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MIT Shows How to Shut Down Brain With Light

Posted by samzenpus on from the men-in-black dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The MIT home-page story today is about a way to use light to shut down brain activity. "Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light, offering the prospect of controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease."

1 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Or Wolfe by cnettel · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is direct exposure, not through the eyes. In addition, the neurons have been altered (an added gene with a photosensitive product) to respond to this treatment.