The mystery of the "sixth sense" has been invested 14.2 million USD to decode

(Dan Tri) - The project promises to open the first map of how the body "communicates" with itself, creating the foundation for new advances in the treatment of neurological and psychological diseases.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just launched a 5-year, $14.2 million project to explore the mystery of the “sixth sense”, the ability of the brain to sense and regulate what is happening inside the body.

Decoding the hidden senses in the body

The project, conducted by a team of scientists from the Scripps Research Institute and the Allen Institute, aims to build the first comprehensive map of how the nervous system monitors, communicates with and regulates the activities of internal organs.

The project is considered a bold step that could change the way modern medicine views the connection between the brain and the body (Photo: Popular Mechanics).

This is the process by which the nervous system continuously receives, decodes, and responds to signals from the heart, lungs, stomach, or immune system, helping the body maintain homeostasis.

Unlike the five familiar senses that perceive the outside world , the introspection is a "silent sense" that works continuously inside the body without the person even realizing it.

Intrinsic signals travel from various organs, passing through complex neural networks, sending data to the control center in the brain, helping the body respond promptly to any biological fluctuations.

Because of its hidden and pervasive nature throughout the body, research on it has been extremely difficult until now.

Building the first “inner map”

“Decoding the intrinsic sensory network will open new doors for modern medicine,” said Ardem Patapoutian, who led the project and won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering cells' tactile sensors.

The team's goal is to build a “sensory atlas,” a detailed 3D map that depicts how sensory neurons connect to each internal organ.

The anatomical study will focus on marking and tracing the path of sensory nerves from the spinal cord to the heart, lungs, intestines, or bladder.

This data will be recreated using advanced imaging technology, creating a visual map of the body's internal neural networks.

In parallel, the team will decode the genetics of sensory neurons to classify them by function.

When these two lines of research are combined, the team hopes to build a standardized data framework that will lay the foundation for future neuroscience studies.

According to scientists, understanding the structure and function of the endocrine system is not only of scientific significance but also of great medical value.

Many common diseases such as autoimmune disorders, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, depression, neurodegeneration, and high blood pressure are thought to originate from a “phase shift” in signals between the brain and the body.

“Introspection is present in almost every aspect of human health, but has so far remained a blank slate in neuroscience.

Creating the first map of this system will help us understand how the brain maintains internal stability, what causes it to go haywire, and how to restore that state,” said Associate Professor Xin Jin, who is in charge of the research on the genomics and sensory neuron characteristics.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/bi-an-giac-quan-thu-sau-duoc-dau-tu-142-trieu-usd-de-giai-ma-20251019000500046.htm