TWO BRAINS IN A SINGLE BODY

THE CORPUS CALLOSUM 

LOVE AND THE SWEATY T-SHIRT EXPERIMENT

Can a sweaty t-shirt influence who will become your spouse?

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"Experimental results suggest that humans carry a transmitter and receiver for immunological information that could influence mate choice. We are more attracted to a potential partner whose immunity complex would contribute the most robust balance in our offspring."

Human Chromosome Six carries over 100 MHC genes (Major Histocompatability Complex), the immune systems way of identifying foreign bodies invading our anatomy.) https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/09/science/studies-explore-love-and-the-sweaty-t-shirt.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_08.html

In the first "sweaty T-shirt" experiment, a Swiss zoologist, Claus Wedekind, set up a test of women's sensitivity to male odors. He assembled volunteers, 49 women and 44 men selected for their variety of MHC gene types. He gave the men clean T-shirts to wear for two nights and then return to the scientists. 

In the laboratory, the researchers put each T-shirt in a box equipped with a smelling hole and invited the women volunteers to come in, one at a time, and sniff the boxes. Their task was to sample the odor of seven boxes and describe each odor as to intensity, pleasantness, and sexiness. 

The results were striking. Overall, the women preferred the scents of T-shirts worn by men whose MHC genes were different from their own. 

Beyond Paralysis

 APRIL 2021 Neuralink’s Direct Brain/Machine Interface

Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) had early-onset amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease which over time left him paralyzed. He used the computer program known as “Equalizer” by pressing a switch to select from 3,000 phrases to speak via a speech synthesizer (up to 15 words per minute) until he lost the use of his hand.  In 2005 he learned to control his speaking device using his cheek muscles (about 1 word per minute).

What Hawking needed was a way to link his brain directly to his speech synthesizer. Basically, implanting electrodes into various parts of the human brain and using those signals to interface with computers and other devices.

Which brings us to research into brain-computer interfaces being conducted at CTRL Labs, Mount Sanai Hospital and Synchron, MIT, Neuralink, and University of California, San Francisco.

Click HERE for how implants work.

Click HERE for more on BCI, Brain Computer Interface. 

Now Neuralink is making breakthroughs that promises to improve the lives of those dealing with paralysis.

Each Neuralink implant contains 40 or 96 wires each with 32 separate electrodes. 3,072 electrodes per neuralink.

                             photo credit: Neuralink

Pager is a macaque monkey with 2 neuralink implants, that allow control of the cursor on a computer screen.

Click HERE to read MIT Technology Review article on Neuralink’s Direct Brain/Machine Interface.

The Human Brain and Learning.

If you have not seen Michaelangelo’s painting of the human brain ...

There’s a medical certificate in your doctor’s office proving completion of 7 years of preparation to be your doctor.  You would not fly to London, Tokyo, or Nairobi if you’re pilot was not similarly certified.

Here is a course of training that will make you “certificated” in understanding the development of young human brains if you’re planning to be a parent or a teacher. 

Dr Shankardass specializes in a groundbreaking EEG diagnostic technology developed by Harvard University. This technology records and analyses brain electrical activity in real time, allowing a view of the brain as it performs various functions.  

Click HERE for her website and Ted Talk.

 

Invitation to those involved in education at home or at school.
1. Teachers are invited to do Brain and Learning Research in their classrooms.  Invite  a colleague to come in and observe your class in this Brain and Learning Experiment. Take turns doing the following.  Ask your observer to assess the percentage of students engaged in active learning while the teacher is presenting information: count those who are asking questions, taking notes, diagramming the teachers lecture etc.

10%   20%   30%    40%    50%    60%   70%    80%    90%    100%

The goal is to up this percentage using mindful strategies.

4 simple exercises to strengthen your attention and reduce distractibility... Increase Attention Click HERE.

How new experiences create new Neural Pathways...

Taking care of your brain starts with understanding what's going on inside.  You have 1,450 cubic centimeters of neural tissue (3.3 pounds) inside a well protected "vault".  Let's take a closer look.

Click HERE for the interactive version.

New experiences create new Neural Pathways... which is why I'm taking a new Tai Chi class and learning Japanese, and looking to join a calligraphy class. I plan to start learning how to play the guitar one day soon. New experiences, new learning, new neural pathways!

1. A CHILD STRUGGLING TO LEARN IN AN ALIEN WORLD. . . 2. YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC 3. WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL: NOTES AND NEURONS 4. HOW TO BUILD A BIGGER BRAIN (UCLA study)

1. Imagine, you're in a nightmare on a planet where no one understands you, where people speak words you recognize, but don't make sense, a tossed verbal salad. Now imagine a teacher coming into view with a funny hat in her hands and a question no one has ever asked. Her name: Aditi Shankardass.

Dr Shankardass specializes in a groundbreaking EEG diagnostic technology developed by Harvard University. This technology records and analyses the EEG (brain electrical activity) in real time, allowing them to watch the child's brain as it performs various functions, detect even the slightest abnormalities in these functions, and provide a more accurate and comprehensive clinical, picture of the child's abnormalities. Click HERE for her website and Ted Talk.

2. Your Brain On Music with Bobbie McFerrin. My classroom felt like this. Mr. McFerrin uses music the way we can use brain compatible techniques to maximize learning. Observe the clip then play it back and participate. See him as a teacher, feel your response as a student. Then we'll talk about how to make this happen in the classroom. Clip 3 illuminates how this connects to brain research.

Click HERE to watch Bobby McFerrin demonstrate 

great teaching methods.

3. Imagine Bobbi's brain as he describes how his brain composes music and how he communicates the composition on the fly.

"I like to start someplace that's unfamiliar to me and see where it goes."



4. HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BRAIN. May, 2009. People hire personal trainers to build better bodies, but how do we go about building a better brain? Published in the journal NeuroImage, researchers report that specific regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group of people who did not meditate. Click here for the article:  http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/how-to-build-a-bigger-brain-91273.aspx

Shown above, the right orbito-frontal cortex, is one of the brain areas that researchers reveal are enlarged due to meditation.  While it takes years accomplish this, there are everyday strategies we can employ to optimize learning.  Scroll down this blog for examples of what you can do.

5. Neurotypical, Daniel Tammet is not. Nor are most of the students collected in classrooms across the planet. Each individual child is in the possession of a brain with a breath taking combination of attributes. Failing to incorporate these unique cerebral attributes in their Individual Educational Plan, IEP is tantamount to failing the child's chances of reaching their astronomical potential.