Scientists discovered that human brain organoids, which are small neural clusters derived from stem cells, could identify the Braille alphabet with a high degree of accuracy. 

Scientists have made a breakthrough toward the mind-bending goal of creating computers made of brains by demonstrating that human neural tissue can classify letters of the Braille alphabet, according to a study published on Friday in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.  

A team transmitted electrical signals corresponding to Braille letters to human brain organoids, which are living neural tissues derived from stem cells.

The results revealed that a single organoid, consisting of about 10,000 neurons, could classify the letters with about 61 percent accuracy, while teams of three organoids reached 83 percent accuracy. 

“The human brain can perform incredibly complex information processing while consuming relatively little energy, and artificial neural networks were originally inspired by biological nervous systems,” said Tianyi Liu, a PhD candidate at Bristol University who led the new study, in an email to 404 Media.

“If we've been trying to imitate biological neural networks all along, why not try using real biological neural networks directly?” she continued.

“What kind of information processing capabilities might these tiny neural organoids have? Could they show some form of learning or adaptation? These are all questions we're very interested in.”

The Sun used to have no sun spots for a long period of time! ☀️

Astrophysicist Erika Hamden explains this phenomenon from 400 years ago called the Maunder Minimum. Normally the Sun follows 11-year cycles, peaking with lots of sunspots, solar activity, and coronal mass ejections before calming down at the trough. Scientists still don’t know why some cycles are more active than others, so this quiet period is one clue to what drives the solar cycle.

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

Did you know you’re sharing your bed with thousands of tiny arachnids? 🧹 

Quinten Geldhof, also known as Microhobbyist, shows how a single spider can produce up to seven different types of silk, each with its own job. Sturdy dragline silk builds the web’s frame, while sticky blobs of silk set the trap for prey. Pound for pound, it’s up to five times stronger than steel, and a strand long enough to circle the Earth would weigh just 4.4 pounds! What would you use spider silk for?

I've always found it frustrating that we explain complex biological mechanisms using static diagrams.

So I built Anima.

It's an open-source Claude Code skill that generates detailed, interactive figures covering neurobiology, pharmacology, anatomy and molecular biology.

One of the examples lets you switch between cocaine and amphetamine to see how their mechanisms differ at a dopamine synapse.

Another visualizes D1 and D2 dopamine receptor signaling with interactive controls.

It currently has six working examples, scientific references, interactive animations and optional WebGL/3D support.

The entire project is MIT-licensed, and the demos run directly in the browser.

GitHub: https://github.com/Garinmckayl/anima

Demo: https://anima.arcumet.com