Electric Fields May Represent Information Held in Working Memory
March 15th, 2022Via: MIT:
As the brain strives to hold information in mind, such as the list of groceries we need to buy on the way home, a new study suggests that the most consistent and reliable representation of that information is not the electrical activity of the individual neurons involved but an overall electric field they collectively produce.
Indeed, whenever neuroscientists have looked at how brains represent information in working memory, they’ve found that from one trial to the next, even when repeating the same task, the participation and activity of individual cells varies (a phenomenon called “representational drift”). In a new study in NeuroImage, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT and the University of London found that regardless of which specific neurons were involved, the overall electric field that was generated, provided a stable and consistent signal of the information the animals were tasked to remember.
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The researchers hypothesize that the field even appears to be a means the brain can employ to sculpt information flow to ensure the desired result. By imposing that a particular field emerge, it directs the activity of the participating neurons.
Indeed, that’s one of the next questions the scientists are investigating: Could electric fields be a means of controlling neurons?
“We are now using this work to ask whether information flows from the macroscale level of the electric field down to the microscale level of individual neurons,” Pinotsis says. “To make the analogy with the orchestra, we are now using this work to ask whether a conductor’s style changes the way an individual member of an orchestra plays her instrument.”
UK Research and Innovation, the Office of Naval Research and the JPB Foundation provided support for the research.
Malone on U.S. Government (DoD Defense Threat Reduction Agency) Funded “Biolabs” in Ukraine
March 13th, 2022Via: Dr. Robert Malone:
In my professional opinion, based on the language employed by Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, I believe that there is a significant risk that the Russian government has obtained documents or other evidence that (at a minimum) one or more of these laboratories have had biological materials the existence of which is likely to prove embarrassing to the United States.
Russia Launches Missile Attack at Ukrainian Base 15 Miles from Polish Border
March 13th, 2022In other news: Finnish Government Agency Warns of Unusual Aircraft GPS Interference
Via: Reuters:
Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134 a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as intense fighting was reported elsewhere.
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The attack on the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a base just 15 miles (25 km) from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors, came a day after Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine could be considered legitimate targets.
Large German Insurance Company Estimates 2.5-3 Million People in Germany ‘Under Treatment for Side Effects of Vaccination After Covid Shot’
March 13th, 2022Via: The Highwire:
An analysis of millions of insured persons’ data from the BKK company health insurance company comes to significantly higher figures for side effects than the Paul Ehrlich Institute. The new data is an “alarm signal,” says BKK board member Andreas Schöfbeck.” reports German news outlet Welt.de.
“For the first time, the figures from a large German health insurance association are available on the side effects of Covid vaccines. The board of directors of BKK ProVita, Andreas Schöfbeck, had the data of millions of insured persons of the BKK group analyzed.“
Using the company’s nearly 11 million insured participants, they ran a query using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for vaccine side effects. Looking at just the first half of 2021 and “about half for the third quarter of 2021” found that 216,695 people had already been treated for vaccine side effects from Covid vaccination. BKK board member Schöfbeck sent a letter detailing this “alarm signal” to the Paul Ehrlich Institute – the agency of the German Federal Ministry of Health responsible for vaccines and medicines regulation.
The letter continues, “…with regard to the number of vaccinated people in Germany, this means that about 4-5% of the vaccinated people were under medical treatment for side effects of vaccination.”
This event marks the first time that a private insurance company has audited its data to challenge a governmental heath agency on the widespread underreporting of vaccine side effects.
Ontario Reveals Deaths Caused by COVID Much Lower Than Previously Reported
March 13th, 2022Via: Toronto Sun:
Ontario has quietly revealed that the number of persons in the province whose death was caused by COVID-19 is much lower than the story the previous statistics told.
Dr. Kieran Moore didn’t even mention it at his morning news conference. None of the reporters participating in the press conference asked about it — they were too busy stressing out over the fact masks will soon be optional. But the numbers were right there in the government’s newly released documents.
