Recent News
Researchers at Stanford University were able to use light to induce normal patterns of muscle contraction, in a study involving bioengineered mice whose nerve-cell surfaces are coated with special light-sensitive proteins.
Read More....
Read More....
It was recently learned that there is some riveting data regarding fiber optic lights and the brain. Yes, the information is referring to the same type of fiber optic lights which are often used in holiday decorations and signs. Researchers have recently developed a way to literally light up the brain by threading fiber optic lights through the skull. Lighting up the brain is technically known as optogenetics and researchers are hopeful that this new technology will give them new information about the brain.
Read More....
Read More....
Combined with new optics and gene technology, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is now being used to evaluate the brain-wide impact of changes in neural circuitry, such as ones that may underlie many neurologic and psychiatric diseases.
Read More....
Read More....
Ambitious researchers think they might be able to map the human brain in just five years, navigating the complex networks between neurons by using advanced images. An Austrian scientist has another idea: Work backward by manipulating neurons to figure out what they do. To accomplish this, Gero Miesenboeck and his grad students are engaging in optical mind control, implanting fruit flies with false memories and causing them to learn from mistakes they never made. They’re also continuing their pioneering research into flying decapitated fruit flies.
Read More....
Read More....
Neuroscientists have already spent the better part of a decade manipulating animal minds by using light signals to trigger genetically encoded switches. But a new study has now directly reprogrammed flies to fear and avoid certain smells, and all without the usual Pavlovian shock treatments.
Read More....
Read More....
Optogenetics is a recently developed technique based on microbial proteins called channelrhodopsins (ChRs), which render neurons sensitive to light when inserted into them, thus enabling researchers to manipulate the activity of the cells using laser pulses.
Read More....
Read More....
Seeking more precise ways to take control of nerve cells and probe the mind, researchers are lighting up the brain. Using flashes of light delivered via fiber optics threaded through the skull, they have made mice run in circles and flies flap their wings.
Read More....
Read More....