[HN Gopher] New Nano-Tech to Control the Brain Using Magnetic Fi...
___________________________________________________________________
New Nano-Tech to Control the Brain Using Magnetic Fields
Author : dockimbel
Score : 44 points
Date : 2024-07-20 08:32 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ibs.re.kr)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ibs.re.kr)
| superkuh wrote:
| >selective expression of nano-magnetoreceptors in specific
| neuronal types and brain circuits and activating them with
| rotating magnetic fields at precise moments, allowing for
| spatiotemporal control of neural activity.
|
| So invasive genetic engineering used to express the magnetically
| sensitive (instead of light or ultrasound or whatever) ion
| channels in the neuronal populations of choice.
|
| Cool stuff, another tool, but there is a way to directly control
| brains using only magnetic fields and no invasive genetic
| engineering: transcranial magnetic stimulation. It's where a
| very, very, very fast changing magnetic field induces a voltage
| in a tissue. The rate of change of field being proportional to
| the induced voltage. Generally this means ramping up from 0 to
| ~5000 amps in a small magnetic coil in less than 10 ms.
| Unfortunately TMS is not very focal and engineering limits mean
| the effected tissue regions are about ~5-10 mm spheroids in
| general (with a slow fall off over large scales); too big for
| mouse models but fine for humans.
| action-k wrote:
| how safe is TMS - has that been studied?
| superkuh wrote:
| It has been studied widely in both research and clinical
| practice for almost 40 years but most extensively since ~1990
| to now. With repetitive TMS (rTMS) there are very small
| chances of inducing a seizure if say, the patient has
| temporal lobe epilepsy, but it is generally considered a very
| safe procedure. And there are well established
| intensity/repetition frequency limits for such cases defined
| by stimulation region. It is even done in psychiatric (non-
| hospital) settings. See chapter 5 for more information: http:
| //erewhon.superkuh.com/library/Neuroscience/Magnetic%20...
| (Magnetic stimulation in clinical neurophysiology / Mark
| Hallett and Sudhansu Chokroverty. 2nd ed, 10MB PDF)
| paulhart wrote:
| I was a research subject for a TMS study a few years ago (I
| made myself eligible by way of a bicycle accident). Having
| your thumb twitch because the researcher "shot" magnetic
| fields at my brain was an amusing experience; she said some
| people completely freak out at it.
| mapt wrote:
| Nope.
|
| Headline misleading.
|
| You can tell from background, because strong magnetic fields take
| an immense amount of power and space, and TMS & MRI magnets
| beyond 1 Tesla are the size and weight and density of an anvil.
| Nothing nano about magnets. Nanotech interacting electrically,
| sure, but nanotech interacting with living tissue magnetically is
| ludicrous.
|
| Reading the actual article:
|
| It isn't nanotech, it isn't controlling "the brain", it's testing
| a brain specifically genetically engineered to express
| magnetically sensitive control/sensory input sites that a TMS can
| target selectively.
| obrix wrote:
| The headline reminded me of the Vernor Vinge book A Deepness in
| the Sky.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-07-20 23:14 UTC)