tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/mind-control-7305/articlesMind control – The Conversation2020-09-09T13:27:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1457112020-09-09T13:27:38Z2020-09-09T13:27:38ZNeuralink: brain hacking is exceptionally hard, no matter what Elon Musk says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356771/original/file-20200907-24-1bci4vi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C22%2C3751%2C2433&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elon Musk at Neuralink presentation with robot. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/50280652497">Steve Jurvetson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If thoughts, feelings and other mental activities are nothing more than electrochemical signals flowing around a vast network of brain cells, will connecting these signals with digital electronics allow us to enhance the abilities of our brains? </p>
<p>That’s what tech entrepreneur Elon Musk suggested in a recent presentation of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/linking-brains-to-computers-how-new-implants-are-helping-us-achieve-this-goal-122240">Neuralink device</a>, an innovative brain-machine interface <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUWDLKAF1M">implanted in a pig called Gertrude</a>. But how feasible is his vision? When I raised some <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53987919">brief reservations</a> about the science, Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1300098773348241408">dismissed them in a tweet</a> saying: “It is unfortunately common for many in academia to overweight the value of ideas and underweight bringing them to fruition. The idea of going to the moon is trivial, but going to the moon is hard.”</p>
<p>Brain-machine interfaces use electrodes to translate neuronal information into commands capable of controlling external systems such as a computer or robotic arm. I understand the work involved in building one. In 2005, I helped develop <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16102841/">Neurochips</a>, which recorded brain signals, known as action potentials, from single cells for days at a time and could even send electrical pulses back into the skull of an animal. We were using them to create artificial connections between brain areas and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17057705/">produce lasting changes</a> in brain networks.</p>
<h2>Unique brains</h2>
<p>Neuroscientists have, in fact, been listening to brain cells in awake animals since the 1950s. At the turn of the 21st century, brain signals from monkeys were used to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11099043/">control an artificial arm</a>. And in 2006, the BrainGate team began implanting arrays of 100 electrodes in the brains of paralysed people, enabling <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16838014/">basic control of computer cursors</a> and assistive devices. </p>
<p>I say this not to diminish the progress made by the Neuralink team. They have built a device to relay signals wirelessly from 1,024 electrodes implanted into Gertrude’s brain by a sophisticated robot. The team is making rapid progress towards a human trial, and I believe their work could improve the performance of brain-controlled devices for people living with disabilities.</p>
<p>But Musk has more ambitious goals, hoping to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49004004">read and write thoughts</a> and memories, enable telepathic communication and ultimately merge human and artificial intelligence (AI). This is certainly not “trivial”, and I don’t think the barriers can be overcome by technology alone.</p>
<p>Today, most brain-machine interfaces use an approach called “biomimetic” decoding. First, brain activity is recorded while the user imagines various actions such as moving their arm left or right. Once we know which brain cells prefer different directions, we can “decode” subsequent movements by tallying their action potentials like votes.</p>
<p>This approach works adequately for simple movements, but can it ever generalise to more complex mental processes? Even if Neuralink could sample enough of the 100 billion cells in my brain, how many different thoughts would I first have to think to calibrate a useful mind-reading device, and how long would that take? Does my brain activity even sound the same each time I think the same thought? And when I think of, say, going to the Moon, does my brain sound anything like Musk’s?</p>
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<img alt="Picture of a chip in the brain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356773/original/file-20200907-24-1djg6ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Can we hack the brain?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/san-francisco-usa-august-28-2020-1804403533">Aleksandra Sova/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Some researchers hope that AI can sidestep these problems, in the same way it has helped computers to understand speech. Perhaps given enough data, AI could learn to understand the signals from anyone’s brain. However, unlike thoughts, language evolved for communication with others, so different speakers share common rules such as grammar and syntax. </p>
<p>While the large-scale anatomy of different brains is similar, at the level of individual brain cells, we are all unique. Recently, neuroscientists have started exploring intermediate scales, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30381431/">searching for structure</a> in the activity patterns of large groups of cells. Perhaps, in future, we will uncover a set of universal rules for thought processes that will simplify the task of mind reading. But the state of our current understanding offers no guarantees.</p>
<p>Alternatively, we might exploit the brain’s own intelligence. Perhaps we should think of brain-machine interfaces as tools that we have to master, like learning to drive a car. When people are shown a real-time display of the signal from individual cells in their own brain, they can often <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20981100/">learn to increase or decrease that activity</a> through a process called neurofeedback.</p>
<p>Maybe when using the Neuralink, people might be able to learn how to activate their brain cells in the right way to control the interface. However, recent research suggests that the brain may not be as flexible as we once thought and, so far, neurofeedback subjects struggle to produce complex patterns of brain activity that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25164754/">differ from those occurring naturally</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to influencing, rather than reading, the brain, the challenges are greater still. Electrical stimulation activates many cells around each electrode, as was nicely shown in the Neuralink presentation. But cells with different roles are mixed together, so it is hard to produce a meaningful experience. Stimulating visual areas of the brain may allow blind people to perceive flashes of light, but we are still far from <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28753382/">reproducing even simple visual scenes</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fake-memory-implanted-in-mice-with-a-beam-of-light-16292">Optogenetics</a>, which uses light to activate genetically modified brain cells, can be more selective but has yet to be attempted in the human brain. </p>
