Brain Science

Brain Science — page 7 — TMS Procedures Human to humanTMs involves generating a magnetic field in close proximity to Telepathy the brain The work at Duke and Harvard showed animal to animal and human to animal brain communication is possible In 2013 researchers at the University of Washington When a patient arrives for a TMS procedure to treat depression migraines or other issues he or she first enters the treatment room and sits in a reclining chair The patient puts on earplugs to protect against the loud noises of the TMS cot The magnet is turned on and its strength is increased until the patient's hands start twitching This tells the doctor how intense the TMS should be The procedure then begins The patient feels clicking and tapping on his or her head TMS typically lasts approximately 40 minutes took the next step creating a human to human brain interface Computer science and engineering professor Rajesh Rao and psychology professor Andrea Stocco showed two human minds can communicate with thoughts Rao wore a cap connected to an EEG machine which was connected to a computer Rao played a simple computer game using only his thoughts Thoughts about actions create brain signals identical to those created when an action is actually performed In another building Stocco wore a cap with a transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS coil placed over his left motor cortex the area of the brain that controls movements of the right hand TMS uses magnetic fields to influence specific areas of the brain It has been used to treat migraines and depression as well as to diagnose brain disorders Stocco had a computer keyboard in front of him but no computer screen He wore earphones that prevented him from hearing when the TMS coil became active 10

Brain Science — page 8

Brain Science — page 9 — Main Goals of the BRAIN Project When Rao thought about moving his own hand to fire a cannon in the game the computer transmitted his brain signals to activate the TMS coil This process took less than a second Stocco's right index finger involuntarily moved to push the key on the keyboard that would fire the cannon Stocco said it felt like According to the National Institutes of Health the main goals of the BRAIN project are To study and map how neurons a nervous tic Rao said It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get connect and interact translated into actual action by another brain To describe all the different cel types in the nervous system To understand how neuron connections lead to certain Cutting Edge Neuroscience thoughts and behaviors Through cutting edge studies scientists have made enormous progress in understanding what To develop new methods of activating and turning off groups of neurons and new ways of measuring brain activity thoughts are and how the brain works Still scientists To understand how different brain connections help determine who and what each individual is acknowledge the brain is the least understood body system Neuroscientist Christof Koch explains The human brain with its eighty six billion nerve cells To better understand what goes wrong in mental and neurological diseases so improved treatments and cures can be developed is the most complex piece of organized matter in the known universe To better understand this To better understand similarities among nervous systems in various species complicated organ the US government initiated a multibillion dollar project called Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies 12

Brain Science — page 10 — BRAIN in 2013 There are similar initiatives in Europe and Asia How MRI Works Everything the brain does from thinking to feeling to controlling the body depends on electric and chemical signals among its neurons or nerve cells One of the main goals of today s brain initiatives is During an MRI scan the patient lies in large tube Surrounding the patient a large powerful magnet To attain this power the magnet's components must be kept extremely cold using liquid helium The magnet orients the atoms that make up the patient s body in one of two directions About half are oriented in one direction and about half are oriented in the other to map the connections among neurons Scientists estimate there are approximately 1 quadrillion neuron connections so this is no small task Brain mapping direction However a few atoms do involves matching neuron activity in particular areas of the brain to corresponding thoughts and behaviors Neuroscientists biologists mathematicians not have counterparts When the MRI machine sends radio waves into the body these unmatched atoms Pitch directions Then when the radio waves stop they switch back to their old orientation This switch gives off energy The MRI s scanning equipment detects this energy and uses it to build an image of the patient s body engineers medical doctors geneticists computer scientists and physicists are all participating in brain mapping projects Making a Map Scientists began mapping the brain into major areas such as the cortex and limbic system in the 1800s The cortex governs thinking and reasoning and the limbic system is important in emotion memory and motivation Modern advances in computer science genetics and related technologies allow researchers to map the brain on a cellular level Magnetic resonance imaging MRI which uses radio waves and magnets to construct three dimensional images of the brain and functional magnetic 13

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