Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky: How the Brain Works, Curing Blindness & How to Navigate a Career Path

2024/3/18

Huberman Lab

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Andrew Huberman

是一位专注于神经科学、学习和健康的斯坦福大学教授和播客主持人。

Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky

Topics

Andrew Huberman: 探讨了大脑工作机制，特别是视觉感知的起始于视网膜，以及如何利用神经工程技术来改善大脑功能，包括恢复视力甚至增强视力。他强调了视网膜神经节细胞的重要性以及对不同视觉特征的提取。 Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky: 详细解释了视网膜的工作机制，包括其三层细胞结构（感光细胞、中间神经元和视网膜神经节细胞）及其功能。他指出人类视网膜约有20种不同的视网膜神经节细胞，每种细胞提取不同的视觉特征（例如空间细节、运动和颜色）。他解释了如何通过实验来识别这些细胞类型及其功能，并强调了这种理解对于开发视力恢复技术的重要性。他描述了当前视力恢复技术的局限性，并提出了利用对视网膜细胞类型的深入了解来开发更先进的视力恢复技术，甚至增强视力的可能性。他讨论了神经工程技术在恢复视力和增强视力方面的应用，并强调了开发能够识别不同细胞类型并分别刺激它们的智能设备的重要性。他还讨论了神经工程技术在其他大脑区域的应用，以及在成人大脑中实现神经可塑性的可能性。 Andrew Huberman: 提出了关于人类视网膜与其他物种视网膜差异的问题，并探讨了人类视网膜对某些视觉刺激的敏感性有限。他强调了研究人类视网膜而不是其他物种视网膜的重要性，因为人类主要依靠视觉来感知世界。 Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky: 详细解释了人类视网膜对颜色的感知能力有限，因为人类视网膜只有三种感光细胞，而其他物种可能拥有更多种类的感光细胞。他还指出，人类视网膜可能缺乏对某些视觉刺激（例如，迫近的物体）的敏感性。他解释了这些差异与不同物种所占据的不同生态位有关。

Deep Dive

Chapters

Vision begins in the retina, a neural tissue layer at the back of the eye. It captures light, transforms it into electrical signals, processes these signals, and sends visual information to the brain. The brain then assembles these signals into our visual experience.

The retina captures light and transforms it into electrical signals.
The retina processes these signals and sends them to the brain.
The brain assembles these signals into our visual experience.

Shownotes Transcript

In this episode, my guest is Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky, Ph.D.), a professor of neurosurgery and ophthalmology at Stanford University. He studies how we see and uses that information to build artificial eyes that restore vision to the blind.

We discuss how understanding the retina (the light-sensing brain tissue that lines the back of our eyes) is critical to knowing how our brain works more generally.

We discuss brain augmentation with biologically informed prostheses, robotics, and AI and what this means for medicine and humanity.

We also discuss E.J.’s unique journey into neuroscience and how changing fields multiple times, combined with some wandering, taught him how to guide his decision-making in all realms of life.

This episode ought to be of interest to anyone interested in learning how the brain works from a world-class neuroscientist, those interested in the future of brain therapeutics and people seeking inspiration and tools for navigating their own professional and life journey.

For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com).