Stimulating a worm's anterior touch receptors (AVM and ALM) with laser light from Samuel Lab on Vimeo.

The technique ""greatly enhances the capabilities for optogenetic control"" in worms, says Deisseroth.Leifer hopes it could some day help scientists create complete simulations of the organism's behavior. "Hopefully, we'll be able to make a computational model of the entire nervous system," he says. In a way, that would be like "uploading a mind," though a rudimentary one.

8 Comments

1. 1. rloldershaw 01:41 PM 1/17/11

   From a purely scientific viewpoint, this is a very exciting advance, with much potential for gaining new knowledge.
   
   From the sociology/ethics viewpoint, it is a damn good thing that the Unabomber is not still on the loose, because I could definitely see where this could scare the bajeebers out of some (many) people and deeply offend others.
   
   Should we start earing tinfoil hats? :-)
   
   RLO
   www.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw

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2. 2. 4karats 08:56 PM 1/17/11

   If laser can be used to control a mind (see proofs in the videos), scientists should be able to use laser to control the growth of cancer cells. Would that be nice?

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3. 3. reflectogenesis 12:02 AM 1/18/11

   Why not give the worms the ability to control their own behaviour by providing a feedback loop between their own movements and the switching of the lasers. Thus you would give them two alternative methods of controlling their own behaviour and then they would develop free will.

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4. 4. aykhaled 03:05 AM 1/18/11

   Hey,, this is really an future-turning achievement. I think onwards bio-mechanical activity will be governed by this successful story..// aykhaled@gmail.com

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5. 5. alexmizell in reply to rloldershaw 03:33 PM 1/20/11

   "Should we start earing tinfoil hats? :-)"
   
   only you happen to have a transparent skull.
   
   @reflectogenesis: if they don't already control their own behavior then how could they control a laser?
   
   @aykhaled: i think you are right, this new technique seems like it will be an important part of future neural interfaces...

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6. 6. bucketofsquid in reply to aykhaled 10:51 AM 1/21/11

   This only works on cells genetically engineered to be sensitive to light. It may work to map worm neuron function but in higher animals we still need the electrodes. At some point I think we will combine nanotechnology with neuron research and come up with a way to plant detectors (or controllers) in a human brain without opening the skull.
   
   It will be interesting to see how things progress.

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7. 7. RedRoseAndy 02:35 AM 1/23/11

   I am a Red Line Christian and firmly believe that we are all responsible for our own inventions, politicians do not. During the Cold War many scientists working on weapons of mass destruction in the UK committed suicide, it was thought that they were assassinated. A Government Report found that they had indeed committed suicide. Thank God someone agrees with me. This saught of control is mass suicide!

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8. 8. Grasshopper1 08:09 PM 2/17/11

   I just reread "1984"by George Orwell. I then read this article. Personally, I like the tinfoil hat idea. ;)
   

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