Nina's Notes #4
Nina's Notes #4
Reversing brain aging, Making more time & DALLE-2
Welcome to Nina’s Notes by Nina Patrick!
I’m Nina, I write this newsletter to help us understand the emerging longevity science, psychedelics therapeutics and decentralized science landscapes. I hope you enjoy it.
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💬 In this note:
🧠 3 ways brain aging could soon be fully reversible
🍄 What happens to your brain on psychedelics
🧪 Science and Web3 - using NFTs to monetize intellectual property
⏰ How to Make More Time
🎨 DALL-E 2 is available for everyone
3 Ways Brain Aging Could Soon Be Fully Reversible
Cognitive decline may not be a permanent age-related burden
The upper limit for human lifespan has been said to be 120 years. Pushing beyond that is a big challenge because of the extreme difficulty of getting our brains to reverse cellular deterioration that comes with aging. There are several neuroscientists exploring ways to slow and reverse brain diving which falls into 3 categories - reverse brain aging by inhibiting inflammation, reactivating neuron growth and injecting new cells to replace lost neurons. Collectively these studies show promise that cognitive decline may be caused by reversible effects rather than permanent degradation.
What happens to your brain on psychedelics?
Psychedelics enhance connections in our brain with positive effects for mental health
Psychedelics, like LSD and psilocybin (found in over 200 species of mushrooms) bind to the serotonin receptors in your brain and change how you experience mood, cognition and perception. In this recent high-level overview it is explained that the brain becomes more connected and less organized while on psychedelics allowing for changes in consciousness and perception, sense of space, time and reality.
On a neuroscience level, these drugs also promote neuroplasticity and the ability of neurons to form new pathways of communication. These effects interest researchers as an opportunity to increase changes in the brain which can have immense potential in mental health, addiction, neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and more.
Science and Web3 - using NFTs to monetize intellectual property
Scientists can now mint their research results into an NFT to protect & monetize it.
Adrian Stencel writes a long-form (21 min read) article on the intersection of these two and how NFTs can be used for financing science projects. Current funding for scientific research comes from two main sources, public grants (with only a 13% success rate in the EU) or venture capital. Many scientific projects are left incomplete due to lack of funding, and several organizations are looking to solve this problem by channeling funding to these projects by leveraging the blockchain.
Berlin-based company, Molecule, has created the IP-NFT, a new mechanism leveraging blockchain technology to manage ownership of intellectual property (IP) rights. They are one of the first companies to use IP-NFTs to fund research projects and then hold ownership of the results. So far they have funded over 10 projects in longevity science through VitaDAO.
How to Make More Time
Exercise tricks our brain to think we have more time
In last week’s episode of the Hidden Brain podcast, psychologist Cassie Mogilner Holmes explains why we all think we have a lack of time, and how we can spend our time more wisely.
Around minute 40, Cassie explains how exercise is a time-expanding activity. It is usually the first thing to be eliminated when one feels they have a time-scarcity, but we really should instead prioritize exercise when we are feeling time-poor. By exercising, we increase our self-efficacy and it increases what we believe we can complete in a given time.
DALL-E 2 is available for everyone
I first used DALL-E 2 to create “An American tourist kitten asking a local person for directions” the results were featured on the instagram account @thiskittendoesnotexist
DALL-E 2 is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a descriptive prompt. This highly desired software system was only available to Meta employees previously, then released to a subset of VIPs, and it is now available without a waitlist. Sign up and see what you can create, the software is incredible.
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