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<p>Whether or not Musk can – <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/ihuman-perspective/">or should</a> – achieve his ultimate aims, the resources that he and other tech entrepreneurs are investing in brain-machine interfaces are sure to advance our scientific understanding. I hope that Musk shares his wireless implant with the many scientists who are also trying to unravel the mysteries of the brain.</p>
<p>That said, decades of research have shown that the brain does not yield its secrets easily and is likely to resist our attempts at mind hacking for some decades yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Jackson receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. </span></em></p>Decades of research have shown that the brain does not yield its secrets easily.Andrew Jackson, Professor of Neural Interfaces, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/992722018-07-18T10:42:16Z2018-07-18T10:42:16ZThe brainwashing myth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228059/original/file-20180717-44079-3glegz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We'll say someone's brainwashed only when we disagree with their beliefs or actions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/human-heads-brains-artificial-intelligence-concept-580559923">lolloj/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 40 years ago, my two sisters, Carolyn Layton and Annie Moore, were among those who planned the <a href="https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/peoples-temple/">mass deaths in Jonestown</a> on Nov. 18, 1978. </p>
<p>Part of a movement called Peoples Temple, which was led by a charismatic pastor named Jim Jones, they had moved with 1,000 other Americans to the South American nation of Guyana in order to create a communal utopia. Under pressure from concerned relatives and the media, however, they implemented a plan of group murder and suicide. Jonestown is remembered in the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid,” because more than 900 people died after drinking poison-laced punch. My two sisters and nephew were among those who died. </p>
<p>In the wake of this tragedy, you might think that I would be amenable to the idea that they had been brainwashed. It would absolve their heinous actions and offer an easy explanation for their behavior. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/13/health/brainwashing-mind-control-patty-hearst/index.html">Many argue</a> that people join “cults” – or “new religious movements,” the term scholars prefer – because they’ve been brainwashed. The thinking goes that they’ve undergone some sort of programming that allows others to manipulate them against their will.</p>
<p>How else to explain why people become immersed in fringe groups that seem so alien to their previous, more socially acceptable lives? How else to account for the fact that – in some cases – they’ll even commit crimes?</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-label-cult-gets-in-the-way-of-understanding-new-religions-94386">like the word “cult,”</a> the term brainwashing seems to only be applied to groups we disapprove of. We don’t say that soldiers are brainwashed to kill other people; that’s basic training. We don’t say that fraternity members are brainwashed to haze their members; that’s peer pressure. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-label-cult-gets-in-the-way-of-understanding-new-religions-94386">Why the label 'cult' gets in the way of understanding new religions</a>
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<p><a href="https://furthermoore.weebly.com/">As a scholar of religious studies</a>, I’m disheartened by how casually the word “brainwashing” gets thrown around, whether it’s used to describe <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/the-wrap/article/Rose-McGowan-Says-Trump-Voters-Are-Victims-of-12657034.php">a politician’s supporters</a>, or <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/are-we-mormons-a-cult_b_7485784.html">individuals who are devoutly religious</a>.</p>
<p>I reject the idea of brainwashing for three reasons: It is pseudoscientific, ignores research-based explanations for human behavior and dehumanizes people by denying their free will.</p>
<h2>No scientific grounding</h2>
<p>Brainwashing is used so frequently to describe religious conversions that it has a certain panache to it, as if it were based in scientific theory.</p>
<p>But brainwashing presents what scientists call an “untestable hypothesis.” In order for a theory to be considered scientifically credible, it must be falsifiable; that is, it must be able to be proven incorrect. For example, as soon as things fall up instead of down, we will know that the theory of gravity is false. </p>
<p>Since we cannot really prove that brainwashing does not exist, it fails to meet the standard criteria of the scientific method.</p>
<p>In addition, there seems to be no way to have a conversation about brainwashing: you either accept it or you don’t. You can’t argue with someone who says “I was brainwashed.” But real science seeks argument and disagreement, as scholars challenge their colleagues’ theories and presuppositions. </p>
<p>Finally, if brainwashing really existed, more people would join and stay in these groups. But <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Making_of_a_Moonie.html?id=zXSsPQAACAAJ">studies have shown</a> that members of new religions generally leave the group within a few years of joining.</p>
<p>Even advocates of brainwashing theories are abandoning the term in the face of such criticism, using more scientific-sounding expressions such as “<a href="http://www.icsahome.com/articles/2012-paul-r--martin-lecture-thought-reform">thought reform</a>” and “<a href="https://culteducation.com/group/798-abusive-controlling-relationships/3260-coercive-persuasion-and-attitude-changes.html">coercive persuasion</a>” in its stead.</p>
<h2>Conversion, conditioning and coercion</h2>
<p>Once we move beyond brainwashing as an explanation for people’s behaviors, we can actually learn quite a bit about why individuals are drawn to new ideas and alternative religions or make choices at odds with their previous lifestyles. </p>
<p>There are at least three scientific, neutral and precise terms that can replace brainwashing.</p>
<p>The first is “conversion,” which describes an individual’s striking change in attitude, emotion or viewpoint. It’s typically used in the context of religious transformation, but it can describe other radical changes – from voting for the “wrong” candidate to joining Earth First! </p>
<p>It can be sudden and dramatic, as in <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-dominic-crossan/paul-and-damascus_b_1348778.html">the case of St. Paul</a>, who had been persecuting the early church but then stopped after supposedly hearing a voice from heaven. Or it can be a slow and gradual process, similar to the way <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Autobiography.html?id=VsMLYjEsyaEC">Mahatma Gandhi</a> came to understand his role and mission as a leader for Indian independence. </p>
<p>We usually think of conversion as a voluntary process. But when we look at accounts of well-respected converts – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_(Augustine)">St. Augustine</a> comes to mind – we find exactly what the philosopher William James <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience">said we would</a>: Converts begin by being passive recipients of a transcendent, life-changing event. They don’t plan for it; it just happens. But they cannot go back to the way things were before their experience.</p>
