A recent discussion at Swissnex San Francisco provided insights into the challenge of making robots more human. This goal holds profound implications for healthcare and the treatment of injuries to the body and brain. Read more »
With more than ten billion neurons, each connected thousands of times, the brain has been described as the ultimate social networking tool.
Two of the world’s top neuroscientists took center stage at the Bay Area Science Festival to discuss this complex topic, co-sponsored by Swissnex SF.
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action at Baylor College of Medicine. He’s also a popular author whose most recent book is Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.
Henry Markram is director of the Blue Brain Project at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) as well as a coordinator of the Human Brain Project. Read more »
Playing Farmville won’t make you fit.
However, serious injuries can benefit from serious games.
Not convinced? Check out two exhibits at San Francisco’s Swissnex, Think Art – Act Science (through 11/12) and Swiss Game Design Exhibition (through 10/27).
Both exhibits showcase technologies and collaborations between Swiss companies and academic institutions. Companion events are free to the public and include stimulating topics such as Next Level Health: How Games Improve Health and Healthcare.
My favorite demo was for a game created at the Zurich University of the Arts called GABARELLO v1.0.
The game is designed for children who have experienced lower body motor loss, through birth defects, accidents, etc. Children (or adults) are strapped to a special rehabilitation robot on a treadmill and through the use of sophisticated sensors, make the adorable virtual robot “move” across the various surfaces of a planet. This turns rehab work into a treat!
Other partners in the collaboration include University Children’s Hospital Zurich, the Institute for Neuropsychology (University of Zurich) and the Sensory Motor Systems Lab (ETH Zurich).
Successful collaborations like these are a roadmap for what is possible. With the ubiquity of platforms such as X-Box and Wii, look for this exciting trend to continue.
BY ERIN DIGITALE, Stanford News
Pediatric neurologist Michelle Monje led the team that became the first to create an animal model of a rare, fatal brain tumor that strikes young children.
A pediatric brain tumor that causes gruesome suffering is finally yielding its secrets. For the first time, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have cultured human cells from this cancer, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, and used those cells to create an animal model of the disease. Their discoveries will facilitate research on new treatments for DIPG, a tumor of school-aged children that is now almost universally fatal.
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