What the data reveals is that, depending on the wave, the number of reported deaths where COVID-19 was actually the underlying cause of death ranged from about 75% to just under 60% of the previously disclosed numbers.
“Data from other jurisdictions suggested that with the very high Omicron case counts, some people with COVID-19 infection were dying from causes unrelated to their COVID-19 infection,” reads the explainer document released by the Ministry of Health. “This necessitated a review of the pandemic, including whether COVID-19 was causing or contributing to the death of individuals.”
Finnish Government Agency Warns of Unusual Aircraft GPS Interference
March 13th, 2022“Now we hold our collective breath and hope that nobody messes with GPS and/or GLONASS systems.”
Via: Bleeping Computer:
Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, has issued a public announcement informing of an unusual spike in GPS interference near the country’s eastern border.
The origin of the interference remains unknown, but based on numerous reports submitted to the agency from various sources, it has started during the weekend and is still ongoing.
This has resulted in issuing NOTAMs (notices to airmen) to raise pilot awareness and help them take additional measures to keep flights safe.
And Now… “Putin Could Unleash Deadly Virus from Seized Ukraine Lab – And Then Blame the U.S.”
March 12th, 2022Via: Sun:
RUSSIA could unleash a bioweapon on Ukraine more lethal than Covid from a Ukrainian lab, the former head of the British Army’s chemical weapons unit has warned.
Fears are growing Vladimir Putin could unleash a deadly plague as scientists in Ukraine have been told to destroy all “high-threat” lab diseases.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former chief of the British Army’s chemical weapons unit, told The Sun Online there is a possibility Russian troops could storm a lab and use it as a base to unleash a bioweapon.
And he also warned that the “indiscriminate” bombing by Putin’s troops could spark chaos at one of the labs.
It came as the World Health Organisation said the most deadly pathogens in Ukraine’s labs should be wiped out as Russia’s relentless bombing has raised the risk of “potential spills”.
The invading Russian forces have already proved to be reckless enough to fire shells at Chernobyl, Europe’s largest nuclear-power plant, and fire missiles at a radioactive-waste facility near Kyiv.
And biowarfare experts have become increasingly concerned about the security of Ukraine’s labs as the Russian troops advance.
Fears are also growing as Kyiv claimed Russian soldiers have been issued with gas masks – suggesting an imminent chemical or biological attack.
New Zealand: Chris Hipkins Admits Government Doesn’t Know Which COVID-19 Patients Are in Hospital for Virus, Versus Other Illnesses
March 11th, 2022Via: Newshub:
Chris Hipkins says the Government doesn’t know how many COVID-19 patients are in hospital for the virus versus people in hospital for other issues.
There were 742 COVID-19 cases in hospital and 19 in intensive care as of Wednesday. But the COVID-19 Response Minister says it’s unknown how many are actually in hospital for COVID.
“That [figure] will include some people who have gone to hospital for other things,” Hipkins told AM on Thursday.
This Putin Guy Is Getting Out of Control
March 11th, 2022Via: Made by Jimbob:
Ukraine’s Farmers Stalled, Fueling Fears of Global Food Shortages
March 11th, 2022Via: Reuters:
The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens millions of tiny spring-time sprouts that should emerge from stalks of dormant winter wheat in the coming weeks. If the farmers can’t feed those crops soon, far fewer of the so-called tillers will spout, jeopardizing a national wheat harvest on which millions in the developing world depend.
The wheat was planted last autumn, which, after a brief growing period, fell dormant for the winter. Before the grain returns to life, however, farmers typically spread fertilizer that encourages the tillers to grow off the main stalks. Each stalk can have three or four tillers, increasing the yield per wheat stalk exponentially.
But Ukrainian farmers – who produced a record grain crop last year – say they now are short of fertilizer, as well as pesticides and herbicides. And even if they had enough of those materials, they can’t get enough fuel to power their equipment, they add.