<p>Next, there’s conditioning, which refers to the psychological process of learning to behave in a certain way in response to certain stimuli. As we grow up and experience life, we become conditioned by parents, teachers, friends and society to think and feel in certain predictable ways. We get rewarded for some things we do and punished for others. This influences how we behave. There is nothing evil or nefarious about this process.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that many of the people who seek out new religions may be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283631956_A_critique_of_Brainwashing_claims_about_new_religious_movements">predisposed or conditioned</a> to finding a group that fosters their worldview. </p>
<p>But what about the nice people who, in rare cases, end up doing terrible things after joining a new religious movement? </p>
<p>Again, the process of conditioning seems to offer some explanation. For example, peer pressure has the powerful ability to condition people to conform to specific roles they are assigned. In <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-real-lesson-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment">the Stanford Prison Experiment</a>, participants were randomly assigned the role of guard and prisoner – with the guards soon becoming abusive and the inmates becoming passive. Meanwhile, deference to authority, which Stanley Milgram studied in his <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/rethinking-one-of-psychologys-most-infamous-experiments/384913/">famous 1961 experiment</a>, may encourage people to do what they know is wrong. In the case of Milgram’s experiment, participants applied what they believed were electric shocks to individuals, even as they heard simulated screams of pain. </p>
<p>And finally, coercion can also help explain why people may act against their own values, even committing crimes on occasion.</p>
<p>If someone is told to do something – and threatened with physical, emotional or spiritual harm if they don’t – it’s coercion. Just because someone carries out an order, it doesn’t mean they agree with it. Prisoners of war <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-brainwashing-and-how-it-shaped-america-180963400/">may publicly denounce their home country</a> or claim allegiance to the enemy just to survive. When they are released from captivity, however, they revert to their true beliefs. </p>
<p>In other words, coercion – or exhaustion, or hunger – can make people do things they might not otherwise do. We don’t need a theory of thought reform to understand the power of fear.</p>
<h2>A denial of agency</h2>
<p>True believers certainly exist. My sisters fall into that category. They sincerely promoted the cause of the Peoples Temple – no matter how misguided it was under the leadership of Jim Jones – because of their deep commitment to its ideals. This commitment arose from their conversion experiences and their gradual, conditioned acceptance of ethical misbehavior.</p>
<p>I do not consider them brainwashed, however. They made decisions and choices more or less freely. They knew what they were doing. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-deaths-of-76-branch-davidians-in-april-1993-could-have-been-avoided-so-why-didnt-anyone-care-90816">The same is true for members of the Branch Davidians</a>: They accepted and believed the word of God as interpreted by David Koresh. </p>
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<span class="caption">Bodies of victims of Jonestown mass suicide are loaded from U.S. Army helicopter at Georgetown’s international airport, Nov. 23, 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-Associated-Press-International-News-Guya-/6f643dcc31fe47c9b807b587d1ed03a5/5/0">AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>If brainwashing actually existed, we would expect to see many more dangerous people running around, planning to carry out reprehensible schemes.</p>
<p>Instead, we find that people frequently abandon their beliefs <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/comprehending-cults-9780195420098?cc=us&lang=en&">as soon as they leave coercive environments</a>. This fact does not address <a href="https://www.benzablocki.net/exit-cost-analysis/">the difficulty of leaving certain groups</a>, whether they’re political parties, religious movements, social clubs or even business organizations. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, people can leave these groups and abandon their beliefs – and do.</p>
<p>Should we consider situational hurdles and peer pressure forms of brainwashing? If that were the case, then everything – and nothing – would constitute mind control.</p>
<p>We have studies that illuminate processes of conversion and conditioning. We have historical examples that demonstrate what people do under compulsion. </p>
<p>The brainwashing explanation ignores this social scientific research. It infantilizes individuals by denying them personal agency and suggesting that they are not responsible for their actions. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/nyregion/jurors-reject-brainwashing-defense-in-attempted-murder-trial.html">The courts don’t buy brainwashing</a>. </p>
<p>Why should we?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Moore is the Site Manager for Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, a digital archive hosted by San Diego State University.</span></em></p>Forty years ago, Rebecca Moore’s two sisters helped plan the Jonestown massacre. But she refuses to say they were brainwashed, arguing that it prevents us from truly understanding their behavior.Rebecca Moore, Emerita Professor of Religious Studies, San Diego State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/943482018-04-09T13:33:45Z2018-04-09T13:33:45ZWhy zombie slugs could be the answer to gardeners’ woes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213391/original/file-20180405-189795-oosh69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Slugs are voracious feeders</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slugs_NL.jpg">Apdency</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Slugs and snails are the bane of almost every vegetable planting gardener and farmer. Slugs in particular have voracious appetites and are relentless in eating stems, leaves and shoots. No wonder gardeners have sought any means to control the spread of this crop killer. Unfortunately, the most common response – slug pellets – can have a terrible effect on other wildlife. One alternative is the parasite <em>Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita</em>, a nematode worm which naturally kills slugs and snails. </p>
<p>Until recently, we had little idea why this parasite was so effective. Our <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29499346">recent research</a>, published in Behavioural Processes, shows that after <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> infects the slug, it takes control over its behaviour, essentially transforming it into a zombie. By delving further into how this parasite takes control of the slug’s behaviour, we can gain a better understanding into the molecular intricacies of mind control and even how to control the behaviour of slugs en masse.</p>
