Scientists claim to crack brain memory code

First reaction was a serious, audible "Ughhh". I'm skimming the paper now but this looks a lot like "we played with some in-silico models and came up with a nifty thing"

Edit: Christ, I don't even know where to begin. Seriously.

First of all, there is no mention of the fact that microtubles don't innervate dendritic spine heads. Actin is the primary cytoskeletal support for synapses. I can think of several plausible explanations to get around this fact, but they don't offer any which immediately put me on edge for the whole paper.

Second, there is zero in-vitro experimentation. It is extremely possible that none of this happens anywhere, let alone in the brain. Granted, in-silico experiments are often used to guide future benchwork...but I would have liked to see some preliminary wet-bench tests.

Here is a gem from the paper:

MTs appear to have intrinsic electro-mechanical vibrations, e.g. coherent oscillations in the low megahertz range. [...] Signal propagation will be influenced by, and depend on MT lattice vibrations and related effects.

In LTP, high frequency inputs (e.g. 50 to 100 Hz) are required for prolonged post-synaptic response. Kumar et al [58] showed that memory formation in dendrites depends on synchronized inputs, with an optimal frequency near 50 Hz. Density and patterns of CaMKII-induced tubulin phosphorylation in post-synaptic MT lattices would depend on frequency and synchrony of inputs.

Wait, what? They are correlating electro-mechanical oscilations (MT vibrations) with electro-chemical oscilations (synaptic firing)?

‘Scale-free’ implies self-similar information patterns repeating at different spatial and temporal scales (following 1/frequency power laws). Similar to ‘fractals’ and holograms, scale-free structures and processes arise commonly in nature and technology, and are inherently robust and resistant to disruption. In the brain, evidence suggests neuronal network structure, temporal dynamics, and representation of mental states are all ‘scale-free’, with self-similar patterns repeating at various temporal and spatial scales and locations [68]–[71]. Interference patterns of periodic, coherent reaction-diffusion waves in cytoplasm and larger spatial scales could account for scale-free information patterns regulating biological systems including the brain. Microtubules can generate three-dimensional reaction-diffusion patterns [70], and we suggest such patterns operate at multiple time scales to regulate biological systems.

Translation: There are fractals in the world and we see the brain structured in certain ways, so those patterns must apply to smaller things, right? We showed some dubious computer modeling of microtubules vibrating and a kinase phosphorylating. Therefore, the vibrations are encoding brain information. QED.

There's more, but I need to get to work. Let me just put it this way: there is a very good reason this paper is not in Nature Neuroscience.

The original article seems to be http://www.newswise.com/articles/scientists-claim-brain-memo...

I'm reminded that "nature is lazy" and always goes for the easiest and quickest route for efficiency.