Infants born without a cerebral cortex demonstrate that they still have a variety of conscious experiences.

Alternative splicing of messenger RNA has been shown to be critical for the development of the human brain. The ability to make many new and complex proteins allowed the development of the enormous molecular complexity in different neurons and in different regions. For some reason, in evolution humans developed the ability to use alternative splicing much more than other species. This ability is most prominent in the brain. This post updates the most recent understanding of h

There are 20,000 “genes” but more than 100,000 different proteins. Alternative RNA editing is necessary to form the many different patterns.In the fly, one gene has 38,000 alternative patterns. (picture below)In humans, one gene can have 500 alternative patterns. Alternative RNA splicing in evolution is one of the critical factors in the development of the complexity of human beings Previous posts have shown how the shapes of complex interlocking proteins allow the neuron mac

With each mental event, dramatic structural changes occur inside large numbers of neurons, outside of neurons in the extracellular space, at the synapses between neurons and in glial brain cells. Remarkably, these molecular changes occur instantaneously all over the brain in specific circuits using many different mechanisms (some have been described in previous posts). For each different momentary event, the same neuron can be used in completely different circuits. Signals in

A thought ……. Suddenly, new synapses Learning a fact ……. Suddenly, a new brain cell in the hippocampus…. … Axons are built, axons are pruned. How does the brain know how to do this? How does neuroplasticity work? Learning stimulates new brain cells. Mental events instantly affect changes in dendrites and synapses. The brain noticeably changes shape with attention, meditation, exercise, diet, and habits of life.The active brain does much more. It changes its function when it

The regulation of DNA is fantastically complex with many different layers: changing 3D shapes of the chromatin and loops of DNA; regional differences in nuclear DNA; large numbers of different epigenetic tags on DNA nucleotides and protective protein histone molecules; complex DNA repair mechanisms and alternative messenger RNA splicing; hundreds of thousands of transcription factors; and many different kinds of small and large RNAs that influence every aspect of the process.

As more animals are found to have advanced cognitive ability, it is clear that the human brain is not the model for all advanced abilities. There are animals that have greater capacities; and those with similar capacities can use very different brain structures. Intelligence evolved a number of different ways. Last week 28 studies revealed unprecedented detail about the songbird’s brain. They, for the first time, compared vocal learning similarities in songbirds and humans. T

From recent scientific findings, it is certainly possible that quite unusual talents and experiences could be available to everyone. This post will outline extraordinary talents and experiences that may be available to everyone under certain circumstances. It is a summary and update of a series of four posts on research into sudden changes in capacities for extreme memory, mathematics, art and music; changes in body consciousness, and out of body experiences; psychedelic expe

Previous posts have described the very complex pathways that create membranes to surround the entire cell and to build vital cell compartments and well known organelles. A post noted how different types of fatty membranes are built for each organelle with many different complex shapes. These include mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, the nucleus and many kinds of vesicles. Vesicles are used for transport, to combat invading microbes and to send information such as with neur