<p>Slugs are notably very hard to control because they can move deep into the soil and produce a tremendous number of offspring. Control methods that have tended to focus on slug pellets can be washed away easily and are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2013/jul/10/slug-pesticides-metaldehyde-drinking-water">highly toxic</a> to a range of other wildlife. For decades, these pellets have contained methiocarb and metaldehyde, both of which can be harmful to the environment. Methiocarb has now <a href="http://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/eu-votes-to-ban-methiocarb-slug-pellets.htm">been banned</a> and the use of metaldehyde around waterways is under strict regulated use.</p>
<p>The <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> parasite on the other hand is an organic and effective alternative for controlling slugs. When added to the soil the parasites will hunt, infect and kill any slugs they find within <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09583159309355306">21 days</a>. Then the nematodes reproduce on the cadaver and go in search of any slugs that previously escaped them. There are 108 species of nematodes that infect slugs and snails. But unlike others, <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> is highly specific and does not affect other invertebrates such as insects or earthworms.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213384/original/file-20180405-189816-45404s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">P hermaphrodita.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adult_Herphroditic_female_nematode_P._hermaphrodita.jpg">Peter Andrus</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research also showed that the nematode worm <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> has the remarkable ability to control the behaviour of slugs. Ordinarily, when in the presence of parasitic worms, slugs sense danger and slither away in fear of being fatally infected. But when slugs are already infected, they seem to be attracted to areas where the parasite is present and will happily remain in an area where they risk further infection.</p>
<p>By directing the slugs towards more parasites, <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> lead the slugs to their death, after which the nematodes can feast on the carcass and reproduce. We had <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09583157.2016.1185513?journalCode=cbst20">previously shown</a> that several slug species avoided <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> but were very surprised to see that several other species, when infected, were attracted to the nematodes. This behaviour was caused specifically by <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> but not other nematodes.</p>
<h2>Its all in the serotonin</h2>
<p>To understand exactly how these nematodes were controlling the slug’s behaviour, we began a drug-based experiment, in which we fed uninfected slugs the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac). <a href="https://beta.nhs.uk/medicines/fluoxetine/">Fluoxetine</a> increases the level of serotonin, the chemical signal or “neurotransmitter” that regulates mood in many animals. Amazingly, these drugged slugs were attracted to the nematode-infested soil in the same way as slugs infected by the parasite.</p>
<p>We also found that nematode-infected slugs fed cyproheptadine, a drug which does the opposite of prozac and blocks serotonin, were no longer attracted to the nematodes. All of this suggests <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> manipulates serotonin signalling in the slug’s brain to change its behaviour.</p>
<p><em>P. hermaphrodita</em> isn’t alone in this behaviour and many parasites have evolved to control the mind and behaviour of their hosts. Protozoa such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/"><em>Toxoplasma gondii</em></a> make infected rats lose their fear of cats. A fungus called <em>Ophiocordyceps spp.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-enemy-of-killer-fungus-that-turns-ants-into-zombies-21398">takes over ants</a> and causes them to climb up trees so the fungus can better disperse its spores. <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-disco-worm/">Trematode flatworms</a>
are masters of manipulation, with the ability to control the behaviour of a number of organisms.</p>
<p>While the evidence supports the idea that <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> controls its hosts by affecting neurotransmitters such as serotonin, <em>T. gondii</em> interferes with production of another neurotransmitter, dopamine, to change the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/">behaviour of rats</a>. We also know that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/94/11/5939.full">injecting serotonin</a> into crustacean brains can mimic the behavioural changes caused by acanthocephalan worm parasites. And the parasite <em>Euhaplorchis</em>, alters the balance of a killifish’s serotonin and dopamine, causing it to <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1659/1137">conspicuously attract</a> the attention of feeding birds. Only by reaching the bird’s gut can the parasite lay its eggs.</p>
<p>Our results suggest that by changing the levels of serotonin in healthy slugs, we can replicate the behavioural changes caused by <em>P. hermaphrodita</em> infection. Similarly, we can also reverse the behavioural changes of infected slugs to mimic uninfected members of their species. </p>
<p>Further investigation could lead to a better insight into the molecular intricacies of mind control of not just these nematodes but other parasites too. Ultimately, we could use this knowledge to influence and direct the behaviour of infected slugs. We could make them move en masse to areas of our choosing by manipulating their serotonin levels, and in so doing eradicate their threat and appetite.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie Rae receives funding from BASF Agricultural Specialities Limited, which manufactures parasite-based slug control products.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Williamson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The nematode that can turn slugs into zombies.Robbie Rae, Lecturer in Genetics, Liverpool John Moores UniversitySally Williamson, Lecturer in Neurobiology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713092017-01-25T11:07:18Z2017-01-25T11:07:18ZHow parasites and bacteria could be changing the way you think and feel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153874/original/image-20170123-8075-1knyycm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not quite yourself. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-funny-man-scared-pose-worried-522315628">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Given recent events around the world, you could be forgiven for thinking that people have been acting in a very odd and unpredictable manner. There has been much research across psychology and economics to explain why we behave the way we do and to explore what our motivations may be. But what if there are other unseen influences at play? As science uncovers more about the influence of parasites and bacteria on human behaviour, we may well begin to see how they also shape our societies. </p>
