Islands of awareness: brain sub-components, undeveloped brain stuctures and altered states

Are there consciousness islands at all…? “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” is often said… and with good reason. Emergent properties of systems arise from the interaction of their constituent elements. From the increased complexity and their teamwork, arise enhanced capabilities: new properties appear, that were not present before. One can […]

Read more
HIVE: a project with a far-reaching legacy

The Start of the HIVE project HIVE, or “Hyper Interaction Viability Experiments”, was a pivotal project launched in 2009 that was key for the foundation of Neuroelectrics, the spin-off arisen from Starlab. Without this project and its breakthroughs, perhaps Luminous would not be what it is today, likely owing to the technical difficulties to address […]

Read more
Art meets Science: A collaboration with La Fura Dels Baus

There is a long history of art and science looking for each other. As Leonardo da Vinci said: “to develop a complete mind, study the science of art, study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else”. Science and art, together In 2008, at the University of Yale, […]

Read more
Out of body experiences – neural engineering informs brain sciences

A certain person knew somebody who almost died. During the event, the person was able to see his/her own body, from above, lying in bed, inert. This, a classical out-of-body experience, refers to the sensation that a person’s consciousness seems to become detached from the body, watching the scene from a third-person perspective. Phenomena as […]

Read more
Foetal brain complexity in the mother’s womb – A comparison of different metrics

Continuing on previous discussions about complexity in various applications (see previous blog post “About the brain, consciousness and complexity”), here we have applied the concept to a very interesting scenario together with our partners at Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU) and at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) within project […]

Read more
About the brain, consciousness and complexity

Various processes in natural sciences, such as the geometric shape of shores, rocks, plants or waves, the trajectories of living beings, atmospheric flows and myriad other phenomena seem to present a high level of complexity. That complexity, even if belonging to very different areas, may nonetheless have patterns related to each other. Examples as shapes, […]

Read more
How to study consciousness in the electric brain?

On April, 2016, Starlab kicked-off the H2020 FET Open project Luminous. The FET Open program is one of the most competitive programs within the European funding landscape. Since the launch, Starlab proudly coordinates one of the only 11 out of 800 projects selected for funding in that call. The Luminous project aims to study consciousness […]

Read more
Is oral feeding compatible with an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome?

Authors: Evelyne Melotte; Audrey Maudoux; Sabrina Delhalle; Charlotte Martial; Georgios Antonopoulos; Stephen Karl Larroque; Sarah Wannez; Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville; Jean-François Kaux; Steven Laureys; Olivia Gosseries; Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse. — Objective: The aim of the study is to explore the possibility of oral feeding in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state (UWS/VS) patients. Method: We reviewed the clinical information of […]

Read more