Here we provide a perspective concept of neurohybrid memristive chip based on the combination of living neural networks cultivated in microfluidic/microelectrode system, metal-oxide memristive devices or arrays integrated with mixed-signal CMOS layer to control the analog memristive circuits, process the decoded information, and arrange a feedback stimulation of biological culture as parts of a bidirectional neurointerface. Our main focus is on the state-of-the-art approaches for cultivation and spatial ordering of the network of dissociated hippocampal neuron cells, fabrication of a large-scale crossbar array of memristive devices tailored using device engineering, resistive state programming, or non-linear dynamics, as well as hardware implementation of spiking neural networks (SNNs) based on the arrays of memristive devices and integrated CMOS electronics. The concept represents an example of a brain-on-chip system belonging to a more general class of memristive neurohybrid systems for a newgeneration robotics, artificial intelligence, and personalized medicine, discussed in the framework of the proposed roadmap for the next decade period.

The slime mould Physarum polycephalum has been used in developing unconventional computing devices for in which the slime mould played a role of a sensing, actuating, and computing device. These devices treated the slime mould as an active living substrate, yet it is a self-consistent living creature which evolved over millions of years and occupied most parts of the world, but in any case, that living entity did not own true cognition, just automated biochemical mechanisms. To "rehabilitate" slime mould from the rank of a purely living electronics element to a "creature of thoughts" we are analyzing the cognitive potential of P. polycephalum. We base our theory of minimal cognition of the slime mould on a bottom-up approach, from the biological and biophysical nature of the slime mould and its regulatory systems using frameworks such as Lyon's biogenic cognition, Muller, di Primio-Lengelerś modifiable pathways, Bateson's "patterns that connect" framework, Maturana's autopoietic network, or proto-consciousness and Morgan's Canon.

Extracellular ATP and serotonin (5-HT) are powerful triggers of nociceptive firing in the meninges, a process supporting headache and whose cellular mechanisms are incompletely understood. The current study aimed to develop, with the neurosimulator NEURON, a novel approach to explore in silico the molecular determinants of the long-lasting, pulsatile nature of migraine attacks. The present model included ATP and 5-HT release, ATP diffusion and hydrolysis, 5-HT uptake, differential activation of ATP P2X or 5-HT3 receptors, and receptor subtype-specific desensitization. The model also tested the role of branched meningeal fibers with multiple release sites. Spike generation and propagation were simulated using variable contribution by potassium and sodium channels in a multi-compartment fiber environment. Multiple factors appeared important to ensure prolonged nociceptive firing potentially relevant to long-lasting pain. Crucial roles were observed in: (i) co-expression of ATP P2X2 and P2X3 receptor subunits; (ii) intrinsic activation/inactivation properties of sodium Nav1.8 channels; and (iii) temporal and spatial distribution of ATP/5-HT release sites along the branches of trigeminal nerve fibers. Based on these factors we could obtain either persistent activation of nociceptive firing or its periodic bursting mimicking the pulsating nature of pain. In summary, our model proposes a novel tool for the exploration of peripheral nociception to test the contribution of clinically relevant factors to headache including migraine pain.

In this paper we present a new neurobiologically-inspired affective cognitive architecture: NEUCOGAR (NEUromodulating COGnitive ARchitecture). The objective of NEUCOGAR is the identification of a mapping from the influence of serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline to the computing processes based on Von Neuman's architecture, in order to implement affective phenomena which can operate on the Turing's machine model. As basis of the modeling we use and extend the Lövheims Cube of Emotion with parameters of the Von Neumann architecture. Validation is conducted via simulation on a computing system of dopamine neuromodulation and its effects on the Cortex. In the experimental phase of the project, the increase of computing power and storage redistribution due to emotion stimulus modulated by the dopamine system, confirmed the soundness of the model.

Considering the current advancements in biometric sensors and other related technologies, as well as the use of bio-inspired models for AI improvements, we can infer that the swarm intelligence paradigm can be implemented in human daily spheres through the connectivity between user gadgets connected to the Internet of Things. This is a first step towards a real Ambient Intelligence, but also of a Global Intelligence. This unconscious (by the user) connectivity may alter the way by which we feel the world. Besides, with the arrival of new augmented ways of capturing and providing information or radical new ways of expanding our bodies (through synthetic biology or artificial prosthesis like brain-computer connections), we can be very close to a change which may radically affect our experience of ourselves and of the feeling of collectivity. We call it the techno-phenomenological turn. We show social implications, present challenges, and and open questions for the new kind of swarm intelligence-enhanced society, and provide the taxonomy of the field of study. We will also explore the possible roadmaps of this next possible situation.Keywords: Techno-phenomenological turn, consciousness; neuro-interface; radio-transmission; wireless communication; internet of everything; social development Swarm Intelligence and Systems IntersectionsSwarm intelligence (SI) is a concept which describes how complex social behaviours can come from simple non-coordinated individual actions. Ants/bees/termites/wasps colonies, for example, follow this kind of self-organizing and collective intelligence [1]. While no single member of the colony has the power or skills to make decisions about general coordinated actions, the colony behaviour is finally organized efficiently following basic rules. This natural and simple algorithmic behaviour has proven to be so successful that it has inspired AI experts for decades in the attempt to implement similar mechanisms into robot interactions or AI systems, creating a research field called computational swarm intelligence (CSI) [2]. However, we can also find SI activity among humans [3,4], and with the evolution towards a society of information, we can also talk about an SI implemented into the Internet of Things (IoT) [5][6][7]. Therefore, we can see that bioinspiration is a successful trend in AI research and that SI provides a reliable framework for the generation and modulation of social behaviours, even at computational and electronically-connected levels. Taking into account the increment of available smart materials and the technological possibilities of the augmenting/upgrading/enhancing of human bodies, we suggest a future scenario in which SI is part of human behaviour, managing not only unconscious but also conscious actions.