<p>Mind control is a very real and prevalent threat to humans. We already know it is used by many organisms throughout the animal kingdom and how essential it is for the transmission and reproduction of many diverse parasitic species. The Cordyceps fungus, for example, infects ants before making them travel to the top of the tree canopy where they die. The fungus then reproduces and its offspring float down to the forest floor to infect more ants. </p>
<p>Nematomorph worms, meanwhile, make their cricket hosts commit suicide by jumping into water and drowning in order to get back to where they normally live. And parasitic trematodes infect snails so that their eyestalks bulge and change colour to red, blue and yellow. The next host, a bird, sees a juicy maggot and pecks off the eyestalks so the trematode can complete its lifecycle in the bird’s gut. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153872/original/image-20170123-8057-120dgxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Little critter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/toxoplasma-gondii-obligate-intracellular-parasitic-protozoan-486857728?src=9jEWdV8nqkzmMQeoPgwywA-1-10">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>These horror stories are not restricted to invertebrates – and humans are not immune. When we learned how to farm and select strains of crops that grew best in certain environments, we sometimes made a surplus that could be stored for the future. This brought wild mice and rats and with them cats and a hidden danger: the protozoan parasite, <em>Toxoplasma gondii</em>. </p>
<p>This parasite can’t complete its lifecycle in humans, but we can be infected by it through coming into contact with cat faeces (or eating uncooked meat). The percentage of people estimated to be infected worldwide is between <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751900001247">30 and 40%</a>. France has an infection level of a staggering 81%, Japan 7%, and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635495/">US 20%</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153873/original/image-20170123-8055-vxiccy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just a friendly cat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cat-on-hunt-grass-just-before-557644864?src=PNwvLLOmLLQhB752vYNy1w-1-61">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><em>T. gondii</em> does strange things to rats and mice to make sure they come into contact with cats. They lose their inhibition of cats and cat urine. They become more exploratory and spend more time in daylight. But even stranger things happen when humans inadvertently come into contact with <em>T. gondii</em>. Men are more likely to be in car crashes due to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC117239/">riskier behaviour</a>. They also are more aggressive and more jealous. </p>
<p>Women, meanwhile, are more likely to commit <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20010026">suicide</a>. It has even been suggested that <em>T. gondii</em> could potentially be involved in <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10072-008-0007-5">dementia</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1399-5618.4.s1.32.x/abstract">bipolar disorder</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178110000041">obsessive-compulsive disorder</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1750946709000932">autism</a>. There is even evidence from more than <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3024.2009.01131.x/full">40 studies</a> that people suffering from schizophrenia have elevated levels of IgG antibodies against <em>T. gondii</em>. </p>
<p>So how does this tiny organism cause such extreme reactions? The full answer is still to be discovered but there are tantalising results that show it influences the levels of neurotransmitters such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560245/">dopamine</a>. Cysts (bradyzoites) are found throughout the infected brain in clumps or individually in specific places such as the amygdala, which has been shown to control <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515035/">fear response</a> in rats. </p>
<p>Interestingly, an imbalance in dopamine levels is thought to be a characteristic of people that have schizophrenia. Analysis of the <em>T. gondii</em> genome has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2653193/">discovered</a> two genes that encode tyrosine hydroxylase, an enzyme that produces a precursor to making dopamine, called L-DOPA. And there is experimental <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560245/">evidence</a> to support how this might go on to affect behaviour. Primarily, dopamine levels are high in infected mice and their <em>T. gondii</em>-related behaviour can be reduced if the antagonist of dopamine (haloperidol) is administered. </p>
<h2>Microbial mind controllers</h2>
<p>There are many more mini puppet masters. It has recently been <a href="http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(13)01473-6">shown</a> that the microbes that are plentiful on and in our bodies may also exert an influence on our behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154069/original/image-20170124-16089-snnrva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Take a closer look.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-beautiful-woman-laboratory-sitting-on-560369380?src=HjmV0EvYR4mumbtC9I6ycw-1-87">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We are covered in microbes and our human cells are outnumbered by bacterial cells eight to one. In fact, we are more microbe than human. This microbiome has been shown to regulate, not just the digestion and breakdown of food, but many different processes, too. Alterations to the gut microbiome can lead to susceptibility to conditions such as <a href="http://www.jimmunol.org/content/198/2/590.long">diabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23323867">neurological conditions</a>, <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6230/80.long">cancer</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5217603/">asthma</a>.</p>
<p>But it <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23323867">was recently shown</a> that the gut microbes that break down food can directly affect the production of another neurotransmitter (serotonin) in the colon and blood, which can then in turn affect communicative, anxiety-like and nerve-related (sensorimotor) behaviours. In the future, there may be the possibility of treating anxiety or depression by administering a “healthy” microbiome, and recent research altering the microbiomes of patients suffering from Clostridium infections has shown excellent results via faecal transplantation <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23323867">from healthy individuals</a>.</p>
