A new dimension of mind control lies ahead of us. – bmc
Optogenetics: Controlling the brain with light -youtube (4:51)
This animation illustrates optogenetics — a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light. Ed Boyden (http://mcgovern.mit.edu/principal-inv), the co-inventor of this technology, is a professor at the MIT Media Lab and at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research (http://mcgovern.mit.edu), where he continues to develop new technologies for controlling brain activity.
From Wikipedia:
Optogenetics is a neuromodulation technique employed in neuroscience that uses a combination of techniques from optics and genetics to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons in living tissue—even within freely-moving animals—and to precisely measure the effects of those manipulations in real-time.
To stimulate superficial brain areas such as the cerebral cortex, optical fibers or LEDs can be directly mounted to the skull of the animal. More deeply implanted optical fibers have been used to deliver light to deeper brain areas.
Optogenetic approaches have been used to map neural circuits in the amygdala that contribute to fear conditioning.
