Manipulating the Brain with Magnets

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Manipulating the Brain with Magnets

Posted by timothy on Monday January 27, 2003 @05:44AM from the the-aliens-have-done-to-me-for-years dept.

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.

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Scientific American Frontiers Story by Isao · 2003-01-27 06:01 · Score: 4, Interesting

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.
1. Re:Scientific American Frontiers Story by Alsee · 2003-01-27 07:02 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Scared the hell out of me.
  
  An 8500 amp zap to region 5 of the limbic area will cure that. Total shut-down of the fear response.
  
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Testers? by SoCalChris · 2003-01-27 06:18 · Score: 4, Funny

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?
Run of the mill memory damage by fatcat1111 · 2003-01-27 06:42 · Score: 5, Funny

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!

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Old News by DaoudaW · 2003-01-27 06:48 · Score: 5, Informative

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!
Sleeping on Airplanes by bill_mcgonigle · 2003-01-27 07:01 · Score: 5, Funny

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.

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End the war on drugs by oren · 2003-01-27 07:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.