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On September 13‚ 1848‚ railroad foreman Phineas Gage suffered one of the most horrific workplace accidents in history when an iron bar punched a hole in his skull‚ obliterating a significant part of his brain. Despite the wound‚ Gage lived for another 12-and-a-half years‚ remaining active and (relatively) normal throughout.For the first time‚ scientists have reconstructed Gage’s face as it appeared at the time of the freak injury. The facial approximation was produced by 3D designer and forensic expert Cícero Moraes‚ who created a digital model based on computed tomography scans of Gage’s skull‚ which had been donated to Harvard Medical School’s Warren Anatomical Museum after his death.The injury suffered by Phineas Gage‚ and his appearance following his recovery.Image credit: Cícero MoraesThe incident occurred as Gage prepared to blow up some rocks during the construction of a railway line in Vermont. At some point‚ the foreman lost his focus and dropped the heavy iron rod that he was using to tamp down the gunpowder.The rod then struck a rock‚ causing a spark which set off the gunpowder. This caused the rod to be fired like a harpoon‚ entering Gage’s skull via the left cheek before exciting at the top of the cranium.Measuring 1.09 meters (3.6 feet) in length and 3.18 centimeters (1.25 inches) in diameter‚ and weighing around 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds)‚ the solid metal projectile eventually landed more than 10 meters (33 feet) behind Gage‚ leaving a trail of blood and brain tissue in its wake.The stricken worker was then transported back to his hotel on an ox cart‚ before apparently climbing the stairs to his room unassisted. The doctor who came to examine him later removed around 28 grams (1 ounce) of mangled brain before bandaging Gage’s skull.Incredibly‚ Gage was back on his feet within a month and later moved to Chile to work as a stable hand. Despite his remarkable physical recovery‚ however‚ friends and colleagues noted that Gage was not the same person after his injury.      For instance‚ he was described as childlike in his intellectual capacity and is reported to have become somewhat unpleasant‚ showing little respect to other people and developing a potty mouth. He eventually died on May 21‚ 1861‚ precisely 12 years‚ six months and eight days after losing part of his brain to an iron rod.During the reconstruction of Gage’s face‚ Moraes confirmed that the majority of the damage appeared to be concentrated around the left frontal lobe of the brain. Noting how this injury altered Gage’s personality‚ brain surgeons later took to deliberately removing parts of the frontal lobe in patients with mental illness or undesirable character traits - a process known as a lobotomy.Unfortunately‚ however‚ many lobotomy patients ended up in far worse condition than Phineas Gage.A description of the facial reconstruction process can be found here.

Scientists have fused human brain tissue to a computer chip‚ creating a mini cyborg in a petri dish that can perform math equations and recognize speech.Dubbed Brainoware‚ the system consists of brain cells artificially grown from human stem cells‚ which have been fostered to develop into a brain-like tissue. This mini-brain organoid is then hooked up to traditional hardware where it acts as a physical reservoir that can capture and remember the information it receives from the computer inputs. The researchers wanted to explore the idea of exploiting the efficiency of the human brain’s architecture to supercharge computational hardware. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has massively increased the demand for computing power‚ but it’s somewhat limited by the energy efficiency and performance of the standard silicon chips."We wanted to ask the question of whether we can leverage the biological neural network within the brain organoid for computing. This is just proof-of-concept to show we can do the job‚" Feng Guo‚ study author and a bioengineer in the Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering at Indiana University‚ told Tech Xplore.To flex the muscles of the hybrid bio-computer‚ the researchers presented it with 240 audio clips of people saying different Japanese vowel sounds. Remarkably‚ the system is capable of learning the different sounds and recognizing them with approximately 78 percent accuracy.It was also tasked to predict a Hénon map‚ a nonlinear dynamic system in mathematics‚ which it did with reasonable