Surf the web. Stay physically active. Eat healthily. And leave time in the day to day dream.

According to a series of studies, it is important to keep the body as fit as the mind and to sleep enough. The results of a new study suggests that chronic insomnia may be another condition associated with reduced cortical volume. Eat a healthy diet and take magnesium supplement which boosts brainpower - that is if you are a mouse. Last but not least, take breaks. Research shows that memories are strengthened during periods of rest while we are awake, not just during sleep.

Scientist have discovered how the brain codes and represents nouns. They have found, that the brain uses three basic categories to think about common nouns: Can I hold it, can I get inside it and can I eat it?

For their study, the scientists showed people 60 words and analyzed the brain’s activation patterns with a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. Really intriguing is the inverse process: To find out, which of the 60 words the subject was thinking of, by analyzing the brain’s activation patterns.

You can find the study in the journal PloS One or read the article in prnewswire.com

Remember the quantum mind hypothesis? Now scientist have found that unique patterns of electrical signals spread to neurons in different areas of the brain. These patterns of activity started in one set of neurons, only to be mimicked by others milliseconds later. The brains own “quantum entanglement” could explain memories.

(via Newscientist)

January 14, 2009, Walter Diggelmann spoke at the Red Herring Global Conference and received the Red Herring Global 100 Finalist award. You can download or watch the presentation and view the handover ceremony on youtube.

Researchers are working on a project to adapt brain processes to “wet computing” by setting up chemicals in a tube which behave like the transistors in a computer chip. The “wet computer” will literally simulate neurons and signal processing on the chemical level.

(via bbc.co.uk)

semantic system and James V. Hardt, Biocybernaut Institute have decided for co-operation in neuro-feedback R&D (see Take your brain to the gym). Both parties evaluate the possibility in the integration of the two neural analysis approaches for enhanced functionally in both technologies.

About James V. Hardt, Biocybernaut Institute

Dr. James V. Hardt is a physicist, psychologist and psychophysiologist with over thirty years of research and clinical practice in neuro-feedback. The Biocybernaut Institute offers intensive training programs using custom advanced technology in the field of neuro-feedback.

Neuro-feedback, – also known as EEG biofeedback – is an approach used to train brain activity. Neuro-feedback can literally change the way our brains work even acquire peak performances.

In neuro-feedback, therapists attach electrodes to a patient’s scalp. Through these electrodes, a device measures electrical impulses in the brain, amplifies them and then records them. These impulses are divided into different types of brain waves. So, in order to concentrate on a task, parts of the brain must produce more high-frequency beta waves. To relax, the brain must produce more low-frequency theta waves. For example, the patient is rewarded when he or she makes more of the theta waves.

According to a study conducted in Germany in 2009 it could be concluded that Neurofeedback can indeed be considered an Evidence-Based treatment for ADHD.

You can read about the benefits of neuro-feedback:

What is Neurofeedback? (eeginfo.com)

NEUROTHERAPY: Give grey matter some sparkle (businessday.co.za)

Study may show whether neurofeedback helps people with ADHD and other disorders (washingtonpost.com)

Alpha EEG Feedback: Closer Parallel with Zen than with Yoga by James V. Hardt, Biocybernaut Institute

semantic system has been short listed as a finalist for Red Herring’s Global 100 2009 Award, which recognizes the year’s most promising private technology ventures from around the world based on their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health.

The 200 finalists for the 2009 edition of the Red Herring Global 100 Award have been selected from a pool of 1200 regional recipients or finalists of the Red Herring 100 Awards in 2007, 2008, or 2009, ranging from Asia, Europe, and North America. The nominees were evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

To view the entire press release please click here: RHG09 Finalist Press Release.

Zurich, Switzerland/La Jolla, USA December 16 – CENDOO and Semantic System have entered into an OEM contract to use Semantic’s ai-one™ in CENDOO’s Butler product.

Ever felt overwhelmed by too much information and communication? CENDOO and Semantic System are working on a totally new approach to tackle one of the biggest challenges for users of information technology:  information overload (see “Drowning in Information? You’re Not Alone“ of Huffington Post). While search engines are getting ever more powerful and provide more and more features, this is also bad news.  Users are swamped with huge amounts of information and the user has to go through the results to find what is of interest and relevant.  This process has to be repeated and refined, sometimes with multiple search engines, until he or she has found the right answers. Search engines available aren’t providing the essential feature: personalized semantic search.

Running on your PC as a virtual twin, CENDOO’s Butler knows your focus and preferences,  ”reading” and classifying search results and documents until it can deliver exactly and precisely what you need. The Butler will be available in 2010. Learn more: www.cendoo.com

To view the entire press release please click here: PR-20091216-Cendoo-finalizes-contract.

Researchers have created an “aware” cell phone that learns the user’s behaviour pattern. The phone could provide a better service, for example how to better manage the video download when the user is about to leave the 3G network range.

The phone uses the built-in accelerometer and a neural network software to predict what happens next and act accordingly. Would you like such a gadget?

(via newscientist.com)