ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Researchers have successfully developed a 'speech neuroprosthesis' that has enabled a man with severe paralysis to communicate in sentences, translating signals from his brain to the vocal tract directly into words that appear as text on a screen.

More and more companies are using chatbots in customer services. Due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans when it comes to communication. But should companies tell customers they are communicating with machines and not with humans? Researchers investigated. Their research found that consumers tend to react negatively when they learn that the person they are talking to is, in fact, a chatbot.

Electroconvulsive therapy, which may be effective at lowering long-term risks of suicide and death among patients with certain mood disorders, may result in longer hospital stays and increased health care costs, according to researchers. They said delivering the therapy in outpatient settings may make the treatment more cost-effective.

In lab tests, researchers have created a metal-based molecule that inhibits the build-up of a peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Online learning engagement can be increased by nearly one-third by simply prompting students to share course ideas rather than personal details in the form of icebreakers and social introductions.

The main driver of Alzheimer's disease is excessive inflammation in the brain that is triggered by cells called astrocytes and microglia in response to high levels of amyloid beta deposits and tau tangles. New research reveals that a subset of astrocytes releases a molecule called interleukin-3 that instructs microglia to adopt a protective response and clear away amyloid beta deposits and tau tangles. Interleukin-3 may hold promise as a new therapeutic intervention in Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers have found that a component derived from turmeric essential oil, ar-turmerone, and its derivatives act directly on dopaminergic neurons to exert a neuroprotective effect on tissue cultures of a Parkinson's disease model. The effect appears to be due to the enhancement of cellular antioxidant potency through Nrf2 activation. The researchers believe that the ar-turmerone derivatives identified in this study can be utilized as new therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease.

Vaccine skepticism among young adults may stall efforts to achieve herd immunity -- a threshold in which approximately 80 percent of a population is vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Prosthetics currently lack the sensation of 'touch.' To enable a more natural feeling prosthetic hand interface, researchers are the first to incorporate stretchable tactile sensors using liquid metal and machine learning. This hierarchical multi-finger tactile sensation integration could provide a higher level of intelligence for artificial hands by improving control, providing haptic feedback and reconnecting amputees to a previously severed sense of touch.