Today has been spent studying the subject of psychology, specifically how the brain and nerves work - and I have encountered a lot of interesting trivia on the matter, that I thought I might share with you.
Firstly, stem cell research is apparently making it increasingly likely that we will be able to mend broken nerves - up to and including nerves in the spine, possibly even in the brain. The possibilities here are endless - paralysis can be cured, neural diseases can be stopped, and we could even potentially regrow lost limbs (we can already clone forth raw flesh - if we can give it functioning nerves, we could attach limbs to ourselves). Aside from the sheer practicality and awesomeness of such an invention, it works in an interesting way; stem cells introduced into the spine or the brain find their way towards a damaged nerve and replace it.
Doing so in the brain, which is still more science fiction than science but sort of possible, would be interesting since each individual nerve doesn't contribute to our identity - merely the structure, the pattern of nerves. I'm not entirely certain about how neurobiology works, admittedly, but it seems like it's not impossible to speculate in making your brain effectively immortal by introducing new stem cells to it on a regular basis. Growing and learning to control nerves would also hypothetically make it possible to grow organic computers, if we could learn to dictate the growth of the nerves and interact with them in a meaningful way.
A second interesting invention is the Cortical Implant, built by the University of Utah. Apparently this invention allows for wireless eyes for blind people - a camera in a pair of glasses connected to a computer sends information to a microchip implanted in the brain. This chip stimulates the visual cortex of the occipital lobe, causing you to perceive flashes of light - an effect since long tested. What the researchers are now working on is a way to turn these flashes of light into "pixels", allowing blind people to see, albeit in black-and-white low-resolution only. Currently there are enough such "pixels" for blind people to be able to read, although only one letter at a time and they need to be large and glow - which is still pretty damn impressive, considering the method works on people who don't even have eyes.
In a manner of speaking, the future is already here. But, all this tampering with the brain and the neurons is getting me awfully curious about my favourite subject again; identity. It seems like the way the brain is constructed indicates that identity, much like the brain in which it resides, can be picked apart - we even know how to "switch off" some functions of the brain, such as sexuality or aggression. If you ask me, these two aspects are rather large a part of how people work.
7 kommentarer:
Interesting..
What good would an immortal brain do, though? O_o
I smell mad scientist! =D
The future is NOT here!
I WANT MY JETPACK!!!
How about a BIOLOGICAL jetpack, that grows directly out of your SPINE?
We can FIX that, Nefandus. Just give us your DNA. We want your DNA, your precious precious DNA...
*cackles maniacally*
I say, do more research on asian medicine, yoga and meditation. That together with modern neuroscience could actually take us somewere.
By far the most awesome thing which neuroscience has actually achieved thus far must be this: Last year a group of researchers at the University of Beijing managed to "hi-jack" the brain of a pigeon, implanting a remote-controlled chip into its medulla to take control of its motor neurones. The cool thing about this was the precision of control they achieved; they managed to move, fly and even safely land the pigeon effectively by remote control. So we live in an age when organisms (soon brand-new organisms too, no doubt) can be grown in test tubes and remote-controlled by computers.
And people think Kenneth's Biochem-Political Science combo is odd?
They've already done it with cockroaches. Pigeons is the next step.
Kenneths' combination is not at all odd, methinks.
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