<p>With further research we will begin to unravel just how these microscopic overlords are manipulating our decisions – and their influence on society, culture and politics should not be underestimated.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Read more in our series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/on-freedom-35083">On Freedom</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie Rae does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From losing inhibitions and anger to schizophrenia and dementia – science is uncovering the role small critters play in a range of illnesses and behaviours.Robbie Rae, Lecturer in Genetics, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/668022016-10-11T16:16:49Z2016-10-11T16:16:49ZInside the Cybathlon, where even paraplegics can feel the adrenaline rush of competitive sport<p><em>The arena vibrates with the enthusiasm of the spectators and the nerves of competitors. The <a href="https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2016/10/a-unique-competition-takes-of.html">first-ever Cybathlon</a> is about to begin – and both the sold-out audience of 4,600 and teams are justifiably excited.</em></p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/cybathlon-will-showcase-what-bionics-could-do-for-millions-with-disabilities-54760">Cybathlon</a> is the world’s first athletics event where the competitors are those living with severe disabilities such as paralysis or the loss of limbs, supported by cutting-edge assistive technology such as prosthetics and implants developed by university research teams. The Cybathlon, which has just taken place, aims to harness competition to spur on the technology that could offer huge improvements to millions of people’s lives.</p>
<p>The event’s <a href="http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/the-disciplines.html">six disciplines</a> are based on the competitors’ physical needs, including agility courses for those with bionic arms and legs, obstacle courses including flights of stairs for wearable exoskeletons, powered wheelchair races, and a bike race for paralysed competitors using electronic muscle stimulation to move their legs. </p>
<p><a href="http://essexbcis.uk/main/cybathlon/team/">BrainStormers</a>, our team from the University of Essex <a href="http://essexbcis.uk/">Brain-Computer Interface and Neural Engineering Lab</a>, competed in the final category: a videogame challenge played by paralysed parathletes using a brain-computer interface.</p>
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<p>Our technology captures signals through an EEG cap worn by David Rose, our pilot, who has been paralysed from the shoulders down for 29 years. Our system must correctly interpret his thoughts into four different commands, jump, roll, run or wait, which must be sent at 16 different platforms in the game in order for the videogame avatar to progress. To issue any of the commands, the pilot has to conjure up a different thought: for example, to “jump” David thinks of moving his feet, while “roll” corresponds to imagining a phone ringing. The pilot must conjure the thought corresponding to the required command quickly to enable the system to interpret it quickly and accurately in order to move the avatar faster than the other teams and win.</p>
<h2>Brain-powered racing</h2>
<p>On the day, we collect brain signal test data but unfortunately the signals are noisy, so the algorithms that interpret David’s thoughts will not work as well as in the lab. This is something we’d anticipated – EEG signals are very weak – so we developed a system that could mask the interference in order to extract the information we need. In the minutes before the race David is “in the zone”: he meditates to help his muscle spasms and keep calm, which might give us the edge we need to win. We check the commands are being transmitted to the Cybathlon game system, then the countdown and the game begins.</p>
<p>While David is fully focused on the game, team member Davide Valeriani and I follow his progress on the screen as he quickly moves into first position. Even with the noise from the audience, we can still hear David’s wife Hilary cheering over them. I secretly hope that this doesn’t distract David from the race – it doesn’t, and we finish first in our heat with a time of 146 seconds.</p>
<p>The final race of the qualifying heats is incredible: Eric Anselmo, pilot for the Brain Tweakers from EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, finishes in less than 100 seconds, pushing our team into fourth place. Tense, we watch as the second team’s pilot approaches the finish line, keeping a nervous eye on the clock as it approaches our team’s time. As 146 seconds passes, we are overcome with excitement, nerves, elation – and the pressure of knowing we will be in the final (by just two seconds).</p>
<p>In the final race, David competes against two pilots from EPFL and the pilot from BrainGain, a team from the Netherlands. David had seemed tranquil until now, but starts to get nervous. We train in our booth, but the external interference and the team’s excitement make it difficult to make much sense of the EEG signals. Worse, the interpreter has switched the “jump” and “run” commands, adding confusion to he task David faces.</p>
<p>The race starts and it’s nerve-racking, but now it all depends on how David can adapt his thoughts during the race. The four avatars start at the same pace, with all pilots making similar mistakes. But one of the Brain Tweakers’ pilots takes the lead, with David and the BrainGain pilot neck and neck. The last platform seems to stretch on eternally as we watch, clutching each others’ arms and mentally conjuring “run!” in our heads. </p>
<p>In the end, BrainGain gets the edge with a five-second lead, leaving BrainStormers to <a href="http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/cybathlon-news/cybathlon-results/bci-results.html">take the bronze medal in third</a>. But the effort of working towards the Cybathlon has paid off – at that moment, we’re the happiest team on Earth. A group of students who volunteered their time and efforts towards the project, we considered ourselves the underdogs – and reached the podium. We couldn’t have asked for more.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141210/original/image-20161011-12002-ojddax.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">BrainStormers team celebration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pilar Sopena Suils</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Forward to the future</h2>
<p>Our pilot David took some time to process his achievement. Formerly a wheelchair rugby player for the GB team he was visibly emotional – he’d never won a medal, he said. For David, what Cybathlon has achieved is to push the limits of what technology can achieve when put to practical use outside the lab. Throughout the two years I’ve worked with him, David has always been very enthusiastic about the possibilities of brain-computer interface technology to improve the lives of people with disabilities like his – to open doors and windows, for example. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141246/original/image-20161011-12009-13ubg0x.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The team’s brain-computer interface race bronze medal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the events saw the audience leave visibly emotional by what they’d seen – particularly the exoskeleton course, where a competitor who has been wheelchair-bound for years tackles a flight of steps. So I believe Cybathlon has fulfilled its goal of bringing home the difficulties of everyday life for the disabled, and to remind us to focus on how technology can help. The brain-computer interfaces developed for the race are easily adapted to control a wheelchair, for example, and I hope research teams bear these practical uses in mind rather than striving to build perfect systems that work only in lab conditions. The emphasis must be on usability and on bringing together technology providers and users – and that’s what Cybathlon has achieved.</p>
