Brain Holograms May One Day Help Blind See, Paralyzed Feel
Brain Holograms May One Day Help Blind See, Paralyzed
Feel
May 1, 2018 at 6:58 pm
BERKELEY (KPIX 5) — A technology that one day could help
the blind see – and the paralyzed feel – by projecting holograms onto their
brains sounds like it’s straight out of Star Wars. But researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley are turning this science fiction into fact.
Researchers UC Berkeley’s Adesnik Lab are working on
activating and suppressing specific neurons with light by placing laser 3D
holograms into the brain.
“We have one laser we use to observe neural activity and
we have another laser with holographic patterns to trigger action potential
with light,” said researcher Dr. Nicolas Pégard.
What does that mean? Scientists can create a real
sensation or experience of something you’ve actually never had. It’s sort of
like tricking the brain to see, touch and feel things that are not even there.
They hope this technology will eventually help those with prosethetic limbs to
feel and the blind to see.
“If you do know all of the steps in convincing an animal
that it’s one thing when it’s actually another, than you’ve proven to yourself
that you know a lot about the brain,” said researcher Dr. Ian Oldenburg. “You
know at least you can create a perception for an animal.”
Right now, they’re in the beginning stages of this
innovative technology, testing it only on mice. But it’s the research of the
future. Even those working on the project say it’s like something out of a
sci-fi movie.
“We always sort of joke it’s like the Matrix for mice,”
said researcher Dr. Alan Mardinly. “You close your eyes and what you want is to
wake up and fly a helicopter. We’re a long way off from that … If that ever
happens, it will be based off of some form of this technology.”
“I probably won’t ever see a patient helped by this
technology. I probably won’t live that long,” said Oldenburg.” But it’s adding
to the sum total of work done on this subject, albeit a small part. It’s
helping.”
“Their work was just published in the journal of Nature
Neuroscience. Hundreds of scientists from around the world have already
expressed interest. They want as many researchers as possible to start using
their technology to hopefully crack the neural code.
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