accuracy.Bear in mind that this is nowhere near the hyper-intelligent capabilities of conventional AI systems – the threat of sentient Frankenstein biocomputers is currently not on the horizon. Nevertheless‚ for a first-of-its-kind study‚ the results are pretty promising. "This is a first demonstration of using brain organoids [for computing]‚" added Guo. "It's exciting to see the possibilities of organoids for biocomputing in the future.”It holds great potential‚ but it also raises some tricky ethical questions. In an accompanying News &; Views article‚ a trio of researchers not directly affiliated with the study warned that this pioneering study highlights the need to iron out the ethical conundrums of this technology before it really takes off.“In the next few years‚ increasingly complex neural systems that can interact with increasingly complex artificial environments are likely to emerge. As the sophistication of these organoid systems increases‚ it is critical for the community to examine the myriad of neuroethical issues that surround biocomputing systems incorporating human neural tissue‚” they write.“It may be decades before general biocomputing systems can be created‚ but this research is likely to generate foundational insights into the mechanisms of learning‚ neural development‚ and the cognitive implications of neurodegenerative diseases‚" the scientists add.The new study is published in the journal Nature Electronics.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a deep ocean‚ with hydrothermal activity‚ and complex chemistry. These are excellent conditions for life to emerge‚ and researchers have added a bit more hope to the mix. A new analysis suggests that there might be more chemical energy within this distant moon than previously thought.Enceladus releases plumes which were studied by the Cassini spacecraft. Despite Cassini having met a scheduled fiery death in Saturn a few years ago‚ the data is still being analyzed today. And it continues to reveal surprises in terms of possible molecules and how these might have formed in the deep ocean that exists on Enceladus.In this new work‚ researchers announced the detection of several previously undiscovered molecules. Among them‚ there’s hydrogen cyanide. This is not just exciting for murder mystery fans everywhere – the molecule is considered a crucial step in the formation of amino acids‚ the building blocks of proteins.“The discovery of hydrogen cyanide was particularly exciting‚ because it’s the starting point for most theories on the origin of life‚” lead author Jonah Peter‚ a doctoral researcher at Harvard formerly from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)‚ said in a statement. “The more we tried to poke holes in our results by testing alternative models‚ the stronger the evidence became. Eventually‚ it became clear that there is no way to match the plume composition without including hydrogen cyanide.”Previous analysis suggested that the chemical energy available in the ocean was related to the production of methane or methanogenesis. The selection of molecules seen in the plumes is consistent with being oxidized. If this is indeed the case‚ and oxidation is taking place‚ there’s a lot of chemical energy being released.“If methanogenesis is like a small watch battery‚ in terms of energy‚ then our results suggest the ocean of Enceladus might offer something more akin to a car battery‚ capable of providing a large amount of energy to any life that might be present‚” added JPL’s Kevin Hand‚ co-author of the study and principal investigator of the team that got the new results.There is limited data from Cassini on the plumes of Enceladus. Researchers use statistical analysis to try and work out what’s in the plumes without overfitting the data. The new results‚ while promising‚ don’t translate to a certainty for life on Enceladus‚ but might allow us to test in the lab the exact conditions for those molecules to end up in a plume. And they give us insight into whether those conditions are suitable for life.“Our work provides further evidence that Enceladus is host to some of the most important molecules for both creating the building blocks of life and for sustaining that life through metabolic reactions‚” Peter stated. “Not only does Enceladus seem to meet the basic requirements for habitability‚ we now have an idea about how complex biomolecules could form there‚ and what sort of chemical pathways might be involved.”A paper describing the results is published in Nature Astronomy. 

