- #1
- 1,591
- 3
I ran across this article in "Newsweek-Next Frontiers" about stimulating neurons directly by firing large magnetic pulses to specific locations in the brain:
Address: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9557716/site/newsweek/
Well, I can imagine a much more "accurate" device which can affect individual neurons or "local" populations of neurons. Surely if one could "modulate" the pulses in such a way to simulate the physiological process involved with real neural growth, then indeed I think we would be achieving what the article declared "Re-wiring the brain". Big 'if' though. We really don't even know how physiological processes give rise to mental ones, not exactly anyway. But still, I somewhat suspect this is the beginnings of something . . . wonderful.
By projecting an electrical charge through the skull, they can now flick neurons on and off without ever breaking the skin . . . The technique, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, uses a $30,000 contraption to fire a powerful magnetic pulse into the cranium, creating an electric charge that activates brain cells.
Address: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9557716/site/newsweek/
Well, I can imagine a much more "accurate" device which can affect individual neurons or "local" populations of neurons. Surely if one could "modulate" the pulses in such a way to simulate the physiological process involved with real neural growth, then indeed I think we would be achieving what the article declared "Re-wiring the brain". Big 'if' though. We really don't even know how physiological processes give rise to mental ones, not exactly anyway. But still, I somewhat suspect this is the beginnings of something . . . wonderful.
Last edited by a moderator: