Video: Can we control the brain with light?
“Imagine if we could use Optogenetics to get the input from an artificial sensor into our brain, in principle we could not only restore function, we could enhance our current functions. We could give ourselves ultraviolet light detectors, for example, the way Mantis Shrimp has, or we could take an example from fruit flies, and give ourselves carbon dioxide detectors – and then we could automatically sense our air quality.”
In this World Economic Forum video, I-han Chou, Senior Strategy Editor at Nature, Nature Publishing Group, explains how Optogenetics could be used to enhance brain function as we know it and possibly change our sense of self.
To watch the full video click on the player above.
Author: I-han Chou, Senior Strategy Editor at Nature, Nature Publishing Group.
Image: A woman walks past a display of a brain slice of patient “H.M.” at the press preview for the MIT 150 Exhibition at the MIT Museum REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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