What did early primates munch on to keep themselves nourished? It’s likely that their foods of choice were soft‚ probably including sweet fruits‚ says a new study on their teeth from researchers at the University of Otago‚ New Zealand‚ and Duke University‚ USA.The researchers looked at fossil teeth of anthropoids – an infraorder of primates‚ the name meaning "resembling a human being" – from the Eocene and Oligocene periods‚ ranging from 35 to 29.2 million years old. The fossils were from the Fayum Depression in Egypt‚ close to the Nile‚ from which at least 21 primate genera have been described.“The Fayum fossil record captures the critical moment when our lineage adapted to this drier‚ cooler world‚ apparently fueling themselves with fruit‚” said study author Dr Matthew R. Borths‚ of the Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History at Duke University‚ in a press release sent to IFLScience.The teeth came from five genera: 100 from Aegyptopithecus‚ 72 from Parapithecus‚ 99 from Propliopithecus‚ 82 from Apidium‚ and 68 from Catopithecus.These fossil teeth were examined for chips and caries (aka cavities). “Close attention was paid to the frequency‚ severity‚ and location of dental chips. We were also interested in the presence of dental caries‚ often linked to the consumption of soft fruits in modern primates‚” said lead author Dr Ian Towle‚ of Otago’s Sir John Walsh Research Institute in the Faculty of Dentistry.The researchers hypothesized that either these anthropoids would display chipping much like current primates that feed on hard foods if they had a similarly crunchy diet‚ or would have less chipping and also develop caries if they ate soft‚ sugary fruits. Of the 421 teeth studied‚ only 21 were chipped‚ and most of these fractures were small.A specimen of the species Propliopithecus chirobates‚ with a white arrow pointing to a chip that likely happened while the animal was alive‚ and white stars indicating damage after death.Image courtesy of Ian TowleThree potential caries‚ identified by their texture‚ position‚ and shape‚ were found in two Propliopithecus specimens. This finding hints that this genus had a “potential preference for ripe‚ sugary fruits‚” write the authors in the paper.The authors also say these results imply these primates lived in the trees and didn’t forage on the ground too much‚ explaining that “Extant primates that forage on the ground have an increased likelihood of grit being accidentally ingested‚ leading to higher chipping prevalence.”"Our findings indicate a predominant consumption of soft fruits among early anthropoids. The low prevalence of tooth chipping‚ particularly in comparison to modern anthropoids‚ hints at a preference for soft food sources‚ like ripe‚ sugary fruits‚” said Towle.“These insights into ancient primate diets provide crucial groundwork for understanding the evolutionary trajectories of our primate ancestors.”The study is published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.

Japanese officials have been unable to explain the mass wash of some 1‚200 tons of sardines and mackerel ashore in Hakodate‚ southwest Hokkaido. The incident occurred a week ago‚ but the cause of the strange environmental incident is still unknown. The blowout left a half-mile-long shoreline littered with dead fish‚ and local residents were concerned about the prospect of an incredible stench as the fish began to decompose. Among the theories put forward by local wildlife experts‚ the main ones were two: large schools of fish were fleeing from some kind of marine predator and therefore accidentally ended up in shallow water‚ from where waves washed them ashore‚ and a drop in water temperature. Meanwhile‚ a conspiracy theory was widely circulated on social networks‚ according to which the fish died due to water from Fukushima‚ which was allowed to be released into the ocean four months ago. Japanese authorities claim that this water is completely safe‚ but few people believe them. The fact is that even experts admit that this water still contains radioactive isotopes of tritium‚ albeit in very small quantities. Local fishermen are trying to collect fish that swim in the waves offshore‚ fearing that rotting fish will reduce the oxygen content in the water‚ harming marine life. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s only since last year that we started catching sappu (a local species of sardine) here. It makes me wonder if the marine ecosystem is changing‚” says fisherman Mainichi Shimbun‚ who has worked in the area for 25 years. “The cause is unknown at the moment. We plan to sample seawater locally and examine it to determine the cause‚” Mikine Fujiwara‚ a local fisheries official‚ told a local newspaper. Speculation about the fault of the Fukushima waters has become so popular online that the Japanese Fisheries Agency issued a special message: “No abnormalities were found in the results of water monitoring studies. We are concerned about the dissemination of information that is not based on scientific evidence.” Meanwhile‚ Hakodate city officials have urged local residents not to eat beached fish amid reports that some are collecting large quantities of the fish to sell or eat. “We don’t know for sure under what circumstances the fish washed ashore‚ so I don’t recommend eating them‚” said Takashi Fujioka‚ a fisheries expert. The post Like an apocalypse: thousand tons of fish washed up on the shores of Japan appeared first on Anomalien.com.