Laser Blasting Memories Into The Brain (It's Not James Bond Villains)

Scientists can now give things bad memories by shooting them in the head with lasers.  You might be thinking "Duh," but these aren't Bond villains blasting in the bad experience of "being shot in the head with a laser."  Instead they've genetically engineered laser-controlled neurons (and typing those five words makes us glad to be alive at such a time) to demonstrate how organisms learn from bad experiences.

Scientists in the University of Oxford genetically engineered Dropsophilia flies, adding an extra chemical switch to control their neurons.  They then injected the required chemical in a restricted form, locked inside a cage made from a light-sensitive compound, meaning they could unleash the additive (and engage nearby neurons) with extremely accurate targeted laser pulses.

They did exactly that while exposing the fruit flues to a new smell.  This new smell had no ill effects, but by switching on the "that was a bad time" brain cells the scientists laser-programmed the flies to avoid it in the future.  It turns out that just twelve cells can convince the fly to avoid anything, and the researchers believe that the same mechanism works inside our own heads.

It's incredible research, picking apart the incredibly complicated computer that makes "us" possible - even if they're only working on the pocket calculator version right now.  This work turns a living organism into a PROM, a light-programmable processor, and the implications as we get better at brain-blasting are equally incredible and terrifying.  Some might say this endangers the idea of free will; we say that if a scientist already has you strapped down, genetically modified, and is firing lasers into your skull, your free will is already irrelevant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8310365.stm

Comments

[Simon]

Great for protecting everything that´s being damaged by the flies (flys, fleas, bugs ?!). As for its use on humans... Welll, history and everyday experience show that lots of guys would be better off with a shot (laser) in what goes for their brains. Huh?

[Rich]

But is the effect reversible? This is awesome science.

[Derrick]

Wow - a Clockwork Fruitfly. Burgess and Kubrick must be rolling over in their graves.