Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
quantamagazine.org
Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
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Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#2Super cool, they added fluorescent proteins that activate when the neurons fire and did it in a Zebrafish which is transparent so they could literally watch the memories forming. Interesting also they wanted to keep the light as low as possible to not scorch the little guys.
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#3I've always wondered if the fluorescent markers are visible to the fish and whether that might change their behaviour during experiments especially if it is a group interaction with other specimens who are not similarly modified.
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#4Super cool, they added fluorescent proteins that activate when the neurons fire and did it in a Zebrafish which is transparent so they could literally watch the memories forming. Interesting also they wanted to keep the light as low as possible to not scorch the little guys.
Are they not like rats where they "sacrifice" them regardless of the testing done?
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#5In fish...
"Contrary to expectation, the synaptic strengths in the pallium remained about the same regardless of whether the fish learned anything. Instead, in the fish that learned, the synapses were pruned from some areas of the pallium — producing an effect “like cutting a bonsai tree,” Fraser said — and replanted in others."
This is a very counter intuitive. So there are existing neural connections (formed somehow previously...) and new memories form by pruning these connections? Crazy
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#6In fish... "Contrary to expectation, the synaptic strengths in the pallium remained about the same regardless of whether the fish learned anything. Instead, in the fish that learned, the synapses were pruned from some areas of the pallium — producing an effect “like cutting a bonsai tree,” Fraser said — and replanted in others." This is a very counter intuitive. So there are existing neural connections (formed someho…
Not crazy, think of how quake levels are made with brushes, the brushes are "filled" solid and you carve out empty space to make paths and structures.
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#7In fish... "Contrary to expectation, the synaptic strengths in the pallium remained about the same regardless of whether the fish learned anything. Instead, in the fish that learned, the synapses were pruned from some areas of the pallium — producing an effect “like cutting a bonsai tree,” Fraser said — and replanted in others." This is a very counter intuitive. So there are existing neural connections (formed someho…
Not crazy, think of how quake levels are made with brushes, the brushes are "filled" solid and you carve out empty space to make paths and structures.
Still crazy that evolution has chosen it.
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#8In fish... "Contrary to expectation, the synaptic strengths in the pallium remained about the same regardless of whether the fish learned anything. Instead, in the fish that learned, the synapses were pruned from some areas of the pallium — producing an effect “like cutting a bonsai tree,” Fraser said — and replanted in others." This is a very counter intuitive. So there are existing neural connections (formed someho…
Not crazy, think of how quake levels are made with brushes, the brushes are "filled" solid and you carve out empty space to make paths and structures.
Crazy nonetheless that evolution has chosen it.
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#9In fish... "Contrary to expectation, the synaptic strengths in the pallium remained about the same regardless of whether the fish learned anything. Instead, in the fish that learned, the synapses were pruned from some areas of the pallium — producing an effect “like cutting a bonsai tree,” Fraser said — and replanted in others." This is a very counter intuitive. So there are existing neural connections (formed someho…
Ok, we've infished the title above. Thanks!
Re: Scientists watch a memory form in the brain of a living fish
#10Super cool, they added fluorescent proteins that activate when the neurons fire and did it in a Zebrafish which is transparent so they could literally watch the memories forming. Interesting also they wanted to keep the light as low as possible to not scorch the little guys.
Are they not like rats where they "sacrifice" them regardless of the testing done?
> Are they not like rats where they "sacrifice" them regardless of the testing done?
The protocols for lab animal euthanasia are incredibly humane. I don't mean to criticize you, but I think perspective can help anyone come to terms with this.
When you think about what nature itself does to capture energy, that's at times incredibly savage and brutal. Gazelle on the Savannah being hunted and eaten alive by lions, rodents in the field being picked off by eagles, wasps laying eggs in live prey, fungi infecting the brains of animals and causing them to be eaten.
Lab research may seem macabre, but it doesn't hold a candle to nature itself. And our lab research seeks an end of human disease and suffering.
Even if we collectively decided that every human must behave in a way that doesn't kill any other life, one day our sun will burn out and all life on this planet will end.