Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky

Sponsors: Eight Sleep, ROKA & BetterHelp

Vision & Brain; Retina

Retina & Visual Processing

Vision in Humans & Other Animals, Color

Studying the Human Retina

Sponsor: AG1

Cell Types

Determining Cell Function in Retina

Retinal Cell Types & Stimuli

Retinal Prostheses, Implants

Artificial Retina, Augmenting Vision

Sponsor: InsideTracker

Neuroengineering, Neuroaugmentation & Specificity

Building a Smart Device, AI

Neural Prosthesis, Paralysis; Specificity

Neurodegeneration; Adult Neuroplasticity; Implant Specificity

Career Journey, Music & Dance, Neuroscience

Self-Understanding, Coffee; Self-Love, Mediation & Yoga

Body Signals & Decisions; Beauty

Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

- Dr. E.J. Chichelnisky, a Stanford University professor, researches visual perception and neural prostheses for the blind, focusing on how the brain encodes visual information for AI and machine learning.
- The podcast discusses his unconventional path into science, emphasizing career choices and personal paths, sharing valuable tools and lessons for all individuals.
- Sponsors mentioned include Eight Sleep, Roka, and BetterHelp.
- The importance of the retina in vision and potential for vision restoration is highlighted, with research on retinal ganglion cells and their responses to visual stimuli conducted at Stanford.
- The goal is to understand different cell types in the retina for potential vision restoration through neuroengineering, including the development of implants and robotic retina for enhanced vision capabilities.
- An electronic device for user-controlled visual experience is being developed, along with harnessing different cell types in the retina for enhanced vision.
- The use of electronic devices for research on visual information transmission and the development of neuroengineering tools for precise cell stimulation are discussed.
- Ethical considerations in neural technology development and AI integration for transforming visual input to cell activity patterns are also addressed.

- Dr. E.J. Chichelnisky is a professor at Stanford University researching visual perception and designing neural prostheses for blind individuals.
- The discussion focuses on how the brain encodes visual information and how this knowledge can be used to develop robotic AI and machine learning devices to enhance memory and cognition.
- Dr. Chichelnisky's unconventional path into science, including taking time off to dance, helped him determine his career path in neuroscience and medicine.
- The podcast provides insights on selecting professional and personal paths, emphasizing that not all highly accomplished individuals had a clear career trajectory from the beginning.
- The conversation offers valuable tools and lessons that can be applied by individuals of all backgrounds and ages in their own pursuits.

- The podcast is separate from the speaker's teaching and research roles at Stanford.
- The podcast aims to provide free information about science and science-related tools to the public.
- The first sponsor mentioned is Eight Sleep, which offers smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking features.
- Another sponsor is Roka, which makes high-quality eyeglasses and sunglasses designed with the biology of the visual system in mind.
- BetterHelp, offering online therapy with licensed therapists, is also mentioned as a sponsor, emphasizing the value of therapy for personal and professional growth.

- The conversation revolves around understanding the signals sent from the retina to the brain, with a focus on potential medical applications such as restoring vision to the blind and advancing neuroengineering.
- The concept of using electronic implants to bypass damaged photoreceptor cells and directly stimulate retinal ganglion cells to restore vision is discussed.
- Current retinal implants are criticized for being too crude and not incorporating the complexity of the different cell types in the retina, leading to limited visual experiences for recipients.
- The speaker emphasizes the need to integrate scientific knowledge about the retina into vision engineering to create more effective devices for restoring vision.
- The ultimate goal is to develop implants that can recognize and stimulate distinct cell types in the retina to create a visual experience that closely resembles natural vision, with potential spinoffs in brain research, novel visual sensations, and broader brain interfacing.

- The idea discussed is to build a robotic retina that could be implanted into the eye of a blind or sighted person to enhance their ability to see, potentially allowing for improved vision like seeing twice as far or with hawk-like resolution.
- The concept involves having an electronic device that can be controlled to sense different aspects of the visual world, providing the user with the ability to choose what they want to see at any given moment.
- An example is given to illustrate the importance of not being distracted while driving, highlighting the dangers of texting and driving due to the brain's visual system being occupied with reading texts instead of focusing on the road.
- The discussion touches on the potential of harnessing different cell types in the retina to deliver specific visual information to different cell types, allowing for parallel processing of visual information and potentially enhancing vision.
- The same electronic device designed for restoring vision could be used as a research instrument to study how different cell types transmit visual information to the brain independently, leading to the exploration of augmenting vision and experiencing new visual sensations.

