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Manipulating the Brain with Magnets
hackwrench points to this Boston Globe story, writing "Some guy has figured out how to use magnets to disable or enhance part of the brain." And this is on a part of the science spectrum not occupied by Alex Chiu.
There is a related story about using an electromagnetic field to stun a portion of the brain to see how it affects congitive performance.
Scared the hell out of me.
While browsing a used bookstore I found a copy of a novel called "The Truth Machine" which I haven't read yet but sounded interesting. Just the implications of being able to force truth and honest under certain situations. I mean, would ANYONE vote for a canditate who refused to subject himself to honesty treatment while in office?
/. Post Comment page and reduce all the troll posts to"In Soviet Russia I'm a pathic looser with too much time on my hands and nothing valuable to say."
As scary and twisted the applications of this type of technology could be, I think that the benefits in terms of the direct applications and increased understanding of the brain would be worth it.
Now, if only we could plug one into the
magnetic stimulators charge up to a whopping 3,000 volts and produce peak currents of up to 8,000 amps - powers similar to those of a small nuclear reactor.
Ok, seriously... Who would volunteer to have this tested on them?
Tester: Hey, would you mind if I strap this 3,000 volt & 8,000 amp electromagnet to your head?
Idiot: What's in it for me?
Tester: It'll make you go deaf & mute for a few minutes.
Idiot: Cool! When can we start?
Those are just two of many effect this device can produce. And it only has those effects when pointed at a certain portion of the brain, and set to a certain setting. The other effects the device can produce are more benefical. Are you sure you read the whole article?
TMS did induce several seizures in participants in the early years, but researchers have since worked out technical safety rules that prevent them and established that no significant memory loss occurs.
No, nothing significant. Just the standard 3,000 volts through the brain memory loss. Sign me up!
How Politicians Lie: http://www.factcheck.org/
Here's a story on the same researcher from 4 years ago.
Oh and by the way, the 3000 volts / 8000 amps is to power the magnet; the brain does not get zapped!
Well, you're only putting your head inside an 8000 amp electromagnet. I feel *much* better about that idea.
What's that, like sitting in front 10 x 10^8 CRTs for, say the next 100 years?
I'd make the old ?/profit gag, but I'm too lazy.
What were you expecting?
Prediction: the first consumer device to use this technology will be a headband unit that will knock out your hearing so you can actually get some sleep on an airplane.
It will be sold in Sporty's for $699 and Slashdotters will complain that earplugs work almost as well.
The next generation will actually knock you unconcious, leaving nothing to chance.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The Truth Machine is a fascinating book. I very much recommend it.
Briefly, the machine merely indicates whether the peson under examination is intending to lie or not, because the machine is in no position to actually determine truth.
The book explores the ramifications of such a machine on society and it's quite engaging. For instance, examination by truth machine became necessary for most licensing, and legislation was introduced granting amnesty for crimes committed before the truth machine was available.
Check it out.
Once the technology is out for stimulating the pleasure center in the brain, using this sort of trick, it would be the cheapest, most popular drug ever. Probably made by Sony.
As a tribute to Larry Niven, they should name it the "WireHead(TM)" after his nickname to the addicts of this "drug". Isn't modern science wonderful?
I don't want to even think of the potential use of the reverse - directly stimulating the pain center. Shudder.
Most interestingly enough though with this TMS procedure is the opportunity to simulate brain injury non-invasively. For the most part, studies particularly in neuroscience, for example neuro-linguistics, occur on post-trauma patients or split-brain patients. In these cases, injuries hardly ever are restricted to one area and problems or symptoms are compounded. From a research perspective thus, this may just offer new opportunities to understand how our brain works- defective so well as healthy functions.
Perhaps in a few years they can (dis)prove the braindamage that cell phones and powerlines cause. If 60MW of EM radiation doesn't cause any harm, then I don't think 2W of cell phone EM power will.
One show on alien abducitons illustrated a doctor's theory that magnetic fields caused people to "experience" abductions. They sat some woman in a contraption designed to control the magnetic field in her brain. It wasn't the quick "zapping" described in this article, but was (I think) a continuous state of field applied to the brain.
It was kinda freaky. Depending on how the doctor had things set, the woman experienced floating, a feeling of paranoia and being watched, and unfocused fear.
Seemed like a plausible explanation of the adbuction experience. However, I am not convinced that such magnetic fields randomly wind up in people's bedrooms.
Method of processing duck feet
My first thought was the "read/write" MRIs featured in Vinge's _A Deepness In The Sky_.
I forget what 8 was for.
That's fine for internal policy... but when said politician is wheeling and dealing with other countries, do you actually want him 100% truthful?
Well, actually, we're more-or-less trying to just get ahead ourselves and don't give a sh*t about your insignificant little country. If you hadn't found a huge oil deposit then we wouldn't have noticed you at all.
Wired has had some stories about this. TMS has been used to create "out of body" and religious experiances.
I wonder how long before the Scientologists start using this......
I don't recall if those filaments were also found in humans, but I think so. Small Fe3O4 magnetized filaments. Similiar to those described in a famous article by Blakemore (i read a review in a journal from 1996). Could be the practical effect of strong magnetic fields acting on those strains.
Something on the magnetotactic bacteria is found at this page
reason defies logic
So that's what McCoy put on his head when he replaced Spock's brain--TMS v357 SP3. Amazing.
A previous Slashdot story "Where God Lives In Your Brain" covered most of his work on extremely low frequency electromagnetic field effects.
"I figure you're here 'cause you need some whacko who's willing to stick his finger in the fan. So who are we helping?
This isn't a DC magnet, this is a brief impulse. Well, a changing magnetic field _is_ RF radiation. That's the definition. So they are sending a big rf spike into your head. A spike big enough to induce a current in neurons, which aren't exactly as conductive as copper wire.
Of course, if they described it that way, they might get sued.
an older experiment
This lobster was alive when it hit the frothy, boiling water.
this is not a sig.
this reminds me of a leacture about the new mri machines.. i think a 7 tesla magnetic field. if you walk too fast in the room when its operating, you get dizzy. i belive this is due to currents induced in nurons. also, the person in the machine sees flashes of light because of the same reason.
If you think cell phones are bad, let me fill you in on a couple of things.
First, you are getting more EM radiation right now reading this off your CRT than you get off any cell phone.
Second, do you know how X-Rays are produced? A big ass cathode ray tube. Yep, CRT bubby. You are catching a beauty x-ray tan right now.
Third, there is NO evidence that EM radiation at any level or x-rays at normal levels of incidence contribute to cancer. None. Zero. You are worried about nothing. Commonly known as paranoia!
Feel better?
Side effects include constant urge to face North.
Table-ized A.I.
"Stimpy, I'm so happy! I must go do nice things!"
DNA is a Turing machine. You, however, being dynamic and emergent, are not.