Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryMedicine and Health

emergency-department-doctors-nurses-and-surgeons-move-seriously-injured-patient-lying-on-a-stretcher-through-hospital-corridors-medical-staff-in-a-hurry-move-patient-into-operating-theater-stockpack-adobe-stock
Emergency Department: Doctors, Nurses and Surgeons Move Seriously Injured Patient Lying on a Stretcher Through Hospital Corridors. Medical Staff in a Hurry Move Patient into Operating Theater.

The Mind Is Not Annihilated at Death, Emergency Room Doctor Says

ER specialist Sam Parnia is making waves with his challenge, based on his clinical experience and research, to the claim that the human mind is annihilated at death
Parnia says he is not religious. Rather, his views are the outcome of clinical experience in a field where doctors have literally never gone before. Read More ›
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beautiful red tulip on the background of forget me nots

When Deep Forgetfulness Was a Death Sentence…

Memory care specialist Stephen Post reminds us of that dark but recent era, in conversation with Michael Egnor
The use of people with dementia in cruel experiments during the Nazi era illustrates the thesis of Richard Weikart’s new book, Unnatural Death. Read More ›
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Man having dementia while sitting on his living room, trying to remember some place inside a sea of memories

A Status Report From the War on Late Life Dementia

Almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed, researchers believe
Increasing longevity and widespread early diagnosis will mean that delaying the progress of the disease becomes very important over the next few decades. Read More ›
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Elderly father adult son and grandson out for a walk in the park.

Dementia: New insights in caring for deeply forgetful people

Dr. Stephen Post, an expert in memory disorders, talks to neurosurgeon Michael Egnor about when and how people suddenly remember again
Dr. Post considers it implausible that “rementia,” the sudden, brief return of a personal identity, can be explained purely in material brain terms. Read More ›
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Woman with an eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, in kitchen

At Least 60 People with Eating Disorders Euthanized or Assisted in Suicide since 2012

Most had other mental illnesses. How might those mental disorders have affected these poor people’s ability to “choose” to be killed or kill themselves?
Once the legalization train leaves the station, it is no longer containable or controllable. The category of “killables” never stops expanding. Read More ›
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Ultrasound of a fetus at 20 weeks

Unborn Child Learns the Accents, Rhythms of Mom’s Native Language

There is, however, a dark, little-told tale about how we learned much of what we know about unborn children today
Although Narayanan frowns on pro-lifers using information to show the individual humanity of the unborn child, that’s clearly where the science points. Read More ›
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A running humanoid robot in a marathon race with many people in the background. AI robot with ability to move and do activities like human. Artificial intelligence coexistence. Generative AI

AI health coaching: Risk vs. benefit

As health care analyst Katie Suleta points out, familiar problems like bias and hallucination could impact the health advice the AI coach gives
Maybe it comes down to the traditional advice about the internet in general: If it sounds unbelievable, don’t believe it, and when in doubt, doubt. Read More ›
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Creative brain stimulation concept. Half a human brain with half a coffee bean on a blue background.

Do We Need the Right Half of the Human Brain?

Generally, we do. Yet what happened when one woman lost the right half of her brain as an adult was unexpected

A little-reported 2021 case study published in Neurology Clinical Practice shows how resilient the human brain can be. A 29-year-old woman, CB, with no neurological or psychiatric history had a stroke, possibly due to medication issues. The damage was serious enough that a decision was made, with her consent, to remove almost all of the right side of her brain (hemispherectomy). As the study authors put it, “only a small disconnected right occipital pole was retained.” What impact would that have on her mind? The right hemisphere of the brain is thought by neuroscientists to play a specific role in “nonverbal” cognitive abilities. From Simply Psychology, we learn, Left hemisphere function The left hemisphere controls the right-hand side of the Read More ›

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Comatose male patient in hospital.

Heart attack doctor asks, is death now reversible?

