Major Discovery About Mammalian Brains Surprises Researchers

Major Discovery About Mammalian Brains Surprises Researchers


Bot Summary

“This is the first time anyone has studied these mammalian brain enzymes one molecule at a time, and we are awed by the result. Contrary to popular belief, and unlike many other proteins, these enzymes could stop working for minutes to hours. Still, the brains of humans and other mammals are miraculously able to function,” says Professor Dimitrios Stamou, who led the study from the center for Geometrically Engineered Cellular Systems at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Chemistry.

Until now, such studies were carried on with very stable enzymes from bacteria. Using the new method, the researchers investigated mammalian enzymes isolated from rats’ brains for the first time.

Today, the study is published in Nature.

Quote:

... studied the enzyme and discovered that its activity is switching on and off at random intervals, which contradicts our previous understanding

Do they really mean random, or is it it euphemism for 'we haven't the foggiest idea'?

Major Discovery About Mammalian Brains Surprises Researchers


Bot Summary

“This is the first time anyone has studied these mammalian brain enzymes one molecule at a time, and we are awed by the result. Contrary to popular belief, and unlike many other proteins, these enzymes could stop working for minutes to hours. Still, the brains of humans and other mammals are miraculously able to function,” says Professor Dimitrios Stamou, who led the study from the center for Geometrically Engineered Cellular Systems at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Chemistry.
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The central enzyme of this study, known as V-ATPase, is responsible for supplying the energy for the neurotransmitter pumps in these containers. Without it, neurotransmitters wouldn’t be pumped into the containers, and the containers wouldn’t be able to transmit messages between neurons.
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It is nearly incomprehensible that the extremely critical process of loading neurotransmitters in containers is delegated to only one molecule per container. Especially when we find that 40% of the time these molecules are switched off,” says Professor Dimitrios Stamou."

Comment:
Of course Professor Stamou, as a loyal card-carrying materialist neuroscientist, is astonished since he has ever resolutely refused to recognize that consciousness and subjective awareness are of an entirely different order of existence than neurons and ions and synaptic signals, and therefore can't even in principle be being generated by this physical structure like bile by the liver. Would it be that researchers in this field could recognize that such anomalies and mysteries as this one that they discover could have an anti-paradigmal explanation involving, good grief, something long called "spirit" or "soul", all dreadfully unscientific.

And maybe even open-minded researchers into NDEs could get a clue of what might be some of the details of how NDEers can experience realer-than-real consciousness while their brains are dysfunctional due to trauma such as in cardiac arrest.

Quote:


Do they really mean random, or is it it euphemism for 'we haven't the foggiest idea'?

It does seem here that random is referring to ignorance of a pattern rather than some definite indeterminism.

I do wonder if this finding could support quantum brain/mind theories, which seem to get a lot of undue criticism compared to outright pseudoscience like the idea of universes we cannot interact with yet explain fine-tuning.

Could this be the beginning of the end for the "Consciousness is a natural product of neurons" branch of eliminative materialism? How funny it would be neural networks denying physicalism and related concepts such as AI and brain uploading instead of making them possible.