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Addicting Mice To Light
Al writes "In an attempt to better understand how the reward system in the brain functions in people suffering from addiction, scientists at Stanford have created mice that are addicted to light. They engineered light-sensitive proteins to trigger signaling pathways in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain that responds to pleasurable stimuli. They then connected a fiber-optic cable to this part of the brain and delivered a blast of light whenever the mice wandered into a 'reward chamber.' In previous experiments the mice have been given drugs like cocaine or amphetamine when they enter these rooms. The light treatment works in exactly the same way but lets the researchers very precisely control timing and dose of reward administered to the brain. The approach could also provide a way to probe receptors that cannot be accessed using existing drugs."
This would get thousands of people out of their basements this summer, and some of them might even get laid!
Do they bounce out of bed at the crack of dawn and show up in the office all bright and sunny with plenty of time to spare for some horrid 9 AM meeting or something? Oh, wait, that's light-addicted humans.
It should be noted that the nucleus accumbens is also involved in -expectation of reward- and not necessarily reward itself. This is a major part of addiction--the addict may be desensitized to the effects of the drug but nonetheless may seek out the drug due to EXPECTATION of "reward" and to keep away withdrawal symptoms.
The mice associating the rooms with the effects of the drug is directly applicable to humans. Anyone who has tried to quit smoking may have had a difficult time during smoke break time because the context cues one to expect/desire their fix. Good way to kick the habit, if you're looking to do so, is not to hang out in the same spots you did your drug, not to hang out with the same people, so on and so forth. Otherwise, you'll likely fall back into your own habits.
Next step: do this with sharks
Step after next: reverse it, such that every time a shark does a line of coke, it shoots a laser out of it's brain.
All I can say is the poor mice. Considering all the things the mice go through for us, all the research they help us accomplish, I think we really owe them an answer. Or a question, as the case may be.
Qxe4
We COULD addice lice to might! We'd be in a MITEY mighty bite of trouble... itchin' for trouble and cruisin' for a bruisin'...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I guess if Fiber-to-the-Home isn't fast enough, you've got to try Fiber-to-the-Brain.
Stream porn straight to your visual cortex. Backup your memories with Google Hippocampus Beta. I guess mobility might be a bit of a problem, though. I wonder if it comes with one of those cool head jars?
The opinions in this post are ficticious. Any similarity to actual opinions, real or imagined, is purely coincidental.
It is bright. You are likely to be attacked by a mouse.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
So, what you're saying is that scientists have developed optical mice?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Not by themselves, at least for plants like Zhaan who'd enjoy a good photogasm from time to time.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Nah, I'm pretty sure that'd make it MORE funny.
I can just see it now. Slashdot user 'clem' is reading a particularly unfunny comment. As a sneer of disdain crosses his face, something moves in the gloom behind him, dimly lit by monitor glow. With a sudden lurch, interkin3tic crosses the distance to clem's chair. Clem barely has time to look up in horror before internik3tic shouts "RAT PR0N FTW!" and punches him in the face.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.