If new findings in resuscitation techniques hold up, says Sam Parnia in his new book, brain conditions now deemed irreversible may be reversible

Resuscitation specialist Sam Parnia, reflects in his new book, Lucid Dying (Hachette, August 6, 2024), on the recent discovery that brains can be resuscitated hours after death. From the sample pages offered at the book’s Amazon site, we learn that in 2019, a writer at prominent science journal Nature sent Parnia a copy of the embargoed results of a study of pig brains from a slaughterhouse, kept alive for hours after death. “I was left totally stunned and speechless” he recounts: For at least a decade, I had tried to draw attention to the fact that our concept of life and death should be redefined. Death should no longer be viewed as a specific black-and-white moment. Instead, it should be Read More ›

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The Threshold of Near-Death Experience, Between Two Worlds

Heart Attack Doctor: Science Shows That Death Is Not the End

Sam Parnia began by wondering how brain cells can give rise to thoughts. He came to see that the message “from science” was not what he had been led to expect
Parnia concludes that science suggests, at a minimum, that our consciousness and selfhood “are not annihilated when we cross over into death.” Read More ›
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Anonymous crowd of people walking street wearing masks during covid 19 coronavirus pandemic

Let Him Who Would “Represent” Science Beware…

James B. Meigs looks at Anthony Fauci’s new book, On Call, asking what happened? What turned the highly esteemed doctor into a scheming authoritarian?
Fauci’s early career was brilliant; he gained the trust of angry opponents during the AIDS years. But the art of listening seemed to desert him later. Read More ›
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Yam, traditional tubercle of brazilian cuisine

President Biden Is Not a Yam; Don’t Call Him a “Vegetable”

Using the V-word to describe him — or any human being — is just wrong, and, if I may say, cruel, to people with cognitive disabilities and their loved ones.
My mother died of Alzheimer’s, and she was never less than fully human and as worthy of love and regard when she became incompetent. Read More ›
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tunnel of light

Scientific American: Near-Death Experiences Compared To Drug Trip

Now that NDEs are accepted as a clinical fact, more effort is underway to account for them as part of physical nature, like hallucinogenic chemicals
There are significant differences between NDEs and drug trips, as psychologist Steve Taylor notes. Read More ›
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Blurred interior of hospital - abstract medical background.

The Misguided Justifications for Assisted Suicide Are Growing

The myth that legal assisted suicide is about terminal illness is becoming harder to swallow.

The myth that legal assisted suicide is about terminal illness is becoming harder to swallow. Evidence can be found in a recent survey of doctors, published in the Journal of Cutaneous Oncology, which asked doctors this question: “In addition to adults with terminal illnesses, [which] other groups of patients who should be MAID eligible?” The answers are disturbing. From the survey: Majorities of doctors surveyed answered that they would be willing to be present when the deed is done. Here’s the question: “If it were available (or is available), what is your willingness to be present when patients took MAID drugs?” Again, disturbing results, with 61% either probably or definitely, yes: That’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to willingness to do the deed. And no Read More ›

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Euthanasia Medical Intervention

Canadian Death Doctor Has Euthanized Hundreds of Patients

Ellen Wiebe kills the sick, the disabled, the elderly, and unwanted fetuses
To her credit, reporter Sharon Kirkey at least provides a brief counterpoint to the pro-euthanasia narrative, something often entirely missing in many media. Read More ›
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white mouse

Sleeping Mice Show How the Brain Lays Down Memories

Studies of mice running mazes have shed light on the sharp waves of neurons that assist in forming memories
As we learn more about memory, it takes a while to even process what we are learning but the research may help treat memory-related disorders. Read More ›
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Nanobot enhanced medical breakthroughs medicine

Medical Nanomachines: Our Future Boon — or Bane?

James Tour’s molecular jackhammers could become a new treatment for cancer, says engineering prof Karl Stephan
Nanotechnology poses risks, of course, but Stephan thinks that a bigger risk is reduced funding for groundbreaking research in the years ahead. Read More ›
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EU Office buildings in Brussels, Belgium

Don’t Believe in “International Community”? You’re Hardly Human!

Who said that? Not a streetcorner doomsday crank. No, it’s the editor of a highly respected medical journal
In reality, the public's loss of “belief” is the natural consequence of the international system’s failing and betraying those it was designed to serve. Read More ›