<p>Two years ago it proved difficult to find a pilot to take part in the event. Now I receive many emails from families of people with disabilities asking if I can help them. Talks are underway to organise the next Cybathlon alongside the 2020 Olympic and the Paralympic games in Tokyo. Despite the technological and psychological challenges, the event has shown the world – and the disabled competitors themselves – what it’s possible to achieve even while the world watches you think.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Matran-Fernandez receives funding from BioSemi, who sponsored the BrainStormers team to participate in Cybathlon. </span></em></p>After the Paralympics comes the Cybathlon, where disabled athletes use bionics to compete.Ana Matran-Fernandez, Post-doctoral researcher, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/543982016-02-09T06:18:44Z2016-02-09T06:18:44ZHow ‘mind-controlled’ bionic devices could help quadriplegics walk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110760/original/image-20160209-12825-4xje0g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The brain implant sends signals to anything from a bionic prosthetic limb, to a full body ‘exoskeleton’</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rex Bionics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The development of “mind-controlled” bionic devices moved another step closer today with the publication of a <a href="http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3428.html">Nature Biotechnology paper</a> describing how a tiny, 3cm-long stent containing 12 electrodes could one day help people living with spinal cord injury to walk with the power of thought. </p>
<p>The device, called the “stentrode”, is inserted into the jugular vein in the neck and pushed up the vein until it reaches the brain’s motor cortex, which is responsible for muscle activity.</p>
<p>I’ve been part of the 39-person team developing and testing the device, and we’re now planning a clinical trial next year in Victoria. </p>
<h2>How does it work?</h2>
<p>The stentrode’s position, alongside the motor cortex, allows it to receive neural signals that initiate movement. It sends those signals down 12 microleads into a computer interface. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110746/original/image-20160209-12810-1gzj5vt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The University of Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/moving-with-the-power-of-thought">Source</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here, the signals are translated into information that could manipulate anything from a bionic prosthetic limb to a full body exoskeleton, a transformer-type external skeleton.</p>
<p>The work builds on previous research, which in 2002 found <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v416/n6877/full/416141a.html">monkeys could move a computer cursor</a> with the power of thought. This showed it was theoretically possible to control a bionic limb using thought alone. </p>
<p>Next, researchers used electrode devices, such as the <a href="http://neuroscience.med.utah.edu/Faculty/Normann.html">Utah electrode array</a>, and surgically implanted them just below the skull into the cortex in humans. These devices produced amazing results, including the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRt8QCx3BCo">ability for paralysed patients</a> to operate a remote bionic limb, completely separated from the body, and to take a sip of coffee. These devices are still being developed by a company called <a href="http://braingate2.org/prosthetics.asp">BrainGate</a>.</p>
<p>However, insertion of these devices requires major brain surgery that carries risks of infection, and immune rejection. Surgically implanted electrode arrays can also cause brain inflammation and suffer signal quality degradation over six months to a year.</p>
<p>The stentrode aims to overcome these problems. By sitting inside the brain’s vasculature, the stentrode becomes incorporated into the vessel wall, shielding it from the brain immune cells. Our preclinical studies show that the brain signals the stentrode pick up actually become cleaner and stronger with time as this blood vessel incorporation takes place.</p>
<h2>Next step: implanting patients</h2>
<p>The first patients to receive the stentrode implants will be people who have suffered a spinal injury and ended up with quadriplegia. </p>
<p>Before receiving the implant, patients will undergo functional MRI scanning. They will be asked to imagine moving their arm left and right, up and down, and to imagine moving their hand toward targets on a computer screen.</p>
<p>This will produce a virtual map of the motor cortex the surgeons can aim for during the stentrode implantation surgery, to ensure the device overlies the appropriate region of the motor cortex.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hB3H3wHwO24?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Then the patient’s own brain will begin a learning paradigm, very similar to learning to play an instrument, or a new motor skill. Neurons in the motor cortex will fire in response to a patient’s thought, which will then be translated into a movement of a cursor, bionic limb, or exoskeleton.</p>
<p>Initially those movements will be jerky, uncoordinated and produce the incorrect outcome. But through a process of trial and error, the brain’s neuroplastic properties will allow it to refine the neural activity, eventually allowing coordinated activities such as drinking a coffee, or walking with the aid of an exoskeleton.</p>
<h2>Other possible uses</h2>
<p>The highly branched vascular system of the brain means the stentrode could potentially be deposited in other vessels to treat a variety of illnesses. </p>
<p>It has the potential to predict epileptic seizures, for instance, if placed in the brain region that gives rise to the seizures. The brain’s neural activity changes in predictable ways before the onset of a seizure. The stentrode could pick up these tell-tale warning signals, alerting the patient to cease any activities which would put them or others in danger, such as driving or swimming. </p>
<p>The stentrode could also be used as a neurostimulation device. Current therapies for Parkinson’s disease include deep-brain stimulation (DBS) to release the dopamine required for smooth, coordinated movements. Using the stentrode as an alternative stimulator would alleviate the <a href="http://neurosurgery.ucsf.edu/index.php/movement_disorders_parkinsons.html#risks">risks</a> of implanting stimulators deep into the brain. </p>
<p>The device could also assist people with motor neuron disease (MND) who are robbed of the ability to move, talk, eat and eventually breathe. At the stage where people lose the ability to communicate, the stentrode could be used to provide an interface for people to control a computer. This could give them precious months or years where they can continue to communicate with their loved ones. </p>
<p>The stentrode’s first in-human clinical trials are scheduled for 2017. Provided that we see the anticipated results, we hope that a commercially available version of the technology would be available in the first half of the 2020s. </p>
