The Prospect of Extracting Brain-Region-Specific Exosomes in the Human Bloodstream

Exosomes are small vesicles, secreted by eukaryotic cells, containing molecular cargo that reflects the biochemical composition of the origin cell, including protein and RNA. Once secreted, exosomes can enter the circulatory system and be found in blood, urine, and saliva. It has been hypothesized that because exosomes contain transmembrane proteins unique to their cell of origin, specific populations of exosomes could be non-invasively extracted from the bloodstream. The protein L1CAM may serve as a marker of neuronal exosomes. However, although “neuron-derived-exosomes'' could offer some specific information about in-vivo molecular neurobiology, this population of exosomes still provides a relatively noisy signal, including data on protein expression from a variety of different neuronal subpopulations. We argue that it may be possible to isolate brain-region-specific exosomes, and that data derived from these exosomes would provide a superior diagnostic tool.

Copies and Random Decision: a proposal to peacefully solve the conflict around looted art

I propose a novel approach to deal with the conflict between the present owners and the original owners of looted art. The procedure is based on perfect copying (which is possible today due to digital techniques) and random procedures (which are a means to achieve a fair outcome).

Stories as Technology: Past, Present, and Future

What is it about a good story that causes it to have life-changing effects on one person and not another? I wonder if future technologies will enable us to develop the type of truly deep and fine-grained understanding of stories as social, cognitive, and emotional technologies that might allow us to answer this question with a high-level of precision.

Randomness in Science

Could we improve science by exploring new ways to inject randomness into the research process?