2023's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience
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Published 2023-12-19
Read about more breakthroughs from 2023 at Quanta Magazine: www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-…
00:05 The Investigation of Consciousness
Our minds are constantly taking in new external information while also creating their own internal imagery and narratives. How do we distinguish reality from fantasy? This year, researchers discovered that the brain has a “reality threshold” against which it constantly evaluates processed signals.
- Original story with links to research papers can be found here: www.quantamagazine.org/is-it-real-or-imagined-how-…
04:30 Microbiomes Evolve With Us
This year, scientists provided clear evidence that the organisms in our microbiome —the collection of bacteria and other cells that live in our guts and elsewhere on our body — spread between people, especially those with whom we spend the most time. This raises the intriguing possibility that some illnesses that aren’t usually considered communicable might be.
-- Original story with links to research papers can be found here: www.quantamagazine.org/global-microbiome-study-giv…
08:43 How Life Keeps Time
The rate at which an embryo develops and the timing of when its tissues mature vary dramatically between species. What controls the ticking of this developmental clock that determines an animal’s final form? This year, a series of careful experiments suggest that mitochondria may very well serve dual roles as both the timekeeper and power source for complex cells.
- Original story with links to research papers can be found here: www.quantamagazine.org/what-makes-life-tick-mitoch…
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All Comments (21)
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For more 2023 breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience be sure to read the Quanta Magazine article: www.quantamagazine.org/the-biggest-discoveries-in-…
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Please never stop making these year end wrap up videos; what a treat every year!! Tell me where to donate
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"When imagination gets really vivid, it can be mistaken for reality" if that doesn't just apply to visual perception, but is a broader concept in general, it once again shows how dangerous fanaticism can be.
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This channel is so great. No clickbait, no random shouting or cussing. Only true and interesting science. Strive on!
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Just want to say that the graphic design of this video and quanta in general is fire. Gives me goosbumps. I love the grain trend
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Absolutely fascinating. I'm so proud to be also working as a scientist in life sciences. Biology really is the science of the 21st century!
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I wish there was more insight into how bonding and attraction works. Many people find that they are asocial, asexual, aromantic, aplatonic, and afamilial. I would love to know how oxytocin and neural wiring work or don't work to form relationships. I'd also like to gain further insights into the contrast between neurodivergence and trauma.
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For me, mitochondria will always be the power house of the cell 😊
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Watched this a few days ago and came back to rewatch. High quality, informative. Amazing video. Wish it was a bit longer haha.
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QuantaScience is the only science channel now doing annual summary. Keep it up!
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I know they're getting pretty high level explanations, but I think it's really great that we're hearing from the scientists directly involved in the discoveries in this video!
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The world has been dreaming for sustsinable development and happiness in all respects and the microbiome along with mitochondrial pleasure may become a rainbow in this domain. Awesome presentation!! Great message!
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Very curious to see where that first one goes with hallucinations. I wonder if they're lookling at sleep at all (probably hard to do) since we seem to believe all our silly hallucinations then. In sleep paralysis especially it's interesting to me the things I'll believe I'm really seeing. Different types of drug trips too... be lovely if they were able to look at the variety along witth disease. Suppose the change over time of day too... I am much more likely to hallucinate when I get tired assuming nothing else is at play.
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For the first one. It seems like it's not just a matter of the Vividness of the imagination that leads one to think that one is dealing with something real, but also the odds that what one sees could be real or imagined. If one starts to see a green goblin out of nowhere, something in us will assume hallucination not reality regardless of how vivid the green goblin may to be. When something totally real but utterly absurd happens our instincts are to pinch an arm just to ensure one is not dreaming... Am I mistaken?
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So surreal… thank you truly for sharing.
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8:26 - excellent admission.
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I really liked the animation and the format of the presentation. Thank you very much
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I really love the quality of your videos. They are really very informative!
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I love the findings which can be very practical- I would hope that we never increase our natural cycles of timing to develop people. The world is already fast enough as it is. We do not need to hasten our own mortality. Production of supplemental and genetically modified cells for therapy is the backbone of any fantasy lore with healing. If our bodies can adapt to healing faster, while stabilizing and retaining theses cellular sequences, we could accomplish more beyond the limitations of flesh and bone.