<p>In the meantime, one aim is to add more electrodes, allowing finer control for paralysed patients to not only walk again, but gain fine finger movements. Could we one day see a “paralysed” violin virtuoso? We can try.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clive May receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia</span></em></p>A 3cm-long stent containing 12 electrodes could one day help people living with spinal cord injury to walk with the power of thought.Clive May, Professor of Neurophysiology, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185352013-09-24T09:31:04Z2013-09-24T09:31:04ZIs brain to brain mind control possible?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can you hear me - peas or chips for dinner?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">bbaltimore</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31798/original/gxm44nnc-1379948211.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can you hear me - peas or chips for dinner?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">bbaltimore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Headlines</h2>
<p>The Independent: <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/video-first-ever-human-braintobrain-interface-successfully-tested-8788252.html">First ever human brain-to-brain interface successfully tested</a></p>
<p>BBC News: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23994649">Are we close to making human ‘mind control’ a reality?</a></p>
<p>Visual News: <a href="http://www.visualnews.com/2013/08/30/mind-control-now-reality-uw-researcher-controls-friend-via-internet-connection/">Mind Control is Now a Reality: UW Researcher Controls Friend Via an Internet Connection</a></p>
<h2>The story</h2>
<p>Using the internet, one researcher remotely controls the finger of another, using it to play a simple video game.</p>
<h2>What they actually did</h2>
<p>University of Washington researcher Rajesh Rao watches a very simple video game, which involved firing a cannon at incoming rockets (and avoiding firing at incoming supply planes). Electrical signals from his scalp were recorded using a technology called EEG and processed by a computer. The resulting signal was sent over the internet, and across campus, to a lab where another researcher, Andrea Stocco, watches the same video game with his finger over the “fire” button. </p>
<p>Unlike Rao, Stocco wears a magnetic coil over his head. This is designed to invoke electrical activity, not record it. When Rao imagines pressing the fire button, the coil activates the area of Stocco’s brain that makes his finger twitch, thus firing the cannon and completing a startling demonstration of “brain to brain” mind control over the internet.</p>
<p>You can read more details in the <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/27/researcher-controls-colleagues-motions-in-1st-human-brain-to-brain-interface/">University of Washington press release</a> or on the <a href="http://homes.cs.washington.edu/%7Erao/brain2brain/experiment.html">“brain2brain” website</a> where this work is published.</p>
<h2>How plausible is this?</h2>
<p>EEG recording is a very well established technology, and takes advantage of the fact that the cells of our brain operate by passing around electrochemical signals which can be read from the surface of the scalp with simple electrodes. Unfortunately, the intricate details of brain activity tend to get muffled by the scalp, and the fact that you are recording at one specific point in space, so the technology’s strength is more in telling us that brain activity has changed, rather than in saying how or exactly where brain activity has changed. </p>
<p>The magnetic coil which made the receiver’s finger twitch is also well established, and known in the business as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). An alternating magnetic field is used to alter brain activity underneath the coil. <a href="http://theconversation.com/does-brain-stimulation-make-you-better-at-maths-14647">I’ve written about it</a> here before. </p>
<p>The effect is relatively crude. You can’t make someone play the violin, for example, but activating the motor cortex in the right region can generate a finger twitch. So, in summary, the story is very plausible. The researchers are well respected in this area and open about the limitations of their research. Although the experiment wasn’t published in a peer-reviewed journal, we have every reason to believe what we’re being told here.</p>
<h2>Tom’s take</h2>
<p>This is a wonderful piece of “proof of concept” research, which is completely plausible given existing technology, but yet hints at the possibilities which might soon become available.</p>
<p>The real magic is in the signal processing done. The dizzying complexities of brain activity are compressed into an EEG signal which is still highly complex, and pretty opaque as to what it means - hardly mind reading. </p>
<p>The research team then managed to find a reliable change in the EEG signal which reflected when Rao was thinking about pressing the fire button. The signal - just a simple “go”, as far as I can tell - was then sent over the internet. This “go” signal then triggered the TMS, which is either on or off. </p>
<p>In information terms, this is close to as simple as it gets. Even producing a signal which said what to fire at, as well as when to fire, would be a step change in complexity and wasn’t attempted by the group. TMS is a pretty crude device. Even if the signal the device received was more complex, it wouldn’t be able to make you perform complex, fluid movements, such as those required to track a moving object, tie your shoelaces or pluck a guitar. But this is a real example of brain to brain communication. </p>
<p>As the field develops the thing to watch is not whether this kind of communication can be done (we would have predicted it could be), but exactly how much information is contained in the communication. </p>
<p>A similar moral holds for reports that researchers can <a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273%2808%2900958-6">read thoughts from brain scans</a>. This is true, but misleading. Many people imagine that such thought-reading gives researchers a read out in full technicolour mentalese, something like “I would like peas for dinner”. The reality is that such experiments allow the researchers to take a guess at what you are thinking based on them having already specified a very limited set of things which you can think about (for example peas or chips, and no other options).</p>
<p>Real progress on this front will come as we identify with more and more precision the brain areas that underlie complex behaviours. Armed with this knowledge, brain interface researchers will be able to use simple signals to generate complex responses by targeting <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/22/brains-neuroscience-prozac-psychiatric-drugs">specific circuits</a>.</p>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p>The original research report: <a href="http://homes.cs.washington.edu/%7Erao/brain2brain/experiment.html">Direct Brain-to-Brain Communication in Humans: A Pilot Study</a></p>
<p>Previously at The Conversation, another column on TMS: <a href="http://theconversation.com/does-brain-stimulation-make-you-better-at-maths-14647">Does brain stimulation make you better at maths?</a></p>
<p>Thinking about brain interfaces is helped by a bit of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory">information theory</a>. To read a bit more about that field I recommend James Gleik’s book <a href="http://around.com/the-information/">The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Headlines The Independent: First ever human brain-to-brain interface successfully tested BBC News: Are we close to making human ‘mind control’ a reality? Visual News: Mind Control is Now a Reality…Tom Stafford, Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.