Cover Image: May 2009 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

A Sex Chip? Targeting the Brain's Pleasure Center with Electrodes

Could growing clinical use of brain electrodes lead to a chip for sexual stimulation?















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In the end, a sex chip may serve as a prop for moviemakers, but turning on the current may never become a truly practical means of adding the buzz back in your love life.

This story was originally published with the title "Turn It Up, Dear"



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  1. 1. riborp2 09:30 AM 4/30/09

    It would be a welcome step to make a "sex" chip. Otherwise, sex is going to be "cheap" all the time.

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  2. 2. eco-steve 05:29 PM 5/5/09

    Who needs sex stimulation with the present demographic explosion?

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  3. 3. prufrockian 12:27 PM 10/29/09

    While I recognize the novelty of this concept, and (maybe) even the scientific merit of such a device, I must question: should women be made to believe that they require an invasive electrical implant for what is supposed to be a natural process? Also, (scientifically speaking), a "success" rate of 36% (4/11) is simply abysmal for what the risks are.

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  4. 4. bob7112 01:55 AM 7/11/10

    it could help people that can not experience pleasurable orgasms. I have that problem due to a medication i took and i would give anything to reverse that.

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  5. 5. SBiberkopf 05:40 AM 4/20/12

    The real risk is not in the sex chip but in activation of the pleasure center so successfully that sex becomes irrelevant. That can be done and if you read through the literature is has been done. Massive pleasure and euphoria at the press of a button = to the first bolus of a heroin injection every time. Feel better than winning the gold medal in the Olympics at the press of a button. More rewarding than crack cocaine. Would you want to do anything?

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