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- InsideTracker provides easy-to-understand information about lipid levels, hormone levels, etc., and offers actionable items to optimize levels.
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- The speaker discusses the importance of understanding the neural retina to comprehend how the brain works due to its cell types and arrangement.
- They describe conducting experiments on human and other retinas to identify cell types and how light is transformed into electrical signals encoding visual features.
- The focus is on developing neuroengineering tools to stimulate specific cell types in a way that mimics normal activation patterns.
- The goal is to create prosthetic devices that can restore vision or enhance sensory abilities by stimulating cells with precision.
- The discussion emphasizes the responsibility of developing technologies thoughtfully and ethically, particularly in the field of neural augmentation and neuroengineering.

- The focus is on developing technology to modulate neural circuits in a specific way, starting with the retina due to its accessibility and understanding.
- The proposed device would record electrical activity, stimulate specific cell types, and use AI and machine learning to learn about the tissue it interacts with.
- The device works in three steps: recording electrical activity, calibrating stimulation by recording and stimulating, and finally activating cells in the correct sequence based on visual input.
- AI is essential for the complex transformation from external visual input to cell activity patterns, aiding in capturing and executing the desired cell responses.
- The AI serves as an engineering tool to facilitate the device's functionality, rather than for understanding the neural processes.

- Electric shock therapy, while considered barbaric, can be effective in treating depression by stimulating neurons in the brain and releasing neurotransmitters.
- Neural prostheses are being developed to help paralyzed individuals communicate and interact with technology using signals from the motor or language cortex.
- Researchers like Krishna Shenoy, Jamie Henderson, and Eddie Chang are making significant advancements in neural technology.
- The comparison is made between electroshock therapy as a "reboot" for the brain and the need for more specific interventions through understanding neural circuits.
- The development of neural technology for restoration and augmentation of senses raises ethical questions about where to draw the line between restoring human capabilities and creating new abilities.

- The neural retina is considered a piece of the brain extruded into the eye globes during development, providing insight into a person's inner state through their eyes.
- Looking at the neural retina can potentially offer diagnostic capabilities for degenerative brain conditions like Alzheimer's.
- Plasticity in the brain allows for potential adaptation to increased visual information, suggesting gradual adjustments may be more effective than abrupt changes.
- Spike timing dependent plasticity highlights the importance of precise timing in neural connections for functions like memory and visual processing.
- The approach to engineering devices to augment the human brain should involve a smart, incremental design that can effectively communicate with the brain.

- The individual took a non-linear path to becoming a neuroscientist, starting with studying math at Princeton, then trying out different PhD programs at Stanford before settling on neuroscience.
- They spent time playing music, traveling, and working in a startup before finding their passion for neuroscience.
- Despite feeling like their path was accidental, they realized they had the necessary skills and knowledge to develop a retinal implant to restore vision.
- The individual emphasizes the importance of exploring different paths to find what works for you, even if it involves wandering and trying various things.
- They still enjoy dancing and believe it is a universal human activity with potential ties to early forms of language.

- The conversation touches on the importance of understanding one's own preferences and feelings in decision-making.
- The speaker emphasizes that they rely on feelings rather than thoughts to make decisions.
- The concept of "know thyself, be thyself, love thyself" is discussed as a key aspect of personal and spiritual development.
- The speaker practices meditation and Ashtanga yoga to cultivate self-awareness and self-love.
- The practice of saying "namaste" at the end of yoga is mentioned as a way to express respect for connectedness to the universe.

- The conversation delves into the concept of feeling and how it guides decision-making, with a focus on the feeling of ease.
- The speaker shares a personal anecdote about a bulldog named Costello, who embodied ease and energetic efficiency.
- There is a discussion about the importance of recognizing and interpreting signals of being on the right path, such as ease, in both children and adults.
- The transcript touches on the beauty and wonder of human experiences, like observing the human retina, and how it can lead to a deeper understanding and a mission to serve humanity.
- The conversation concludes with gratitude for the guest's insights on the nervous system and the potential impact of their work on treating human disease and expanding human experience.

