Three studies recently published within just one month by the journal Cerebral Cortex present new models of spiking networks in the brain. Electrical spikes of neurons are at the core of neural information processing. With millions of neurons and billions of synapses, the new generation of open models are powerful tools to study the complex dynamics in large networks, with implications for basic neuroscience, neuromorphic computing and AI. On EBRAINS, researchers will be able to use the large-scale neuronal network models as adaptable building blocks in their investigations and combine them with other brain simulation tools across scales.

The HU neuroscientist wants to develop methods for analysing large brains using the elephant brain as an example.

Elephants are majestic animals with dexterous trunks and have been shown to use tools. Flexibility, extension, and water-flow make water hoses exceptionally complex tools. In the upcoming issue of Current Biology, Urban, Becker, Ochs, Sicks, Brecht and Kaufmann from the Bernstein Center Berlin/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Berlin Zoological Garden describe water hose tool use in Asian elephants.

Sleep is one of the most mysterious, yet ubiquitous components of our biology. It has been described in all major groups of animals, including worms, jellyfish, insects or cephalopods, and in all vertebrates, from fish to humans. Common characteristics of sleep include reduced movement, decreased muscle tone, and an increased need for sleep after periods of deprivation, for example after a night out. Recent research at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research provides important insights into how sleep rhythms are controlled in a reptile, the Australian dragon (Pogona vitticeps).

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) have investigated to which extent a piece of music can evoke expectations about its progression. They were able to determine differences in how far compositions of different composers can be anticipated. In total, the scientists quantitatively analyzed more than 550 pieces from classical and jazz music.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will continue his “Werkstatt des Wandels” series in Baden-Württemberg on November 15. There he will visit the final of the Bundeswettbewerbs Künstliche Intelligenz (BWKI) in Tübingen and Robert Bosch GmbH in Renningen. The focus will be on the importance of AI applications and digital infrastructure for the international competitiveness of Germany and Europe.

Researchers from LMU, TU Berlin, and Charité have developed a new AI tool that uses imaging data to also detect less frequent diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Susanne Schreiber, Professor of Theoretical Neurophysiology at the Institute of Biology at Humboldt University and Chair of the Bernstein Network, has been appointed to the German Ethics Council for a second term of office.

Researchers at the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have developed a novel training protocol for brain-computer interfaces in a study with rhesus monkeys. The method enables precise control of prosthetic hands using signals from the brain alone. For the first time, researchers were able to show that the neural signals that control the different hand postures in the brain are primarily important for this control, and not, as previously assumed, signals that control the movement’s velocity. The results are essential for improving the fine control of neural hand prostheses, which could give paralyzed patients back some or all of their mobility (Neuron).

This year's Attempto Prizes from the Tübingen Attempto Foundation go to Matthias Baumann for his work on the role of the superior colliculus brain region in the integration of visual information into motor signals to control rapid eye movements and to Roxana Zeraati for her publication on the processing of visual information in the brain on different time scales. The prizes are endowed with 5,000 euros each and were presented during the Dies Universitatis ceremony at the University of Tübingen on October 16, 2024 in the Alte Aula.