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Reading, writing information directly into brain may soon be possible | Scientists in Japan are developing electric sensors
using nanotechnology that could not only read information from our brains, but also write information to it. Dr Keiichi Torimitsu of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
(NTT) says the technology could have real practical applications in helping sufferers
from Parkinson's disease or stroke. "Establishing connections between the brain
and electrical instruments is important for understanding how the brain works
and for controlling neural activity," Discovery News quoted Torimitsu as saying.
"To develop some kind of devices or interfaces with the brain that would make
it possible to transmit our information, sending it through the telecommunication
pathways to another person or device such as a computer - that is the goal." The
brain-reading device would incorporate a nano-sized electrode coated with a membrane
that would mimic the receptor proteins found on the outside of brain cells. There
is electrical activity when the receptors and neurotransmitters interact, and
the nanoelectrode would be able to pick up that activity, which could then be
read by external equipment. Torimitsu also hopes the device would not just be
a bystander but be able to interact in the connections between the neurons, known
as synapses. Professor Gordon Wallace, of the University of Wollongong's Intelligent
Polymer Research Institute in Australia, is working with Torimitsu's team on the
device. He said: "People are starting to realize all around the world that there
are lots of tools that we can use that we already have at our disposal to make
this field progress very quickly." The work was presented by Torimitsu, the head
of NTT's molecular and bioscience group, to this week's International Conference
on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) in Sydney. |
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