- Dr. EJ Cicilineski is described as an astronaut in the science field, developing new technologies to understand how the nervous system, including the brain, works and how to improve it with engineering.
- Vision is initiated in the retina of the eye, where light is transformed into electrical signals that are processed and sent to the brain for visual perception.
- The focus on the retina is because understanding it is crucial for vision, and the goal is to understand it well enough to potentially restore its function.
- While the retina is important, other brain areas like the visual cortex and thalamus are also essential for visual perception and behavior.
- Dr. Cicilineski finds satisfaction in deeply understanding the nervous system, being able to engineer devices to replace lost functions, and believes there is value in exploring other areas of the brain for a comprehensive understanding of vision and behavior.

- Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky was discussed in the podcast, and links to their lab and social media handles are available in the show notes.
- Viewers are encouraged to subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel, Spotify, and Apple, and leave up to a five-star review on those platforms.
- The podcast discusses supplements for improving sleep, hormone support, and focus, with more information available at livemomentous.com/huberman.
- The host, Huberman Lab, is active on various social media platforms, sharing science-related content.
- A Neural Network Newsletter is offered for free, providing monthly summaries and protocols on optimizing physical health, dopamine, sleep, learning, and more, accessible by signing up at HubermanLab.com.

- The retina consists of three layers of cells: photoreceptor cells, responsible for transforming light into electrical signals; a layer for processing and extracting features from visual information; and retinal ganglion cells, which send signals to the brain for processing.
- Retinal ganglion cells are specialized in picking out different features of the visual scene, such as spatial detail, movement, and color, and send this information to the brain.
- The retina provides multiple representations of the visual world through different ganglion cell types, akin to Photoshop filters or movies, which are then combined in the brain to create a cohesive visual perception.
- The functioning of the retina is an example of how sensory systems work, with specialized cells capturing physical features from the world and subsequent neural circuits processing this information.
- Vision is a crucial aspect of human biology, as humans heavily rely on vision for interacting with and understanding the world, unlike rodents that primarily use smell and touch.

- Human retina and vision differ from other species in terms of the specific cell types creating visual representations.
- Mantis shrimp can see 60 to 100 variations of each color due to their photoreceptors.
- Pit vipers can sense heat emissions with their eyes and other organs.
- Humans have limited color perception with only three types of photoreceptor cells sensitive to different wavelengths.
- Rodents have cells in their retina sensitive to looming, possibly to avoid being hunted by birds.

- The laboratory at Stanford conducts experiments on retinal ganglion cells to understand their electrical activity.
- The experiments involve obtaining human retinas from brain dead individuals for research purposes.
- The retinas are brought back to the lab, where they are kept alive and functioning for experimentation.
- The lab uses a custom-built electrophysiology recording and stimulation apparatus to interact with the retinal tissue.
- The experiments aim to study how the retina works normally and explore methods of restoring vision through electrical stimulation.

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- Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are important for extracting features from the visual world like motion and color.
- Cell types are crucial in neuroscience and biology, but have not been discussed much in the podcast.
- Understanding cell types is essential for comprehending how the brain works and consciousness.
- Cell types are distinguished by genetic expression, shapes, sizes, connections with other cells, and where they send information in the brain.
- Identifying cell types is done through studying their function and electrical properties, with technology like the 512 electrode array being crucial for this research.

- Researchers determine the electrical properties of retinal ganglion cells by placing the retina on electrodes and observing how the cells respond to light stimuli.
- Different cell types in the retina respond to various visual stimuli, such as changes in brightness, movement, and different wavelengths of light.
- To identify cell types, researchers use an unbiased flickering checkerboard pattern to sample multiple cells simultaneously and analyze their responses.
- While the random garbage stimulus helps in understanding cell preferences, it may not capture the full range of responses to natural visual stimuli.
- The study of how retinal cells respond to naturalistic visual stimuli is ongoing, with limited understanding of all 20 different cell types and their specific roles in visual perception.

- Retinal ganglion cells can respond to specific colors in the visual scene, such as red or green.
- Research is focused on understanding the different cell types in the retina, with seven well-understood types and around 15 more with unknown functions.
- Some newly discovered cell types have unusual properties, such as responding to multiple spots in the visual world or having spidery-shaped sensitivity to light.
- The goal is to understand these cell types for potential vision restoration through neuroengineering.
- While the seven well-understood cell types are simpler to comprehend, the newer ones present challenges and mysteries that are still being investigated.

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