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optogenetics

MIT study: Light alone can activate specific memories

In a famous surgery in the early 1900s, Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, trying to treat epilepsy, found that stimulating specific neurons while patients were under local anesthesia caused them to vividly recall complex events. The mind, then, is based on matter, Penfield concluded.

Now researchers at MIT say they put this observation to the test in a rigorous study showing that the direct reactivation of specific hippocampus neurons can lead to very specific memory recall. And to do this, all they used was light.

"We demonstrate that behavior based on high-level cognition, such as the expression of a specific … Read more

Using LCD projectors for... mind control?

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have announced that, using inexpensive components from ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors, they're able to control both the brains and the muscles of tiny organisms such as worms.

Until now, the field of optogenetics (combining optical and genetic techniques) had been limited to larger animals, with manipulation achieved only by placing optical fibers into animals' brains or illuminating an animal's entire body.

The experiments out of Georgia Tech, however, demonstrate that it's also possible to control brain circuitry using the red, green, and blue lights from a projector. By … Read more