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Light music for the masses: a story of LEDs

By on Jan 28, 2017 in Vision | 0 comments

Optics: fast and furious imaging With optics coming of age and its widespread use in biomedical sciences, scientists invest substantial efforts in new imaging technologies. The aim is to reconcile versatility, performance and cost issues. Developments take place in the design of new molecules with expanded capabilities (e.g., increased resistance to photodamage, exquisite sensitivity to excitation frequency, chemical stability). But they also pursue the engineering of more flexible sensors and stimulators with improved performance (e.g. higher quantum efficiency detectors, higher signal-to-noise ratios and the choice of selectable wavelengths of excitation with narrower bandwidths). Being able to quickly switch across different stimulation wavelengths while keeping them as narrow as possible is of great value for the experimenter. The optical properties of most materials largely depend...

Do the locomotion! A brain-machine interface to restore gait

By on Dec 7, 2016 in Motor system | 0 comments

The teamwork behind the motor activity   We are endowed with a rich palette of motor programs that rely on our ability to timely coordinate the recruitment of different muscle groups. This gift runs the whole gamut, from the large muscles used in rowing up to the smaller inner larynx muscles that control the closure of vocal cords. As we all quickly learned through jogging, movement means work, and work means energy. Just imagine the sheer metabolic rate of wings’ muscles in flying insects, when they beat their wings at 500 Hz! Although orchestrating such a complex pattern of muscle activation is a daunting task, a few organizational principles have emerged during evolution to cope with these demands. Firstly, as in sensory systems, there is a hierarchical control of muscle output, with increasingly more complex tasks being performed by groups of neurons that are higher up...