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Once considered merely packing peanuts for the brain, new studies suggest that large brain cells called astrocytes supervise the circuits that control brain states like hopelessness, sleep, and hunger. Ingrid Wickelgren reports:

Quanta Magazine

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61,968 views • 5 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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A stroke can destroy brain cells within minutes, often leaving people with long‑term problems in movement, memory, or speech. But scientists may have found a way to help the brain heal itself. In studies of mice, researchers injected stem cells into areas of the brain damaged by stroke. These stem cells began turning into early‑stage brain cells, and many later developed into active neurons that connected with surrounding tissue. The treatment did more than just grow cells.

A stroke can destroy brain cells within minutes, often leaving people with long‑term problems in movement, memory, or speech. But scientists may have found a way to help the brain heal itself. In studies of mice, researchers injected stem cells into areas of the brain damaged by stroke. These stem cells began turning into early‑stage brain cells, and many later developed into active neurons that connected with surrounding tissue. The treatment did more than just grow cells.

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🚨 SCIENTISTS ARE USING AI TO MAP A HIDDEN “CLEANING SYSTEM” INSIDE THE HUMAN BRAIN AND IT COULD CHANGE HOW WE UNDERSTAND SLEEP, AGING, AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE. It’s called the glymphatic system a vast network of fluid channels that flushes toxic waste from the brain while you sleep. For years it was almost impossible to observe in detail. Now AI-powered imaging is revealing it like a living galaxy of microscopic rivers and pathways inside neural tissue. Why this matters: Your brain produces toxic proteins constantly. The glymphatic system is one of its primary waste-clearance mechanisms clearing the very proteins linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases. But here’s the unsettling part: This cleaning system becomes dramatically less efficient with age, poor sleep, stress, and brain injury. Sleep may not just “rest” your mind it may literally wash your brain. The deeper implication is staggering: The brain isn’t just a computer. It’s a dynamic, living network that constantly rebuilds and cleanses itself in real time. The more we map it, the more it looks like an entire universe of connected energy flows inside our skulls. What if some neurological diseases begin when the brain can no longer properly “wash” itself at night? Follow for more frontier neuroscience and future technology.

🚨 SCIENTISTS ARE USING AI TO MAP A HIDDEN “CLEANING SYSTEM” INSIDE THE HUMAN BRAIN AND IT COULD CHANGE HOW WE UNDERSTAND SLEEP, AGING, AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE. It’s called the glymphatic system a vast network of fluid channels that flushes toxic waste from the brain while you sleep. For years it was almost impossible to observe in detail. Now AI-powered imaging is revealing it like a living galaxy of microscopic rivers and pathways inside neural tissue. Why this matters: Your brain produces toxic proteins constantly. The glymphatic system is one of its primary waste-clearance mechanisms clearing the very proteins linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases. But here’s the unsettling part: This cleaning system becomes dramatically less efficient with age, poor sleep, stress, and brain injury. Sleep may not just “rest” your mind it may literally wash your brain. The deeper implication is staggering: The brain isn’t just a computer. It’s a dynamic, living network that constantly rebuilds and cleanses itself in real time. The more we map it, the more it looks like an entire universe of connected energy flows inside our skulls. What if some neurological diseases begin when the brain can no longer properly “wash” itself at night? Follow for more frontier neuroscience and future technology.

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How the eye structurally connects to the brain Visible here is the optic nerve that connects and transmits information from the eye to the brain, and all the muscles around the eye responsible for various rotation and movement

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The Brain Benefits of Bacon.... Selenium protects the brain from inflammation and oxidative stress, halts mental decline & depression. Choline, an essential nutrient vital for brain health, cognitive functioning & crucial for mental acuity. Tyrosine one of 9 essential amino acids found in Bacon that function as the building blocks for the production of brain cells, brain chemicals, neurotransmitters and hormones – all of which impact mood. Tryptophan is one of the key ingredients our bodies uses to create Serotonin, to prevent/eliminate Depression & Anxiety. B Vitamins convert food into energy & form red blood cells. Bacon contains six of the eight B vitamins that are important for brain and energy function. By consuming healthy amounts, bacon can support & boost vital processes such as brain development, memory & learning. Bacon is a great source of protein & fat, B-vitamins, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus & omega-3. Higher intake of dietary Choline reduces the risk of Dementia by 28%. A Ketogenic Animal Based Diet will speed up your brain’s processing & learning speeds, improve your memory, & support overall intelligence, while helping to ward off degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

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THIS IS WHAT YOUR SECOND BRAIN SHOULD LOOK LIKE most people dump notes into obsidian and call it a second brain it’s not a second brain it’s a second drawer karpathy just dropped the pattern that changes this and it’s called the llm wiki every time you add a source ai reads it, extracts key claims, updates every connected note and flags contradictions your obsidian stops being an archive and starts being alive save this and show it to someone still using notion as a second brain full breakdown in the article ↓

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My TDR brain can’t comprehend that this brand new ride is a walk on and half the vehicles are empty 🫠

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this is actually how your brain looks like when you learn a new thing. every time you struggle to learn something new or work on a new skill, your neurons form strong links and weaken the ones you no longer use. so that mental pain of learning, is actually reshaping your brain.

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During evolution fragments of mitochondrial genome have been inserted into the nuclear genome - like viral pieces of DNA! We now find that mito-nuclear DNA transfer happens in the human brain along the lifespan and every few days in cultured cells.

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She’s probably been wearing that mask for almost 6 years, and it’s stopped way too much oxygen from reaching the brain.

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updated 🍪 website is now live. weeks of pixels, chaos, and figma-induced meltdowns later: → scrolling feels like butter → clean aesthetics that slap → seo is actually seo’ing → new products to explore space for brain dumps with case studies and crypto marketing knowledge hub dropping soon.

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Like a stadium full of sports fans doing the wave, neurons coordinate their electrical signals in rhythmic patterns that sweep across the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer. Recent studies in humans and animals have shown these patterns, called traveling waves, can take on complex shapes, among them a rotating spiral that has been observed during deep sleep, memory retrieval, and other brain processes. A new study has now captured the fast-spinning waves spanning whole brains, offering clues to how they’re organized and what they might do. Learn more: News from Science

Like a stadium full of sports fans doing the wave, neurons coordinate their electrical signals in rhythmic patterns that sweep across the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer. Recent studies in humans and animals have shown these patterns, called traveling waves, can take on complex shapes, among them a rotating spiral that has been observed during deep sleep, memory retrieval, and other brain processes. A new study has now captured the fast-spinning waves spanning whole brains, offering clues to how they’re organized and what they might do. Learn more: News from Science

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