Controlling Monkey Brains and Behavior With Light 77
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers reporting online on July 26 in Current Biology have for the first time shown that they can control the behavior of monkeys by using pulses of blue light to very specifically activate particular brain cells (abstract). The findings represent a key advance for optogenetics, a state-of-the-art method for making causal connections between brain activity and behavior. Based on the discovery, the researchers say that similar light-based mind control could likely also be made to work in humans for therapeutic ends."
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Humans are apes. "Monkey" excludes hominids.
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Recent data shows that "monkey" is only a monophyletic group if you also include apes. So no, humans are monkeys after all, in the exact same a that birds are dinosaurs.
Mind control.. (Score:5, Funny)
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This pair should do [laser2000.se]. you need something with decent protection from 480 nm.
But realistically, as long as you don't have any exposed trepanations or evidence of brain surgery, you're probably okay.
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You have heard to 'stay away from the light' haven't you?
(And no I am not referring to a scene of some sort or other in every single Steven Spielberg movie. i.e. E.T., Poltergeist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind...)
Only if you've had your brain injected... (Score:3)
Great, now I'll need to find some matching sun glasses to go with my tin foil hat.
Only if you've had your brain injected with the artificial retroviral biotech material.
This is just an application of an existing technology to primates. No big news.
The technique involves injecting the brain in the desired region with an artificial retrovirus-like agent. This contains a gene for an artificial surface protein that triggers the nerve to fire when exposed to a particular color of light, along with a promoter t
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Biggest issue with the technique right now is selective targeting. To do it you need to know the promoter sequence for a gene of interest, and it has to be small enough to be packaged into the viral vector along with the channelrhodopsin (to activate neurons) or halorhodopsin (to inactivate neurons, responds to yellow rather than blue wavelengths). For many genes the promoters are either not well characterized or too big, which is why so much of the current work in optogenetics is being done in mice - we ha
Task Orientated (Score:5, Funny)
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That doesn't matter for all of us already sitting at the karma cap.
Still waiting for /. to release an expansion so I can level up past "Excellent".
This explains ... (Score:2)
Note to self: Investigate modulating the LED intensity via a s/w trojan planted on laptops as a means of mind control and the first step to acheiving world domination.
Bwaaaah haaaa haaaa!
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Note to self: Investigate modulating the LED intensity via a s/w trojan planted on laptops as a means of mind control and the first step to acheiving world domination.
Bwaaaah haaaa haaaa!
Gee Brain, then what are we going to do tomorrow?
Prior art: (Score:4, Funny)
Americans and TV
-Or a movie, perhaps..... (Score:2)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082677/ [imdb.com]
-Or a book, perhaps..... (Score:1)
I was thinking more of the funny science fiction novel "Shades of Grey" by Jasper Fforde where people get healed by being shown certain colors (and can even overdose on certain pleasure-inducing colors). Maybe not so far-fetched after all? It's quite amazing how many seemingly absurd elements of that story start to make sense after a while, I can't wait for part 2 and 3.
(note: I did not mean "fifty shades of grey" which is an entirely different book that appears to be more popular for some reason)
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The other night I saw a video of a cat being shown a video. Electrodes in the cat's brain, were wired to a screen showing a slightly garbled version of that same video. So light from a video went in the cat's eyes, then electrodes in the cat's brain took the image and fed it to another video screen and the image was recognizable. I for one am impressed.
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Wow (Score:2)
This gives a whole new meaning to the term "Mood Lighting."
Life Imitates Art.. (Score:3)
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I've seen this before in sci-fi, but I'm most familiar with it from "real" alien abduction stories.
*cue ominous sounding music*
Already have a box that emits light 4 mind control (Score:2)
Controlling people with images in their browsers (Score:2)
What a great idea . . . although, I guess Facebook already does that.
They were very successful at convincing their users to buy their stock.
Superior BCIs (Score:2)
As another poster pointed out, we have known this for years concerning neurons.
The deal here, is that we need to introduce a benign photopigment gene (like jellyfish fluorescent protein) into the target's neurons, then produce a contact-free BCI that uses small solid-state laser diodes as the signalling pin grid array, coupled with a sensitive CCD that records the flash patterns of the activating neurons underneath.
Using different frequencies of light for signal and reception allows you to isolate signal da
Change your wallpaper, too! Oh, and.. (Score:1)
I'm always suspicious of stock wallpaper shipping with a distro or a beast like Microsoft Windows. Think of the millions of eyes which view these same images every day, for hours and hours on end.
The same for popular music where millions are listening to the same single copy reproduced millions of times, possible subliminals backed by powerful companies with possible occult ties.
Most media coming from powerful countries is controlled, shaped, and fashioned to provide a concentration camp effect for the mind
Used for therapeutic ends (Score:1)
Useful for torture as well. (Score:2)
Good, TFA never mentions how this could be used for nefarious purposes. I mean, with algae-based gene therapy on brain cells and fiber optic cables crammed into your head, what could possibly go wrong?
If this technology were built up by the wrong people in the right way it could replace waterboarding.
Persona/BrowserID (Score:1)
what about Mozilla's Persona, could it be a real alternative?
At least gives power to the users and not to the websites...
https://login.persona.org/about [persona.org]
http://identity.mozilla.com/ [mozilla.com]
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/BrowserID [mozilla.org]
Umm yeah. Therapeutic. (Score:2)
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Powerful research tool (Score:2)
This is a very promising technology. Minimally, it is already proving invaluable for neuroscience research. What it means is that using genetic engineering (e.g. viral introduction of engineered genes into the brain) you can activate or inhibit a specific class of neurons (more precisely: neurons in which a specific genetic promoter is active) in a small brain region (using a surgically implanted optical fiber), and you can do so on the time scale of normal neuronal firing.
This is a very powerful tool for m
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I think clinical applications may emerge relatively soon. Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's Disease is well established, and that requires implanting a stimulating electrode in the brain. This technique would require the additional step of viral mediated gene transfection, but would probably be less damaging to the tissue than electrical stimulation. Similarly, I could imagine this being used for drug-resistant epilepsy as an alternative to surgical removal of the focus. There might also be application
A small step for mankind... (Score:1)
A small step for mankind, a giant leap for monkeys writing the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Remote Control Mouse (Score:1)
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Hey, I've had a wireless optical mouse for years!
Typical Slashdot sociopaths... (Score:2, Interesting)
Loads of stupid, moronic posts about this, as if it's all a 'bit of a laugh', right?
Do you know what the word 'pain' means? Have you ever experienced it?
Couldn't your sociopathic minds even begin to wonder what those monkeys went through? Why no video footage of this pointless 'research'? Wouldn't that be hugely beneficial for other scientists? Oh wait - we can't have the public seeing what these nutcases do to animals, can we.
God help your children (if any of you wankers manage to ever have any) - imagine
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This is the only comment in the whole discussion that is worth crap.
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Could the reason for this perspective be that articles about animal experimentation are written by and for people who have already largely decided that the benefits of animal experimentation outweigh the drawbacks? Is applying labels to your audience such as "stupid", "moronic", "sociopathic" and "nutcases" the most effective way to engage them in a constructive debate that will eventually res
Wasn't this last week's episode of Continuum? (Score:2)
Wasn't this last week's episode of Continuum verbatim?
Wait (Score:1)