Scientist warns against hasty attempts to test on humans
A long-range, high-volume remote mind control device has been unveiled in South Korea, with plans to use it for «non-invasive» medical procedures.
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Basic Science (IBS) have developed hardware that manipulates the brain at a distance using magnetic fields, and tested the technology by inducing “maternal” instincts in their experimental mice.
According to the Daily Mail, in another experiment, they exposed a group of laboratory mice to magnetic fields aimed at reducing appetite, which led to a 10 percent loss of body weight, or about 4.3 grams.
«This «The first technology in the world to freely control specific areas of the brain using magnetic fields,» says a professor of chemistry and nanomedicine who helped lead the new work.
The researcher, Dr. Jinwoo Jung, director of South Korea's IBS Center for Nanomedicine, said he expects the new equipment to be used in a variety of areas of health care, where he says it is desperately needed.
«We expect it to be widely used in research to understand brain function, complex artificial neural networks, two-way brain-computer communication technologies and new treatments for neurological disorders,» says Dr. Jeong.
But despite the sci-fi nature of remote mind control, health experts noted that magnetic fields have been used successfully in medical imaging for decades.
«The concept of using magnetic fields to manipulate biological systems is now well established,» wrote Dr. Felix Leroy, a senior researcher at the Spanish Institute of Neurosciences, in a paper that accompanied the new study in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
«It has been applied in a variety of fields,» he noted, «including magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], transcranial magnetic stimulation, and magnetic hyperthermia for cancer treatment.»
A novelty added by the South Korean IBS team was the genetic production of specialized nanomaterials whose role in brain neurons could be regulated from afar using carefully selected magnetic fields.
This method, officially called magnetomechanical genetics (MMG), was used by Drs. Jeong and his colleagues in the development of brain modulation technology.
In a new study published in July this year in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the team named their invention Nano-MIND, which stands for «Nano-Magnetic Interface for Neurodynamics.»
The scientists created special mice for their experiments using a gene-swapping technique known to researchers as Cre-Lox recombination. These genetically modified lab mice developed more magnetically sensitive «ion channels» that act as gates in their neurons, or nervous system cells, allowing certain molecules and atoms to pass through at certain times and speeds, the Daily Mail reports.
In a group test of maternal instincts, stimulating MMG in some female lab rats prompted them to find and retrieve their lost pups more quickly in a maze.
Female rats stimulated with Nano-MIND began to approach their pups more quickly — an average of 16 seconds faster — and «quickly found all three pups across all trials,» the researchers wrote.
The team also ran a two-week experiment with control and experimental groups of mice to see how the genetically modified animals would respond to Nano-MIND's magnetic pulses to prompt them to eat more or less.
The technology was found to be able to prompt the mice to both overeat and undereat.
In the experiment in which the MMG signal prompted the mice to eat, their body weight increased by an average of about 7.5 grams, representing an 18 percent increase in body weight.
The fasting magnetic pulse caused the mice to lose less weight (a 10 percent loss in body weight, or about 4.3 grams), but it did not significantly slow the mice down or impair their ability to move.
«Locomotion was not affected by the reduction in food intake,» they wrote, implying that it only affected appetite and did not otherwise affect the mice's ability to function.
The technology will have immediate applications, Dr. Jeong and his team say, in helping health researchers understand which parts of the brain and the rest of the neurological system are responsible for certain moods and other behaviors.
But in a paper on the gene-replacement aspect of nanointelligence innovation, Dr. Leroy of Spain cautions against rushing into human testing.
«Further studies are needed to assess potential cumulative effects, including neuroadaptation or neurotoxicity,» Dr. Leroy.
Свежие комментарии