease Firms Race to Find…

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With pharma exiting Alzheimer’s research, new hope (and urgency) seen in the combination of brain training and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

___ What does the future hold for the war on Alzheimer’s? (The Globe and Mail): “After spend­ing huge sums on clin­i­cal trails in recent years, the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try has failed to find a drug that can halt the mind-rob­bing dis­ease. And this month, Pfiz­er announced it is end­ing its Alzheimer’s research, although oth­er com­pa­nies haven’t thrown…

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Important insights on the growing home use of tDCS brain stimulation: older-than-expected users, positive self-reported results for treatment of depression but negative for self-enhancement, and a couple areas of concern (severe burns, frequency)

___ At the 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit last month, researcher and sci­ence writer Dr. Anna Wexler dis­cussed some fas­ci­nat­ing insights from her sur­vey of 339 home (or “do-it-your­­self”) users of tDCS (tran­scra­nial direct cur­rent stim­u­la­tion) devices. The sur­vey results have just been pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Cog­ni­tive Enhance­ment (details below), and pro­vide a use­ful win­dow into who…

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How will the Clinicians, Patients and Consumers of the Future ensure appropriate use of brain enhancement methods encompassing lifestyle, supplements, brain training, meditation, bio/ neurofeedback, tDCS and more?

How will the Clin­i­cians, Patients and Con­sumers of the Future ensure appro­pri­ate use of brain enhance­ment meth­ods encom­pass­ing lifestyle, sup­ple­ments, brain train­ing, med­i­ta­tion, bio/ neu­ro­feed­back, tDCS and more? (record­ing requires reg­is­tra­tion; view slid­edeck above or Here) Dr. Eddie Mar­tuc­ci, Co-Founder and CEO of Akili Inter­ac­tive Labs Dr. Anna Wexler, sci­ence writer, film­mak­er and post­doc fel­low at the Depart­ment of Medical…

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Dr. Anna Wexler to discuss the Present and Future of DIY Brain Enhancement at the 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit (December 5–7th)

_____ Proud to con­firm that Dr. Anna Wexler, a sci­ence writer, film­mak­er and post­doc fel­low in advanced bio­med­ical ethics at the Depart­ment of Med­ical Ethics & Health Pol­i­cy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia, will dis­cuss the Present and Future of DIY Brain Enhance­ment (espe­cial­ly brain stim­u­la­tion modal­i­ties such as tDCS) at the upcom­ing 2017 Sharp­Brains Virtual…

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