Science, chained to technocracy, in turn the slave of corporate capitalism, leads to madhouse developments, such as growing mini human brains, then worrying about whether or not the brains are conscious (while late term abortions freely take place):
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/mini-human-brains-grown-in-laboratory-could-be-conscious/news-story/667fb687c9bcb8bb50a61a6b79d324cc
“Scientists have picked up human-like electrical activity in lab-grown brains for the first time, paving the way to model neurological conditions and answer fundamental questions on how our grey matter develops. It’s not clear whether the pea-sized brains are conscious: The team behind the breakthrough suspect they’re not because the activity resembles that of preterm babies, but they cannot say for certain, opening up a new ethical dimension to this area of research. So-called “cerebral organoids” derived from adult stem cells have been around for a decade or so but have never previously developed functional neural networks. “If you had asked me five years ago, ‘Would you think that a brain organoid would ever have a sophisticated network able to generate a brain oscillation?’ I would say no,” Alysson Muotri, a biologist at the University of California San Diego, told AFP.”
No good will come from this. Anyway, while on the subject of brains, Physically fit people have stronger brains:
https://www.studyfinds.org/sound-body-sound-mind-physically-fit-people-have-stronger-sharper-brains/
“It’s no secret that exercise can be beneficial from a psychological perspective. A session at the gym or jog around the neighborhood can help us clear our mind, reset our thoughts, and improve our mood. Now, a team of German scientists have discovered that keeping oneself physically fit is also associated with better brain structure and functioning in young adults. The research team believe their findings indicate that if a person can improve their physical fitness, it may lead to improved cognitive ability, including elevated memory retention and superior problem solving. There have been a number of previous studies that concluded exercise is beneficial for the brain, but most of that research failed to account for numerous underlying variables that may have skewed their findings. Examples of such variables include study participants’ body weights, blood glucose levels, age, and education. Furthermore, most of these studies focused on the effect exercise has on mood and behavior, not brain structure and mental functioning. Once researchers decided they wanted to investigate the connection between exercise and brain functioning, they opted to use a publicly accessible database of 1,206 MRI scans. These scans were taken from the Human Connectome Project, a volunteer program in which people contributed their MRIs to a database for the purpose of scientific research. The average volunteer age was 30 years old.
All of the MRI volunteers also underwent some additional testing; each person was asked to walk as far as they could within two minutes, and each distance was recorded. Then, each person also took a series of cognitive tests designed to measure memory, reasoning, sharpness, and judgment. “The great strength of this work is the size of the database. Normally when you are dealing with MRI work, a sample of 30 is pretty good, but the existence of this large MRI database allowed us to eliminate possibly misleading factors, and strengthened the analysis considerably,” comments team leader Dr. Jonathan Repple, of University Hospital Muenster, Germany, in a release. Researchers determined that young, healthy adults who were able to walk the farthest distances within two minutes scored the highest on the cognitive performance tests. It was also noted that the fittest participants displayed better structural integrity of white matter in their brains; white matter helps improve the speed and quality of interconnecting nerves in the brain. “It surprised us to see that even in a young population cognitive performance decreases as fitness levels drops. We knew how this might be important in an elderly population which does not necessarily have good health, but to see this happening in 30-year old’s is surprising. This leads us to believe that a basic level of fitness seems to be a preventable risk factor for brain health,” Dr. Repple continues. Moving forward, the research team want to continue investigating the effects of physical fitness on brain functioning. More specifically, they would like to examine changes in brain structure and performance among people who were unfit but then got themselves into better shape. “This type of study raises an important question. We see that fitter people have better brain health, so we now need to ask whether actually making people fitter will improve their brain health. Finding this out is our next step. There are some trials which point in that direction, but if we can prove this using such a large database, this would be very significant”. Dr. Repple concludes.”
In the brain decline department, major surgery can double the risk of brain decline, but I suppose that is better than dying, which makes the risk of brain decline, absolutely certain!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/08/07/major-surgery-doubles-risk-substantial-brain-decline-study-suggests/g
“Major surgery doubles the chance of experiencing a substantial decline in mental skills, such as reasoning, memory and language ability, a new study suggests. Doctors and scientists have long feared that general anaesthetic, mini-strokes or inflammation may damage the brain during surgery, but there has been little evidence to show a long-term impact. Now a longitudinal study of more than 7,000 British civil servants who were tested between 1997 and 2016 found those who underwent major operations were twice as likely to suffer substantial cognitive decline compared to those who never needed surgery. While around one in 40 people suffered a significant reduction in mental ability during the 19-year follow-up period, the number rose to more than one in 18 for those who had a major operation. Major surgery was also found to age the brain by an average of four months and three days.”
https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l4466
Still, here is some good news for those of us worried about brain drain, for mushrooms have come to our rescue:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-10-eat-mushrooms-twice-a-week-to-prevent-dementia.html
“With ever-increasing numbers of people dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia, people are looking for ways to prevent themselves and their loved ones from having to face these horrific diseases. While traditional, medical treatments have little to offer, there are some natural treatments that have the potential to help protect against cognitive impairment. For instance, consuming more than 300 grams (g) of cooked mushrooms a week can reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to a study by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The researchers defined 300 g as two portions, about three-quarters of a cup each. This serving size is only a guideline, however, as the researchers pointed out that eating smaller portions may still offer benefits in terms of fighting MCI.
According to Assistant Professor Lei Feng, the lead author of the study: “This correlation is surprising and encouraging. It seems that a commonly available single ingredient could have a dramatic effect on cognitive decline.”
In their study, Feng and colleagues cited six mushrooms commonly eaten in Singapore: shiitake, golden, oyster, white button, and dried and canned mushrooms. These mushrooms contain an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory amino acid called ergothioneine (ET), which the body can’t produce on its own.
According to a 2016 study, people with MCI have lower levels of ergothioneine than healthy individuals of the same age. This led researchers to surmise that ET deficiency plays a role in neurodegenerative disorders. They believe that increasing ET intake can help preserve cognitive function.
Moreover, mushrooms contain other bioactive compounds that may reduce the risk of cognitive decline. These substances have the ability to inhibit the production of beta-amyloid and tau proteins, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Other components of mushrooms can also promote the growth of neurons.”
A mushroom a day keeps the neurologists at bay!